Listen to this essay 27 minute listen One day at Café Central in Vienna in 1894, Peter Altenberg was reading a story in the newspaper about the disappearance of a 15-year-old girl. He decided to write a short poem in her honour. Then, by mere chance, some of the great names of the Viennese literary world entered the café: Arthur Schnitzler, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Felix Salten, Richard Beer-Hofmann...