Le Rider considers aspects of Viennese modernity which prefigure postmodernism. Viennese modernism was not triumphant or self-assured, but distinguished more by the crisis of individualism which characterized the postmodern era. Among other examples, Le Rider considers Hofmannsthal's mysticism, Weininger's ideal of genius, and the narcissistic delusions of Schreber's paranoid psychosis. He observes how this mysticism, genius, and narcissism all seek to surpass the limits of life through the abolition of the difference between masculine and feminine, often favoring an androgynous ideal. There is an aspiration toward the destruction of the ego and a seeking to escape the contingencies of life in the re-creation of a more perfect self. The ambivalence was reflected in Schreber's desire for the feminine and