Josephine Mutzenbacher

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had two older brothers, both of whom were a couple of years older than I. My father, my mother, and we three children lived in a kitchen and a room, and had also one lodger. Several dozens of such lodgers stayed with us for a while, one after another; they appeared and vanished, some friendly, some quarrelsome, and most of them disappeared without a trace, and we never heard from them. Among all those lodgers there were two who clearly stand out in my memory. One was a locksmith's apprentice, a dark-haired young fellow with a sad look and always a thoroughly sooty face. We children were afraid of him. He was quiet, too, and rarely spoke much. I remember how one afternoon he came home when I was alone in our place. I was at that time five years old and was playing on the floor of the room. My mother was with the two boys in Fürstenfeld, my father not yet home from work. The apprentice picked me up, sat down and hold me on his knees. I was about to cry, but he whispered fiercely, "Lay still, I do you nothin'!"

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sleepers there were two who clearly stand out in my memory. One was a dark-haired young fellow with sad eyes who made a scant living as a locksmith's apprentice and hardly ever washed his sooty face. We children were a little afraid of him, perhaps because of his blackened face and also because he hardly said anything. One afternoon I was alone in our place playing with what was supposed to be a doll on the floor. My mother had taken my two brothers to a nearby empty lot that was covered with wild grass and shrubbery where the boys could play, and my father was not yet home from work. The young sleeper came home quite unexpectedly and, as usual, did not say a word. When he saw me playing on the floor, he picked me up, sat down and put me on his knees. When he noticed that I was about to cry, he whispered fiercely, "Shut your mouth! I'm not going to hurt you!"

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courtyard was too small to contain us all. I had two brothers, both of whom were some years older than myself, and the five of us, my mother, father and us three kids, lived in one room and a kitchen. In addition there was always a lodger. Altogether, we must have had fifty of these lodgers. They came and went, one after another. Sometimes they fitted in well enough, but sometimes they were a nuisance. Most of them disappeared without a trace and were never heard of again.

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the small courtyards in the summer. Since I and my two older brothers made up only a "small" family, compared with the families around us having at least half a dozen brats, my parents could afford to make a little money by accepting roomers. Such roomers, who had to share our one room and a kitchen with the whole family, were called "sleepers", because the tiny rent one could charge them was for a small, iron folding bed that was placed in the kitchen at night.

1613:"Suburbia" in the Vienna of the mid-19th century did not necessarily mean a residential section for the well-to-do middle-class, as in modern times. Rich people did live in the outer districts to the north and northwest, but the western and southern suburbs constituted what we called the "workers' ghetto". There, in gloomy tenement houses about five stories high, lived all the Viennese who were not white-collar workers. 1631:

remember one afternoon when he came home early. I was about five at the time and was alone in the flat, playing quietly on the floor. My mother had taken the boys on to the common and my father had not yet returned from work. The young locksmith picked me up from the floor and sat me on his knee. I began to whimper, but he whispered nastily: 'Shut up. I ain't gonna do nuffin' to yer.'

256:'s genital is called "a hammer of mercy" – for human anatomy and sexual behavior, its content is entirely pornographic. The actual progression of events amounts to little more than a graphic, unapologetic description of the reckless sexuality exhibited by the heroine, all before reaching her 14th year. The style bears more than a passing resemblance to the 651:

the book was no longer considered to conduce its readers to imitate the abusive sexual practices described within. The BPjM also noted that according to current scholarly opinion, the book shows remarkable literary merit, for instance, by tending to present new perspectives to autobiographical works of literature.

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My father was a penniless saddle-maker's help who worked in a shop in Josefstadt. Our tenement building, at that time a new one, filled from top to bottom with poor folk, was far in Ottakring. All of these people had so many children that they over-crowded the small courtyards in the summer. I myself

1618:

My parents, and my two brothers and I lived in a so-called apartment that consisted of one room and a kitchen. That was the size of all the apartments in our building and in most of the other buildings of the district. Most tenants had a lot of children who swarmed all over the buildings and crowded

1615:

Our tenement building, filled from top to bottom with poor folk, was in the seventeenth district, called Ottakring. Nobody who never visited those tenement houses can imagine the unsanitary, primitive living conditions under which we spent our childhood and adolescence, and—in most cases—the rest of

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called "Felix Salten: From Josephine Mutzenbacher to Bambi" where the life and work of Felix Salten was on display, which ran from December 2006 to March 2007. Austrian State Parliament Delegate Elisabeth Vitouch appeared for the opening of the exhibit at Jewish Museum Vienna and declared: "Everyone

1621:

I remember several dozens of such sleepers who stayed with us for a while, one after another. Some left because they found work out of town, some, because they quarreled too much with my father, and others simply did not show up one evening, thus creating a vacancy for the next one. Among all those

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reprises her role as a prostitute indistinguishable from the Josephine of the first two films, although in this one she is called Pepi. She correctly diagnoses the soldier's problem as his addiction to pornography and voyeuristic fantasy. The film ends with the soldier and his fiancée tumbling into

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was taken into the list for 25 years. After this period of time had passed and the indexing ceased, the BPjM decided in November 2017 that there was no more any reason to list the book anew. According to the BPjM, one reason was that, because of the archaic language and parodic style of depiction,

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One of these lodgers, whom I remember particularly well, was an apprentice locksmith, a dark, sad-featured young chap who had tiny black eyes and a face that was always covered with soot. His appearance, and the fact that he hardly ever spoke a word, made us children really scared of him. I still

1593:

My father was a very poor man who worked as a saddler in Josef City. We lived in a tenement house away out in Ottakring, at that time a new house, which was filled from top to bottom with the poorer class of tenants. All of the tenants had many children, who were forced to play in the back yards,

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decided that there is no longer reason to punish a publisher for distributing the novel because there are artistic tendencies in the work. Still in 1988, there was another legal process to ban the novel because of obscenity, but this time, too, the Supreme Court judged in favour of the publisher.

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who is looking back upon the sexual escapades she enjoyed during her unbridled youth in Vienna. Contrary to the title, almost the entirety of the book takes place when Josephine is between the ages of 5–13 years old, before she actually becomes a licensed prostitute in the brothels of Vienna. The

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and excluded from all English translations until 2018 – tells that Josefine left the manuscript to her physician before her death from complications after a surgery. Josefine Mutzenbacher was not her real name. The protagonist is said to have been born on 20 February 1852 in Vienna and died on 17

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of that time in dialogues and is therefore used as a rare source of this dialect for linguists. It also describes, to some extent, the social and economic conditions of the lower class of that time. The novel has been translated into English, Swedish, Finnish, French, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian,

1627:

My father was the anaemic apprentice of a saddler and worked in Josefstadt, a suburb of Vienna. We lived even further out, in a tenement building which, in those days, was relatively new. Even so it was crowded from top to bottom with poor families which had so many children that, in summer, the

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When checked against the German text, the translations differ, and the original chapter and paragraph division is usually not followed, except for the 2018 edition. The original novel is divided only in two long chapters, but most translated editions disrupt the text, each in their own way, into

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Items that are indexed (placed on the list) cannot be bought by anyone under 18, they are not allowed to be sold at regular bookstores or retailers that young people have access to, nor are they allowed to be advertised in any manner. An item that is placed on the list becomes very difficult for

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The BPjM maintained that the book was pornographic and dangerous to minors because it contained explicit descriptions of sexual promiscuity, child prostitution, and incest as its exclusive subject matter, and promoted these activities as positive, insignificant, and even humorous behaviors in a

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The final decision was made in 1992 at the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), putting the work once again on the list of "Media harming the youth" (Jungendgefährdenden Medien) forcing the right of Freedom of Expression (Under Article 5 III Fundamental rights) to step back.

1610:

My father was a very poor journeyman saddler who worked from morning till evening in a shop in the Josefstadt, as the eighth district of Vienna is called. In order to be there at seven in the morning, he had to get up at five and leave half an hour later to catch the horse-drawn streetcar that

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The issue underlying the Mutzenbacher Decision is not whether the book is legal for adults to buy, own, read, and sell – that is not disputed. The case concerns whether the intrinsic merit of the book as a work of art supersedes the potential harm its controversial contents could have on the

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The book was added to the list again in November 1992 in a new decision by the BPjM which considered the aspect of freedom of art, but deemed the aspect of protecting children to be more important. Some later editions of the book by other publishers were added to the list as well.

838:). The title's similarity to Josephine Mutzenbacher, being only two letters different, is a play on words that is not just coincidence. The book's content is derivative as well, telling the story of the character "Pepi Wurznbacher" and her first sexual experience at age six. 1600:

I distinctly remember two of our roomers. One was a locksmith-apprentice. He had dark eyes and was a sad-looking lad; his black eyes and lark face always were covered with grime and soot. We children were very much afraid of him. He was a very silent man, never saying a

919:(1979) is an unrelated pornographic feature in nineteenth-century costume that has been reissued as a Josephine Mutzenbacher film. The last two Gunter Otto films are set in modern times and do not seriously pretend to inhabit the Mutzenbacher universe. 845:; "Pepi" was Josephine Mutzenbacher's nickname in the early chapters. Franzobel has said that he wanted his novel to be a retelling of the Josephine Mutzenbacher story set in modern day. He simply took the characters, plot elements and setting from 576:

On 27 November 1990 the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany made what is now known as "The Mutzenbacher Decision". The Court prefaced their verdict by referring to two other seminal freedom of expression cases from previous German Case Law, the

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The original Austrian publication was unillustrated, but a later pirated edition from 1922 contained black-and-white drawings, entirely pornographic as the text. These illustrations were bound in the archival copy of the first edition at the

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The first anonymous English translation from 1931 is abridged and leaves part of the sentences untranslated; the 1967 translation by Rudolf Schleifer, however, contains large inauthentic expansions, as shown in the following comparison:

307:, and have been reproduced at least in the hardcover edition of the 2018 English translation and in a 2019 Finnish translation, erroneously dated to 1906. Another illustrated German-language edition was published in the late 1960s in 849:

and reworked them into a thoroughly modernized version that occurs in the 1990s. He was inspired to write the novel after being astounded at both the prevalence of child abuse stories in the German press and having read

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are pornographic, they are still considered art and in the process of indexing the book, the aspect of freedom of art has to be considered. The court's ruling forced the BPjM to temporarily remove the Rowohlt edition of

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in 1957 and the copyright could no longer be reinstituted; that is, Salten's heirs should have declared the authorship before the end of 1956. So, the case was ruled in favour of the publishing company in May 1988.

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In 1931, a bookseller called Josef Kunz was convicted in Vienna for a public act of obscenity because he had published a new edition of the novel, and the copies of the book were confiscated. In 1971, however, the

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has given rise to a multitude of interpretations. It has been listed both as child pornography and labeled as an apposite depiction of the milieu and manners of its time in Vienna, a travesty or a parody or a

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manner devoid of any artistic value. The BPjM stated that the contents of the book justified it being placed on the "list of youth-endangering media" so that its availability to minors would be restricted.

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I remember one afternoon, when I was alone in the house, he came home. I was then only five years old. My mother and my two brothers had gone to Furstenfeld and my father had not yet returned from work.

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Frimmel, Johannes (2016). "Die Erotica an der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek und der Wienbibliothek: Ein kurzer Überblick". In Friedrich, Hans-Edwin; Hanuschek, Sven; Rauen, Christoph (eds.).

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called "The 7 Songs of Josefine Mutzenbacher" ("Die 7 Lieder der Josefine Mutzenbacher"). The show is a raunchy, humorous parody of the novel, set in a brothel, that runs approximately 75 minutes.

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or "Federal inspection department for youth-endangering media") collates books, movies, video games and music that could be harmful to young people because they contain violence, pornography,

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In an event organized by the Jazzclub Regensburg, Werner Steinmassl held a live musical reading of Josephine Mutzenbacher, accompanied by Andreas Rüsing, at the Leeren Beutel Concert Hall in

173:, in 1906. The novel is famous in the German-speaking world, having been in print in both German and English for over 100 years and sold over 3 million copies, becoming an erotic bestseller. 2220: 934:

for a new movie adaptation. She uses their responses to build a picture of male sexual attitudes, particularly attitudes to female sexuality. The documentary won the Encounters Award at the

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book begins when she is five years old and ends when she is thirteen years old and starts her career as an unlicensed prostitute with a friend, to support her unemployed father.

1564:, claims to be "uncensored and uncut", but actually it is incomplete and censored, e.g., obfuscating references to anal intercourse. All these issues are replicated in the 1975 3475:

Ruthner, Clemens (2011). "The Back Side of Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: The Infamously Infantile Sexuality of Josefine Mutzenbacher". In Ruthner, Clemens; Whitinger, Raleigh (eds.).

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In 1976 the heirs of Felix Salten – more precisely, his granddaughter Lea Wyler – demanded the German publishing company Rogner & Bernhard to stop distributing the novel

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as an indictment of Freud's bourgeois psychology, whereas the Austrian psychoanalyst Désirée Prosquill thinks that not only are there marked thematic correspondences between

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Reiter-Zatloukal, Ilse (2019). "Zwischen Strafbarkeit und Kunstfreiheit: Die Mutzenbacher in rechtshistorischer Perspektive". In Ruthner, Clemens; Schmidt, Matthias (eds.).

2293:. Katalog zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung im Jüdischen Museum der Stadt Wien vom 5. Dezember 2006 bis 18. März 2007 (in German). Wien: Holzhausen Verlag. pp. 91–92. 686: 1598:

The other tenants, probably fifty in all, came and went, sometimes in a friendly way, more often in anger. Most of them disappeared and we never heard from them again.

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Josefine Mutzenbacher oder die Geschichte einer wienerischen Dirne von ihr selbst erzählt: Ungekürzter Nachdruck der Erstausgabe aus dem Jahr 1906 mit Essays zum Werk

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Farin, Michael (2016). "Die letzten Illusionen: Josefine Mutzenbacher vor Gericht. Ein Dossier". In Friedrich, Hans-Edwin; Hanuschek, Sven; Rauen, Christoph (eds.).

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Hebrew, Dutch, and Japanese among others, and been the subject of numerous films, theater productions, parodies, and university courses, as well as two sequels.

724:. The court, however, did not examine the question of authorship because, according to the old German Copyright Act, the anonymously published novel had become 564:

on its "list of youth-endangering media," and the Rowohlt Publishing house filed an appeal with the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany on the grounds that

1605:

The locksmith took me up from the floor, where I was playing, and held me on his lap. I wanted to cry, but he quietly told me: "Be quiet, I won't hurt you".

690: 491: 3231: 2665: 1553:, some of which, however, are pirated editions of each other. Until 2018, all the English translations were missing the original publisher's introduction. 2193: 1994: 1516:

Der Sex-Akt in der Literatur. Zur Geschichte u. Repräsentation des Sex-Aktes im Spannungsfeld von "hoher Literatur, Trivialliteratur u. Pornographie"

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as an individual work, because it set a precedent as to which has a larger weight in German Law: Freedom of Expression or The Protection of Youth.

915:. Gunter Otto served as producer on the first film, but he and Billian then parted ways, with each directing his own series of sequels. Billian's 542: 315: 1433:

Both the original Josephine Mutzenbacher and the two "sequels" are available as spoken word audio CDs read by Austrian actress Ulrike Beimpold:

188:. Today, critics, scholars, academics and the Austrian Government designate Salten as the sole author of the "pornographic classic". In 2022, a 1596:

I had two older brothers. My father and my mother and we three children lived in two rooms... a living-room and kitchen. We also had a roomer.

3201: 1401: 2417: 286:. In some constellations, Josefine appears as the active seducer, and sex is usually depicted as an uncomplicated, satisfactory experience. 3751: 2650: 2629: 2256: 3761: 3746: 3179: 3106: 314:

Other illustrations have been created as well. The first English translation of 1931 was quickly pirated in New York and illustrated by

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Liebrand, Claudia (2006). "Josefine Mutzenbacher: Die Komödie der Sexualität". In Siegfried Mattl & Werner Michael Schwarz (ed.).

2131:. Translated by J. M. Q. Davies, with and introduction and notes by Ritchie Robertson. Oxford : Oxford University Press. pp. X. 2837: 1942: 1519: 1506: 3721: 2882: 2736: 1418:

gave several comedy cabaret live performances of the text of Josephine Mutzenbacher at the Auersperg15-Theater in Vienna, Austria.

3406:. Regensburger Beiträge zur deutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft B 81 (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. pp. 2801: 1515: 2720: 935: 373: 1912: 3556: 636: 3085: 1880: 3509: 3486: 3388: 3345: 2614: 2509: 2476: 2443: 2402: 2377: 2348: 2323: 2298: 1778: 1731: 1716: 710:. In response, the company asked for "decisive evidence" for Salten's authorship. The heirs could not provide such evidence. 3716: 2013: 1524: 3283: 1534: 560:

that included a foreword and omitted the "glossary of Viennese vulgarisms" from the 1969 version. The BPjM again placed

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Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons Official Statement Concerning the Mutzenbacher Decision (German)

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Friedrich, Hans-Edwin (2018). "Naturalistische Kraft, Sozialkritik, sexueller Missbrauch: Zur Deutungsgeschichte der

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knows Bambi and Josefine Mutzenbacher even today, but the author Felix Salten is today to a large extent forgotten".

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and won the case in 1995. However, the BPjM appealed for its part and won in September 1997 at the higher instance,

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TRANS Nr. 14: Donald G. Daviau (Riverside/California): Austria at the Turn of the Century 1900 and at the Millenium

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An item will stay on the list for 25 years, after which time the effects of the indexing will cease automatically.

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Josephine Mutzenbacher as she would be today, part 6, the night of the wild swans (Schwäne) or cocks (Schwänze)

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against Rogner & Bernhard, claiming that Salten's authorship could be proven, although they only provided

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Turn-of-the-century cabaret: Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Cracow, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Zurich

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in its unabashed "laundry list" cataloging of all manner of taboo sexual antics from children's sexual play,

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should be placed on a list of youth-restricted media. However, the significance of the case came to eclipse

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Translated by Rudolf Schleifer . Introduction by Hilary E. Holt, PhD. North Hollywood, Brandon House, 1967.

689:– Includes a list of the most popular restricted games, movies, comic books, and music not included on the 671: 439: 1991: 1840:

The Politics of Prostitution: Women's Movements, Democratic States, and the Globalisation of Sex Commerce

885:, the male lead ("Peter Planer") plays a sexually dysfunctional army officer who is about to be married. 3063: 3711: 3594: 3549: 2959: 1843: 396:

also anticipates some issues concerning infantile sexuality that Freud added to his theory only later.

3164: 2212: 3150: 2764: 931: 304: 2438:. Buchwissenschaftliche Beiträge, 97 (in German). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 307–308. 2011:

Mutzenbacher, Josefine Mutzenbacher, Erotische Führung, Wienführung, Führungen in Wien, Anna Ehrlich

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Annual Conference of the Modern Austrian Literature and Culture Association International Symposium

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with a female protagonist. It has also been praised for its criticism of the bourgeois society.

1425:, Bavaria, Germany called "Werner Steinmassl reads Josefine Mutzenbacher" on 3 September 2005. 237: 176:

Although no author claimed responsibility for the work, it was originally attributed to either

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Contested Passions: Sexuality, Eroticism, and Gender in Modern Austrian Literature and Culture

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Complete and unexpurgated. Continental Classics Erotica Book, 113. Continental Classics, 1967.

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set to modern music composed by Bernd Weißig and arranged by the Pianist Detlef Bielke of the

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on its list, after two criminal courts declared the pornographic content of the book obscene.

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and similar dangerous content. The items are placed on the "List of youth-endangering media" (

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Josephine Mutzenbacher as she would be today, part 5, constantly aroused, men's erotic dreams

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Josefine Mutzenbacher, Die Lebensgeschichte einer wienerischen Dirne, von ihr selbst erzählt

2436:"In Wollust betäubt": Unzüchtige Bücher im deutschsprachigen Raum im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert 1397: 537:, published a two volume edition, and in 1969 the German publisher Rogner & Bernhard in 298:

A sample illustration from a 1922 edition shows Pepi and Zenzi whipping a young male client.

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Josefine Mutzenbacher: Kritische Ausgabe nach dem Erstdruck mit Beiträgen von Oswald Wiener

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Josefine Mutzenbacher oder Die Geschichte einer Wienerischen Dirne von ihr selbst erzählt.

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filmed a hundred men reading from and reacting to Salten's novel in what was supposedly a

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