Journey to the Abyss : The Diaries of Count Harry Kessler, 1880-1918

H. Kessler, L. Easton

Translated into English for the first time--set in Paris, London, Berlin, and Weimar, with trips to America and Asia--a selection of the early diaries, 1880-1918, of Count Harry Kessler, the Anglo-German art patron, aesthete, museum director, publisher, cultural critic, cultural attaché, and secret agent. Passionate, thoughtful, and incisive, Harry Kessler, Zelig-like, is present at all the major turn-of-the-century events in European art and politics. In Germany, bloggers have called Kessler "Count Cool." These diaries cover a seminal moment in cultural and political history: the beginning of modern dance, music, art, and design--the Ballets Russes; Impressionism, Art Nouveau; the obsession with Wagner and Nietzsche; the rise and fall of Bismarck and World War I. More than Proust: Some of the same world, but in Germany: society, love, homosexuality, art, theatre, and music, but much more accessible. Kessler is more intellectual and also covers politics, diplomacy, and war.