67. Against the Current Pamphlets of a literary-artistic society XVII. Spicy reading. XVII. Modern benefactors Vienna 1888 This literary-artistic society has set itself an important and timely task,

1. Against the Current *Pamphlets of a literary-artistic society XVII. Spicy reading. XVII.

Modern benefactors

Vienna 1888* This literary-artistic society has set itself an important and timely task, and its publications, of which we have here the XVIIth and XVIIIth have often hit the mark when they have shot their arrows at the literary and social abuses of our time. “Vienna was a theater city,” “The educated world,” “The reading of the people” are masterful in their way; the latter issue has provoked the liveliest discussion in wider circles. But that should not stop us from saying that, in the midst of all the good, very weak things have been brought. The tendency is always a good one, but the way in which one fights sometimes bears all the faults of the opponent. One turns against the critical intellectual direction of the present, which is disintegrating every positive work, and this in a way that shows the affected wrongness to an increased extent, even to the point of caricature. True caricatures of the intellect that is disintegrating everything are: “The novel that bores you”, ‘By the book’, ‘The prerogative of women’, ‘The advertising guide’. In recent times, with the exception of No. XVI, ‘Megalomania’, which is certainly one of the most important in the entire collection, there has also been a significant decline in the quality of these publications. And the two issues we have just received are also rather weak, even though they have a good tendency that is to be recognized. “Pikante Lektüre” (literally: ‘piquant reading’) takes aim at the smut smuggled into society by unscrupulous booksellers and, while making a bit of a fuss about it, leads us into a veritable literary quagmire. A wealth of literature is cited on subjects that belong to the most hideous and disgusting excesses of human life. These shameful books are devoured by people who never even see the pamphlets “Against the Current”. There is no literary battle against these, however. The only thing that helps is police intervention against the book dealers in question. In any case, the author did not need to present the entire table of contents of possible sexual excesses of humanity in all its breadth. Is it necessary to be salacious when writing against salaciousness? “Modern benefactors” are characterized by a kind of helpfulness that does not give in order to alleviate want and misery, but rather to shine. “You no longer do good deeds, you stage them.” The joy of giving has become rare, but the joy of seeing your name in the newspaper in connection with a charitable act has become all the more frequent. Charity is usually just a means of advertising oneself, as is the case with actors, singers, etc. who organize charity performances. It is not in quiet giving that one finds satisfaction, but everything must be done as noisily as possible. That is why charitable organizations are created, matinees, concerts, academies, etc. are offered to the public. A gaping wound in our society is touched upon, and that is at least a merit. This issue is also much more appealing than the last one in terms of form, where the author's gift for presentation and the way he approaches his task leave much to be desired.