SCHNITZLER, Arthur

Nationality: Austrian. Born: Vienna, 15 May 1862. Education: Akademisches Gymnasium, Vienna, 1871-79; studied medicine at the University of Vienna, 1879-85, M.D. 1885. Family: Married Olga Gussmann in 1903 (separated 1921); one son and one daughter. Career: Medical intern, 1885-88; assistant at Allgemeine Poliklinik, 1888-93, then in private practice. Awards: Bauernfeld prize, 1899, 1903; Grillparzer prize, 1908; Raimund prize, 1910; Vienna Volkstheater prize, 1914. Died: 21 October 1931.

Publications

Collections

Gesammelte Werke. 7 vols., 1912; enlarged edition, 9 vols., 1922.

Gesammelte Werke, edited by Robert O. Weiss. 5 vols., 1961-67.

Plays and Stories, edited by Egon Schwarz. 1982.

The Final Plays. 1996.

Short Stories and Novellas

Sterben. 1895; as "Dying," in The Little Comedy and Other Stories, 1977.

Die Frau des Weisen: Novelletten. 1898.

Leutnant Gustl. 1901; as None But the Brave, 1926.

Frau Bertha Garlan. 1901; translated as Bertha Garlan, 1913.

Die griechische Tänzerin: Novellen. 1905.

Dämmerseelen: Novellen. 1907.

Die Hirtenflöte. 1912.

Masken und Wunder: Novellen. 1912.

Frau Beate und ihr Sohn. 19l3; translated as Beatrice, 1926.

Viennese Idylls. 1913.

Doktor Gräsler, Badearzt. 19l7; translated as Dr. Graesler, 1923.

Casanovas Heimfahrt. 1918; as Casanova's Homecoming, 1921.

Der Mörder. 1922.

The Shepherd's Pipe and Other Stories. 1922.

Fräulein Else. 1924; translated as Fräulein Else, 1925.

Die dreifache Warning: Novellen. 1924.

Die Frau des Richters. 1925.

Traumnovelle. 1926; as Rhapsody: A Dream Novel, 1927.

Beatrice and Other Stories. 1926.

Spiel im Morgengrauen. 1927; as Daybreak, 1927.

Therese: Chronik eines Frauenlebens. 1928; as Theresa: The Chronicle of a Woman's Life, 1928.

Gesammelte Schriften. 6 vols., 1928.

Little Novels. 1929.

Flucht in die Finsternis. 1931; as Flight into Darkness, 1931.

Viennese Novelettes. 1931.

Abenteuernovelle. 1937.

Vienna 1900: Games with Love and Death. 1973.

Novel

Der Weg ins Freie. 1908; as The Road to the Open, 1923.

Plays

Das Abenteur seines Lebens (produced 1891). 1888.

Das Märchen (produced 1893). 1894.

Anatol (cycle of seven one-act plays; produced as a cycle 1910).1893; edited by Ernst L. Offermann, 1964; as Anatol: A Sequence of Dialogues, 1911; as The Affairs of Anatol, 1933; as Anatol, in The Round Dance and Other Plays, 1982.

Das Märchen (produced 1893). 1894.

Liebelei (produced 1895). 1896; as Light-o'-Love, 1912; asPlaying with Love, 1914; as Love Games, in The Round Dance and Other Plays, 1982; as Flirtations, in Plays and Stories, 1982; as Dalliance, adapted by Tom Stoppard, with Undiscovered Country, 1986.

Freiwild (produced 1897). 1898; as Free Game, 1913.

Das Vermächtnis (produced 1898). 1899; as The Legacy, in Poet Lore, July-August 1911.

Der grüne Kakadu, Paracelsus, Die Gefährtin. 1899; as The Green Cockatoo and Other Plays (includes Paracelsus, The Mate), 1913; Der grüne Kakadu also translated as The Duke and the Actress, 1910.

Der Schleier der Beatrice (produced 1900). 1901.

Reigen (produced 1920). 1900; as Hands Around, 1920; as Couples, 1927; as Round Dance, in From the Modern Repertoire, edited by Eric Bentley, 1949; as Merry-Go-Round, 1953; as La Ronde, in From the Modern Repertoire, edited by Eric Bentley, 1954; as Dance of Love, 1965; as The Round Dance, in The Round Dance and Other Plays, 1982.

Lebendige Stunden (includes Die Frau mit dem Dolche, Die letzten Masken, Literatur, Lebendige Stunden). 1902; as Living Hours (includes The Lady with the Dagger, Last Masks, Literature, Living Hours), 1913.

Der einsame Weg. 1904; as The Lonely Way, 1904; as The Lonely Road, 1985.

Marionetten (includes Der Puppenspieler, Der tapfere Cassian, Zum grossen Wurstel). 1906; revised version of Der tapfere Cassian, music by Oscar Straus, 1909; translated as Gallant Cassian, 1914.

Zwischenspiel (produced 1905). 1906; as Intermezzo, in Three Plays, 1915.

Der Ruf des Lebens (produced 1906). 1906.

Komtesse Mizzi; oder, Der Familientag (produced 1909). 1909; asCountess Mizzie, 1907, in Three Plays, 1915; as Countess Mitzi; or, the Family Reunion, revised translation, in Plays and Stories, 1982.

Der Schleier der Pierrette, music by Ernst von Dohnanyi (produced 1910). 1910.

Der junge Medardus (produced 1910). 1910.

The Green Cockatoo and Other Plays (includes Paracelsus andThe Mate). 1910.

Das weite Land (produced 1911). 1911; as Undiscovered Country, 1980.

Professor Bernhardi (produced 1912). 1912; translated as Professor Bernhardi, 1913.

Komödie der Worte (includes Stunde des Erkennens, Grosse Szene, Das Bacchusfest; produced simultaneously 1915). 1915; as Comedies of Words and Other Plays (includes The Hour of Recognition, The Big Scene, The Festival of Bacchus), 1917. Fink und Fliederbusch (produced 1917). 19l7.

Three Plays (includes The Lonely Way, Intermezzo, Countess Mizzi). 1915.

Die Schwestern; oder, Casanova in Spa (produced 1920). 1919.

Komödie der Verführung (produced 1924). 1924.

Der Gang zum Weiher (produced 1931). 1926.

Im Spiel der Sommerlüfte (produced 1929). 1930; as Summer Breeze, 1989.

Zug der Schatten, edited by Françoise Derre. 1970.

The Round Dance and Other Plays (includes Anatol and Love Games). 1982.

Other

Buch der Sprüche und Bedenken: Aphorismen und Fragmente. 1927.

Der Geist im Wort und der Geist in der Tat. 1927; as The Mind in Words and Action: Preliminary Remarks Concerning Two Diagrams, 1972.

Über Krieg und Frieden. 1939; as Some Day Peace Will Return: Notes on Peace and War, 1972.

Breifwechsel, with Otto Brahm, edited by Oskar Seidlin. 1953; revised edition, 1964.

Briefwechsel, with Georg Brandes, edited by Kurt Bergel. 1956.

Briefwechsel, with Hugo von Hofmannsthal, edited by ThereseNickl and Heinrich Schnitzler. 1964.

Jugend in Wien: Eine Autobiographie, edited by Therese Nickl and Heinrich Schnitzler. 1968; as My Youth in Vienna, 1971.

Liebe, die starb vor der Zeit: Ein Briefwechsel, with Olga Waissnix, edited by Therese Nickl and Heinrich Schnitzler. 1970.

Briefwechsel, with Max Reinhardt, edited by Renate Wagner. 1971.

Correspondence, with Raoul Auernheimer, edited by David G. Daviau and Jorun B. Johns. 1972.

Briefe 1875-1912, edited by Therese Nickl and HeinrichSchnitzler. 1981.

Tagebuch 1909-1912, edited by Peter M. Braunworth and others.1981; further volumes: 1913-1916, 1983, 1917-1919, 1985; 1879-1892, 1987.

Beziehungen und Einsamkeiten: Aphorismen, edited by ClemensEich. 1987.

Briefe 1913-1931, edited by Peter M. Braunworth and others. 1984.

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Bibliography:

An Annotated Schnitzler Bibliography by Richard H. Allen, 1966; An Annotated Schnitzler Bibliography 1965-1977 by Jeffrey B. Berlin, 1978.

Critical Studies:

Schnitzler by Sol Liptzin, 1932; Studies in Schnitzler by H. W. Reichart and Herman Salinger, 1963; The Concept of the Physician in the Writings of Hans Carossa and Schnitzler by Marie P. Alter, 1971; Schnitzler: A Critical Study by Martin Swales, 1971; Schnitzler by R. Urbach, 1971; Schnitzler by Richard Urbach, translated by Donald G. Daviau, 1973; The Late Dramatic Works of Schnitzler by Brigitte L. Schneider-Halvorson, 1983; Schnitzler and His Age: Intellectual and Artistic Currents edited by Petrus W. Tax and Richard H. Lawson, 1984; Schnitzler and the Crisis of Musical Culture by Marc A. Weiner, 1986; Schnitzler by Michaela L. Perlmann, 1987; Hauptmann, Wedekind and Schnitzler by Peter Skrine, 1989; Deadly Dishonor: The Duel and the Honor Code in the Works of Schnitzler by Brenda Keiser, 1990; Schnitzler's Vienna: Image of a Society by Bruce Thompson, 1990; Schnitzler, Hoffmansthal and the Austrian Theatre by W. E. Yates, 1992; Political Dimensions of Arthur Schnitzler's Late Fiction by Felix W. Tweraser, 1997; Arthur Schnitzler's Late Plays: A Critical Study by G. J. Weinberger, 1997.

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Arthur Schnitzler was one of the most prominent authors writing in Vienna at the turn of the twentieth century, during the final years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Because so many of his works are set in his own contemporary city, he has come to be regarded as the recreator of a social world long since past. As the only true exponent of social realism in Vienna at the time, he provides a unique portrayal of the life pursued by particular social groups. But Schnitzler offers something more than just a chronicle of Viennese clichés, for the overall impression created in his works is of a penetratingly critical examination of society. Moreover his understanding of human nature and his skill as an interpreter of the individual consciousness lend his works the quality of universality, which has ensured their enduring success and popularity.

In many of his shorter prose works Schnitzler's main concern is with the individual psyche, rather than with the wider social scene. Some of his psychological studies, such as "Flowers," "Dying," and "The Murderer," take the reader into the minds of characters suffering from neurotic or psychotic disorders. Through his exposition of a character's consciousness via interior monologue, Schnitzler enables the reader to experience directly a psychotic condition. Such stories read like case histories; and as works of literature they have their limitations, for they are written in a cold, analytical style, involving a clinical exposition of symptoms. Nevertheless, the meticulous accuracy with which these studies are drawn testify to Schnitzler's thorough knowledge of depth psychology, and many of them reflect Freudian theories and discoveries. For example, the story "The Son" describes an example of a psychopathological condition induced by infantile trauma. In Flucht in die Finsternis (Flight into Darkness) he presents a remarkably accurate picture of paranoid schizophrenia, so convincingly that the lay reader can follow the mental processes taking place and experience the condition at first hand.

It has been suggested that the prevalence in Schnitzler's works of illness, decay, and death reflect the decadent and sickly mood of the fin de siecle. In his most successful stories the study of the psyche is also blended with an indication of the social sources of psychological maladies. In Fräulein Else he affords the reader direct access to the mental processes of a repressed Oedipal complex, but because Else's condition is partly the result of her social situation, the social values of the time are exposed and condemned. Frau Beate und ihr Sohn (Beatrice) is a frank and powerful study of a woman's discovery of her own sensual nature, but the exposure of the facade of bourgeois respectability broadens the scope of the work beyond its essential psychological elements. Rhapsody is primarily a study of a marital relationship that exposes the unconscious drives in the human soul; but as an excursion into the sordid establishments of the sexual underworld it also explores the dark, unsavory world of Viennese society, from prostitution and consequent disease to decadent orgies involving the highest aristocracy.

Several early plays contributed most to the establishment of Schnitzler's reputation abroad. Because of the nature of their theme—the relationship between the sexes—Schnitzler has inevitably come to be seen as a writer primarily concerned with sexuality. In his treatment of sexual themes Schnitzler tends to sympathize with the female victims of social forces. Prominent examples are afforded by the various "sweet girls" who are to be found in many of his earlier works. But two of his most compassionately drawn female portraits are the heroines of his two major prose works about women, Frau Bertha Garlan and Therese. In the story of the widow Bertha Garlan, Schnitzler explores the gradual reawakening of sexual feelings after a period of abstinence. At the same time he exposes a social injustice, the conventional double standard that condemns women for attempting to grasp the pleasure that is freely available to the male. Not all of his works focus on women's problems or on specific social issues. Casanovas Heimfahrt (Casanova's Homecoming) offers a penetrating study of the personality of the ageing libertine, and in the story Doktor Gräsler he provides a sensitive and moving treatment of a lonely, melancholy bachelor who, shy of marriage, fights with an intelligent, much younger woman. Most frequently, however, Schnitzler explores relationships within the specific social context of a strict moral code. Beneath the facade of bourgeois respectability, natural urges assert themselves, but because of the dominance of an unnatural code, the result is often hypocrisy, deception, and frustration.

The social world presented in Schnitzler's works is predominantly that of the bourgeoisie, occasionally the "little world" of the lower middle classes of the suburbs, but mainly the "big world" of the upper bourgeoisie, the cultured professional families and the wealthy industrialists of the inner city. The latter is presented particularly in his major social dramas, in which Schnitzler exposes the prejudices at the heart of bourgeois conventions. In his plays Schnitzler uses stage directions to convey the attitudes of his characters, and so to penetrate the facade of their public behavior. This is paralleled in his prose works by a meticulous attention to gestures and facial expressions. The first-hand rendering of thought processes also reveals the hidden truths behind insincere role-playing in interpersonal relationships ("The Dead Are Silent") and behind the veneer of politeness adopted during social encounters and public behavior. The superficial charm and cowardly hypocrisy, the politeness and prim respectability adopted during social encounters, constitute the hollow facade of the army officer, the liberal poseur, the progressive bourgeois industrialist, the primly respectable widow, and the secret adulteress. One of the major institutions exposed by Schnitzler is the Imperial Army, for example in the stories Leutnant Gustl (None But the Brave) and Spiel im Morgengrauen (Daybreak). Schnitzler's hostility towards militarism is expressed in his highly critical presentation of army life and of the temperament of the typical army officer, but most effectively it is shown in his condemnation of an outmoded and inhuman code of honor that made such harsh demands of its unfortunate victims.

Schnitzler's account of his contemporary society aligns him with the realists of the late nineteenth century. Yet his realism is a very limited and refined form of referential realism. Far from describing in detail its institutions or geographical features, he is content to evoke the atmosphere of his native city. Moreover, despite his preoccupation with sexual themes, there is little attempt to shock the reader, for he normally treats sexual feelings and behavior with tact and discretion. Schnitzler focuses on social values and norms. Thus he comes across as the social commentator and social critic rather than the realist, presenting a society whose codes of conduct contribute to a social facade that is inimical to the natural and healthy development of the individual and incompatible with openness, sincerity, and genuineness in public life.

—Bruce Thompson

See the essay on None But the Brave.