ABOUT THE BOOK
ANDREAS is a novel of violence and naivety, pathos and melancholy. Set in the eighteenth century, it tells the story of a young Viennese aristocrat who intends to travel alone to Venice as the first stage of his "Grand Tour". On his journey, he acquires an unsavoury servant who unleashes a trail of destruction and violence which taints and corrupts Andreas's first experience of love. Andreas's loss of innocence takes place in the misty alleyways and gloomy palaces of Venice, whose masked inhabitants confuse and entice him, the women either madonnas or whores indistinguishable behind their masks.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born into a wealthy family in 1874, HUGO VON HOFMANNSTHAL grew up in Vienna and published his first poetry aged sixteen under the pseudonym Loris. He briefly served in the army before returning to Vienna, where he studied Romanesque literature.
As a young man, Hofmannsthal made the acquaintance of Stefan Zweig and Arthur Schnitzler. He achieved fame as a poet and librettist, working principally with Richard Strauss. He created the Salzburg festival with Max Reinhardt.
The main portion of Andreas was written in 1912-1913, but the novel was left unfinished at Hofmannsthal's death in 1929. It was first published in its present form the following year.
Translated by MARIE HOTTINGER
Afterword by OLIVIER BERGGRUEN
Cover Illustration by ROGER DE MONTEBELLO
ISBN 978 1 901285 01 7 - 176 pp
