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Else Jerusalem’s Red House Alley is a riveting exposé of the sex industry in fin-de-siècle Vienna. A bestseller upon its 1909 publication, the novel was banned by the Nazis in 1933 (along with its 1928 film adaptation) and fell into obscurity. Boiler House Press published the first full English translation of this landmark work last year, and translator Stephanie Gorrell Ortega joins us to discuss Jerusalem’s richly-drawn account of brothel workers (based on accounts from real prostitutes). We also draw comparisons with this year’s Academy Award-winning “Best Picture,” Anora. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Red House Alley by Else Jerusalem

Life and photos of Else Jerusalem

Anora

The Diary of a Lost Girl by Margarite Böhme

The DIary of a Lost Girl film

Young Vienna movement

Rebellion in the Brothel documentary about the Regina Riehl trial

Celestina Truxa

Felix Salten

Hermann Bahr

Arthur Schnitzler

Karl Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Pretty Baby

David Copperfield

Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 106 on Dirty Helen Cromwell

Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 197 on Helen Tracy Lowe Porter

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