Visit to Parliament

Illustration of a tumultuous scene in the Austrian parliament on 28th October 1897 from Harper's New Monthly Magazine. Source: Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 96, March 1898, 532, https://archive.org/details/harpersnew096various/page/532.

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 (Dolmetsch 72). 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.

Article Pages

linked to Visit to Parliament (13)

• IA-015 • [MT visits Austrian Parliament] • 30 Nov 1897
• IL-063 • Mark Twain und Werestchagin haben ihren Spaß • 6 Nov 1897
• IL-065 • Im österreichischen Abgeordnetenhause wird’s immer toller • 26 Nov 1897
• IL-066 • Die Auftritte im österreichischen Hause • 27 Nov 1897
• MD-167 • Verestchagin und Mark Twain im östreichischen Reichsrath • 8 Nov 1897
• MD-168 • [MT comments on session of the Vienna Reichsrath] • 27 Nov 1897
• MD-170 • Mark Twain von einem Czechen geschlagen • 29 Nov 1897
• MD-172 • [MT at Vienna Reichsrath session] • 30 Nov 1897
• MD-173 • [MT at Vienna Reichsrath session] • 3 Dec 1897
• NE-014 • Wollen Sie am Geldbeutel angreifen • 2 Dec 1897
• SD-015 • Trauriges Schauspiel • 11 Nov 1897
• TX-034 • Mark Twains Rückreise nach der Heimath • 12 Jun 1899
• TX-036 • Sonntagsbetrachtungen • 23 Sep 1899