Once considered the dean of Austrian literature, particularly during the final years of his life, Franz Karl Ginzkey seems to be all but forgotten now. Only children and compilers of school readers have remained loyal to him through the years. Two of Ginzkey's children's books, Hatschi Bratschis Luftballon (Hatschi Bratschi's Balloon, 1904) and Florians wundersame Reise über die Tapete (Florian's Wonderful Trip up and down the Wallpaper, 1928), are still popular; and his ballads, especially those dealing with the history and folklore of Vienna, have become classics and are reprinted in Austrian schoolbooks.

During his lifetime and within a few years after his death Ginzkey was the subject of several dissertations, but Ginzkey scholarship has long since abated; in fact, he is hardly mentioned in today's standard literary histories. When he is mentioned, it is frequently in connection with those figures of the post-World War I Austrian literary scene...