“Tra follia e disperazione”. Alfred Polgar e la Prima Guerra Mondiale

In the explosive atmosphere triggered by the Sarajevo assassination and especially by the Austria-Hungarian declaration of war against Serbia, the great majority of writers took part in the general patriotic and martial enthusiasm. Instead Alfred Polgar, refined theatre critic and author of ironic feuilletons, stood up, as one of few opponents, against this general conformity - an attitude that Walter Benjamin recognized and admired. In many short texts, published in newspapers and magazines, cleverly deceiving official censorship, Polgar speaks about wartime events from the Hinterland perspective, highlighting not only the material and psychological distress of the population, but also the collapse of all fundamental values of european civilization. Polgar presents his radical criticism not with indignation, but with his unmistakable style, which is apparently light and ironic, but often mocking and paradoxical. Some of these texts are now anthologized because of their unique literary, linguistic, and historical significance.