I read The World of Yesterday: Memoirs of a European by Stefan Zweig after a recommendation on HN. Gave an interesting if sad view into the Vienna of the past.
Also try The Man Without Qualities. Same time period and location.
Excellent recommendation. Musil had a lot of mic drop lines about “Kakania”
It’s excellent. For those the speak German, there is also a fanatastic audio book read by an Austrian actor. It very much sounds like Zweig speaking because of the accent.
Yeah, the audiobook version really is quite special. It’s read by Peter Vilnai, if I remember correctly. One of the few audiobooks I was able to completely be absorbed by while listening.
Can also recommend it highly, fascinating view into the stagnation, bureaucracy and "general feel" of the time