Schaukal, Richard von (Brünn, now Brno, 1874-1942, Vienna), studied law at Vienna University and entered the Austrian civil service, retiring as Sektionsrat with a title of nobility in 1918. He was a lyric poet attached to the virtues of neat craftmanship, restrained elegance, and poetic mood (Stimmung). He published at least sixteen volumes of verse, beginning with Gedichte (1893) and ending with Herbsthöhe (1933), sifting and revising his work in the selections Ausgewählte Gedichte (1904), Gedichte 1891-1918 (1918), and Ausgewählte Gedichte (1924). Spätlese (1943) is a posthumous collection.
Schaukal's best volumes of poetry are probably Tristia (1896) and Die Gezeiten der Seele (1926); his weakest is the derivative patriotic verse of 1914. Eherne Sonette (1914). He also wrote a number of stories, of which the five Novellen of Eros Thanatos should be especially mentioned, together with Kapellmeister Kreisler (both 1906). He is the author of books on literary subjects (E. T. A. Hoffmann, 1904, Wilhelm Busch, 1905, Adalbert Stifter, 1926, and Karl Kraus, 1933; Richard Dehmels Lyrik, 1907, is an essay in literary criticism).
Like many Austrians of his generation, Schaukal was hard hit by the collapse of the Dual Monarchy in 1918 and found it difficult to come to terms with the new age. He translated the work of several French Symbolists, including Gautier, Flaubert, and Duhamel. His
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