Vicki Baum (1888–1960) WAS AUSTRIAN BY BIRTH and spent her first twenty-eight years in Vienna. She lived in Germany from 1912 until 1932, then in the United States until her death in 1960. Before moving to Germany she had published little apart from some short stories and articles, but during her Weimar period she wrote five volumes of novellas and eleven novels, including her two most successful works. The themes of the major works reflect many contemporary concerns and prevailing literary trends. In order to place Vicki Baum in context, it is helpful to review these aspects of Weimar society.

In the early 1920s, the Expressionism of the previous decade began to give way to a more sober view of art and literature, based on the intent to convey an authentic picture of contemporary society. The term Neue Sachlichkeit — the New Objectivity — described this trend. This turning away from the visionary effusions of Expressionism was undoubtedly inspired not only by disillusionment with such idealistic dreams, following the failure of the revolutionary hopes of 1919, but also by the economic and political turmoil of the early years of the Weimar Republic. Moreover, the concept of art as the province of the privileged was being challenged by social and technological developments. Cheaper printing methods and the consequent expansion in books, newspapers, and magazines went hand in hand with a fast-developing mass readership. Since the nineteenth century, literacy had grown dramatically; this, coupled with increased leisure resulting from shorter working hours, created a greater demand for reading material, with middle-class women constituting a substantial proportion of the reading public.