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Mark Twain, accompanied by his wife Olivia and his daughters Jean and Clara, stayed in Vienna from 27th September 1897 until 26th May 1899.


== Book Announcement ==

This book announcement was a joke made by Mark Twain during his last week in Vienna and everybody believed it. In an interview with Dr. Johannes Horowitz, correspondent for the ''New York Times'', Mark Twain further expanded on his joke by explaining that his book would not be published until 100 years after his death, because then he would not have to bear the consequences of offending anyone ([https://www.zotero.org/groups/4437667/mtxdigital/items/TJGIKW4J/ Scharnhorst, ''The Complete Interviews'']). The Viennese people were very concerned, fearing what the usually very outspoken Mark Twain had to say about them. A few days later, Mark Twain felt obligated to clarify his joke through his friend the journalist Eduard Pötzl (see [https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nwg&datum=18990527&seite=4&zoom=33 "Mark Twain über den Weltfrieden," ''Neues Wiener Tageblatt'', 27 May 1899]). The reason for this joke, as Carl Dolmetsch concludes, was to draw attention to his actual works written during his time in Vienna ([https://www.zotero.org/groups/4437667/mtxdigital/items/97PABR4V/ 311]).

== Hotel Krantz ==
[[File:1898-10-16-MT-Hotel-Krantz-Vienna-arrival.png|left|frameless|500x500px]]
The Austrian daily newspaper ''Neue Freie Presse'' reported that Mark Twain arrived at the Hotel Krantz from Kaltleutgeben on October 16, 1898, with the intention of spending the winter in Vienna.


In June 1945, the luxury hotel was renamed "Hotel Ambassador". More information about the history of the hotel is provided on the [https://www.ambassador.at/en/history hotel's website].

== Visit to Parliament ==
[[File:Austrian_parliament_harpers_1897.jpg|thumb|right|350px|{{File:Austrian_parliament_harpers_1897.jpg}}]]

Shortly after arriving in Vienna, Mark Twain started to take an interest in local politics. On 28th October 1897, he attended a sitting of the Austro-Hungarian parliament for the first time. He describes it in great detail in his essay "Stirring Times in Austria", first published in ''Harper's New Monthly Magazine'' in March 1898 and later republished in the collection ''How To Tell a Story''. Twain writes that the event was constantly disrupted by heckling of the politicians. Curses and threats were made against the speaker and everybody had wooden planks that were banged on the desks to make loud noises. Many sittings of the parliament went like this, making actual debates almost impossible.

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