What is a Franz Ferdinand novel? And why writing such a novel in 1937? About The heir to the throne by Ludwig Winder
2021
Abstract
The article describes Ludwig Winder's novel ""The heir to the throne. A Franz Ferdinand novel"" as both a psychological study and a historical novel.
But as Franz Ferdinand never became emperor (and king), the novel is also an 'alternative history'. From the perspective of the ruler to be the other possibilities of the state of the pluricultural Habsburg monarchy and Europe are reflected, which are still relevant for the present of Winder, which was overshadowed by the rise of Adolf Hitler, and also for our own present.
This also explains why Winder wrote his Franz Ferdinand novel 23 years after the assassination of the heir to the throne in Sarajevo.