About the work
“Die Strudlhofstiege oder Melzer und die Tiefe der Jahre” (The Strudlhof Steps, or Melzer and the Depth of the Years) is a social and metropolitan novel by the Austrian writer Heimito von Doderer. It was published in 1951 by Biederstein Verlag in Munich and simultaneously by Luckmann in Vienna. Doderer conceived it as a ramp leading to his later novel “Die Dämonen” (The Demons, 1956). The material has been staged among others as a twelve-part series at the Schauspielhaus Wien in 2007/08 and in 2019 in a version by Nicolaus Hagg at the Theater in der Josefstadt; at the Burgtheater a production by Frank Castorf is scheduled to open on 13 May 2027.
Plot
The main action takes place in Vienna between 1923 and 1925, with flashbacks to the summers of 1910 and 1911. At its centre is Melzer, in 1910 a young infantry lieutenant on summer leave, later a major and an official of the state tobacco monopoly, whose slow maturing the novel follows. Around him circle numerous characters, such as the future historian René von Stangeler, Etelka Grauermann and Mary K., whose tram accident on the Althanplatz frames the novel. The setting is mainly Vienna's ninth district between the Althanplatz and the Schottentor; key scenes take place on the Strudlhofstiege, a flight of outdoor steps in Alsergrund.
Cultural significance
The novel was celebrated on publication and is regarded as one of the most important Austrian novels of the 20th century. It is marked by many interwoven storylines, time shifts, long precise sentences, ironic distance and the use of Viennese dialect.