The Strudlhof Steps: or, Melzer and the Depth of the Years () is a 1951 novel by the Austrian writer Heimito von Doderer. It is set in Vienna in the 1920s and portrays a large number of mostly well-off characters, connected by their proximity to the Strudlhofstiege, an outdoor staircase. The novel gives emphasis to location and language rather than actions of the characters.

The book was a critical success at its original publication. Retrospective critics have praised its sense of timelessness, style and portrayal of Viennese society. It has been grouped with Doderer's novels The Lighted Windows (1950) and The Demons (1956), which provide a detailed panorama of Vienna in the 1910s and 1920s. A poem by Doderer that opens The Strudlhof Steps has been placed on a plaque at the Strudlhofstiege. The novel was adapted into an Austrian television film in 1987.

Background The Austrian writer Heimito von Doderer had served in World War I and became a moderately successful novelist in Vienna in the 1930s. He became a member of the Nazi Party in 1933, served in the Wehrmacht during World War II and was a war prisoner in Oslo. He developed ideas for The Strudlhof Steps in his diaries during the war and began to write the novel in American-occupied Upper Austria in 1945. He was eventually able to move back to Vienna, where he continued to work on the large-scale novel, finishing it in 1948.

In the second half of the 1940s, Doderer lived on little food and worked on three novels—The Lighted Windows, The Strudlhof Steps and The Demons—while being subjected to denazification and undergoing gradual rehabilitation. He had stopped sympathising with National Socialism in 1938, instead turning toward Austrian subjects, Catholicism and the private world, but because of his party background, he was still forbidden from publishing at the time he finished The Strudlhof Steps. The Lighted Windows was published in 1950 and has been described as a precursor to The Strudlhof Steps due to its Viennese setting and narrative mode.

Plot

It is the 1920s and Melzer, who served as a lieutenant for the Austro-Hungarian Army in the Balkans, is back living in his home city of Vienna. Melzer becomes an observer of his own life, the people of Vienna and the city itself, recurringly spending time at the Strudlhofstiege, an Art Nouveau staircase with terraces and fountains that has become a symbol for the city.

There are scenes from 1923 to 1925, and most prominently August–September 1925, as well as memories from the period 1908–1911 and especially the summer of 1911. Although World War I and the fall of the Austrian monarchy took place during the period covered, they are almost not commented on at all by the characters, and the narrator argues that war, as it is a collective experience, is of little relevance for the human self-knowledge he is interested in. Melzer becomes a de facto background character as the book portrays the daily lives, minds and pastimes of dozens of people connected by the stairs.

The different plot lines and large character gallery are occasionally woven together but do not add up to any central plot. The characters are mostly from the upper social strata of Viennese society, including the families of military officers, businessmen, government officials and lawyers, but there are also lower-level employees in the city's bureaucracy, who often live in the Alsergrund district below the Strudlhofstiege. Melzer has this lower-middle-class background but has the opportunity to marry a woman from a prominent family at the end of the novel.

Major Characters Mary K. • had a relationship with Melzer in 1910; • married Oscar in 1910; • book starts with her in late summer 1923 when she stands up Dr. Negria; • lives above the Siebenscheins; • takes piano lessons from Grete Siebenschein; • doesn't like Rene Stangeler because he makes Grete unhappy; • doesn't like Eulenfeld either; • Oscar dies from something like cancer in Feb. 1924; • as a friend of Fraunholzer's wife Mädi, she knows about their marriage falling apart in 1925; she pieces together from Grete that Etelka is the one causing this break; • Mary wants Mädi and Fraunholzer to stay together, in homage to her own marriage. • in Sept. 1925, her son is almost 14 and her daughter is almost 15; she sees Dr. Negria at the tennis club and he tells her about seeing Fraunholzer and Etelka at the dance; • she talks to Lea Fraunholzer on the phone and arranges to meet her; Grete stops by and she tries to get her to stay for tea so that she can hear the news from Budapest from Rene when he gets home, but it goes too late so she leaves; she is distracted when she sees Dr. Negria and she gets run over by a street car; Melzer and Thea administer first aid (Mon., Sept. 21, 1925). • Melzer and Thea visit Mary in the hospital (Sat., Sept. 26, 1925); • Melzer and Thea also visit her on their wedding day.

Oscar K. • husband of Mary K.; • lives above the Siebenscheins; • plays tennis with Semski; • Oscar dies from something like cancer in Feb. 1924.

Dr. Negria • Romanian physician; • admirer of Mary K.; • plays tennis with Semski; • at the dance in the country on Aug. 29, 1925; • he goes for a drive with Melzer, Editha, Eulenfeld, Angelika Scheichsbeutel, Kajetan and wife, Geyrenhoff, and others (Sat., Sept. 5, 1925); • Mary K. sees him right before she gets hit by the street car (Mon., Sept. 21, 1925).

Kajetan von S. (aka Dr. Döblinger) • author; divorcee; former son-in-law of Dr. Schedik; friend of Eulenfeld; • takes Geyrenhoff to the café; • convinces Rosa Zihal to have her husband's portrait painted; • he goes for a drive with Melzer, Editha, Negria, Angelika Scheichsbeutel, his wife, Eulenfeld, Geyrenhoff, and others (Sat., Sept. 5, 1925).

Cavalry Captain Otto Eulenfeld (aka Rittmeister; Master of Horse; Disaster of Course; the Captain; Otto) • wears a monocle; • friend of Kajetan and Melzer; • spent 1918-1922 abroad; • rides in the car with Melzer and Editha in 1923; • in spring 1925, Editha and Melzer meet at his place; • dates Thea Rokitzer in 1925; • he asks Thea to take "Editha's" passport to the post office to pick up a letter (July 11, 1925); • in July 1925, Eulenfeld tries to get some tobacco products from Thea's aunt and gets upset when she botches the request; • in 1925 Mimi and Eulenfeld are out in Vienna and Ingrid, now Frau von Budau, cuts "Editha" again; • he calls Rene in Vienna to ask him to keep "Editha" company the next day, though he knows it's really Mimi (August 21, 1925); • he meets up with Rene and Melzer going to Editha's place and gets drunk (Aug. 24, 1925); • he's having a party with Dolly Storch, Leucht, Thea, Editha; it is revealed that the concierge of Editha's building (Hawelka) is friends with the concierge of Eulenfeld's building (Wöss)(Aug. 29, 1925); • he goes for a drive with Melzer, Editha, Negria, Angelika Scheichsbeutel, Kajetan and wife, Geyrenhoff, and others (Sat., Sept. 5, 1925); • he is with Editha and Mimi; they are planning to reveal the twins to Melzer, but Thea comes instead; the authorities come with a warrant to search Eulenfeld and Editha's apartments concerning the tobacco scheme; luckily, Thea just pocketed the papers with the official signatures (Mon., Sept. 21, 1925); • Eulenfeld, Mimi, and Editha reveal the twin escapade to Melzer (Oct. 2, 1925); • he facilitates the twins' meeting with their parents and rides on a horse in the Prater; • attends Melzer's wedding.

Lieutenant Melzer (later Major; then civil service councillor) • friend of Eulenfeld, who taught him how to drive; lives on Porzellan Gasse; • in summer 1910 he leaves Mary in Ischl, goes to Café Pucher and sees Semski and Grabmayr, then takes the train with Major Laska; • frequent guest at the Stangeler country house, especially in 1911; • meets Rene in the stream in August 1911 after the snake encounter; • part of the group that drinks in Aug. 1911 in the country with Marchetti, Grabmayr, Geyrenhoff, von Langl, Lindner, Buschmann, etc.; • part of the hiking party the next day with Asta (who he wants to get with), Editha, and Rene; • has a brief crush on Editha in 1911; • after 1918, working for the state tobacco administration; • rides in the car with Eulenfeld and Editha (at that time Schlinger) in 1923; • is walking with Editha on the Graben when she and Ingrid cut each other, three days after the car ride in 1923; • met E.P. and Rosa in 1924; • in spring, 1925, he sees Editha at Eulenfeld's, and sees her a few times that year; • on the evening at Eulenfeld's, Melzer goes with Rene and Editha to the Strudlhof Steps; • in June, 1925, Mimi and Eulenfeld come to Melzer's; • Melzer writes a note to cancel a meeting with Editha (really Mimi); he gives the note to Thea who is going to see Editha on (July 10, 1925); • meets EP and Roserl at the Steps on Saturday, Aug 22, 1925, the day he spends by the bearskin from the Treskavica in his room on Porzellan Gasse; • Aug. 22 is the day he acquires a "civilian mentality"; • he goes out to Greifenstein to see Eulenfeld and meets Editha (really Mimi) on the train; she brings the cigarettes, he brings the coffee; he remembers Major Laska and how he died in Melzer's arms (Aug. 23, 1925); • he goes to the Strudlhof Steps and runs into Rene, then also Editha (really Mimi) and Eulenfeld (Aug. 24, 1925); • Editha (really Mimi) asks him to get her fountain pen repaired (Aug. 28, 1925); • he runs into Geyrenhoff, Marchetti, Konietzki, Langl, and von Lindner and they go to Café Pucher (Fri., Aug. 28, 1925); • he goes to the country and sees Asta at the post office, getting a letter from Herr Karl von W.; they go to the woods and talk about Etelka (Aug. 29, 1925); • at the dance in the country on Aug. 29, 1925; • has lunch with the Stangelers on Aug. 30 and notices that the father has gotten old; when he walks to the station with Asta and Etelka, it's the last time he sees her; • when he returns to Vienna on Sunday, Aug. 30, 1925, EP has put an electric candle in his room; • he goes for a walk with "Editha" and Eulenfeld; he later runs into Rene and they go to Melzer's place to drink coffee and smoke tobacco; they part at the Strudlhof Steps (Wed., Sept. 2, 1925); • Editha goes to Melzer's office to invite him for a drive on Saturday with Eulenfeld, then Thea shows up at the office to invite him for a get-together on Wed. Sept. 8 with Paula (Thurs., Sept. 3, 1925); • he goes for a drive with Eulenfeld, Editha, Negria, Angelika Scheichsbeutel, Kajetan and wife, Geyrenhoff, and others; he kisses Editha (Sat., Sept. 5, 1925); • he goes to the garden party with Alois and Paula Pichler, Thea Rokitzer, Theresa Schachl, Councillor Zihal; he officially meets Paula and Zihal for the first time, but remembers that he saw Paula on the Strudlhof Steps in 1911 (Wed., Sept. 9, 1925); • he meets Editha at the Strudlhof Steps (Thurs., Sept. 10, 1925); • he runs into Rene (Fri., Sept. 11, 1925); • Thea and Paula come over (Sat., Sept. 19, 1925); • he meets Rene on the Strudlhof Steps and learns that Etelka is dead; for this reason he ends up not meeting Paula and Thea on the Donaukanal; he was supposed to meet Editha as well, but on his way over he sees Mary K.'s accident; he rushes to assist her and finds that Thea is also there; they go to his place afterwards to clean up and he proposes to her (Mon., Sept. 21, 1925); • he sees Rene when they follow Etelka's coffin (Tues., Sept. 22, 1925); • Melzer and Thea go to the Pichlers and plan the engagement party (Thurs., Sept. 24, 1925); • Melzer and Thea visit Mary in the hospital (Sat., Sept. 26, 1925); • Melzer and Thea visit E.P. and Rosa (Sun., Sept. 27, 1925); • he goes to Editha's to get the twin show and confront her about the papers Thea gave him (Fri., Oct. 2, 1925); • Oct. 7 is the engagement party at the Schachls; • Melzer goes to the Strudelhof Steps one more time and marries Thea before winter;