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Anatol
Book by Schnitzler
136 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1893
About the author
Arthur Schnitzler
1,050 books555 followersArthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist.
The son of a prominent Hungarian-Jewish laryngologist Johann Schnitzler and Luise Markbreiter (a daughter of the Viennese doctor Philipp Markbreiter), was born in Vienna in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and began studying medicine at the local university in 1879. He received his doctorate of medicine in 1885 and worked at the Vienna's General Hospital, but ultimately abandoned medicine in favour of writing.
His works were often controversial, both for their frank description of sexuality (Sigmund Freud, in a letter to Schnitzler, confessed "I have gained the impression that you have learned through intuition — though actually as a result of sensitive introspection — everything that I have had to unearth by laborious work on other persons")[1] and for their strong stand against anti-Semitism, represented by works such as his play Professor Bernhardi and the novel Der Weg ins Freie. However, though Schnitzler was himself Jewish, Professor Bernhardi and Fräulein Else are among the few clearly-identified Jewish protagonists in his work.
Schnitzler was branded as a pornographer after the release of his play Reigen, in which ten pairs of characters are shown before and after the sexual act, leading and ending with a prostitute. The furore after this play was couched in the strongest anti-semitic terms;[2] his works would later be cited as "Jewish filth" by Adolf Hitler. Reigen was made into a French language film in 1950 by the German-born director Max Ophüls as La Ronde. The film achieved considerable success in the English-speaking world, with the result that Schnitzler's play is better known there under Ophüls' French title.
In the novella, Fräulein Else (1924), Schnitzler may be rebutting a contentious critique of the Jewish character by Otto Weininger (1903) by positioning the sexuality of the young female Jewish protagonist.[3] The story, a first-person stream of consciousness narrative by a young aristocratic woman, reveals a moral dilemma that ends in tragedy.
In response to an interviewer who asked Schnitzler what he thought about the critical view that his works all seemed to treat the same subjects, he replied, "I write of love and death. What other subjects are there?" Despite his seriousness of purpose, Schnitzler frequently approaches the bedroom farce in his plays (and had an affair with one of his actresses, Adele Sandrock). Professor Bernhardi, a play about a Jewish doctor who turns away a Catholic priest in order to spare a patient the realization that she is on the point of death, is his only major dramatic work without a sexual theme.
A member of the avant-garde group Young Vienna (Jung Wien), Schnitzler toyed with formal as well as social conventions. With his 1900 short story Lieutenant Gustl, he was the first to write German fiction in stream-of-consciousness narration. The story is an unflattering portrait of its protagonist and of the army's obsessive code of formal honour. It caused Schnitzler to be stripped of his commission as a reserve officer in the medical corps — something that should be seen against the rising tide of anti-semitism of the time.
He specialized in shorter works like novellas and one-act plays. And in his short stories like "The Green Tie" ("Die grüne Krawatte") he showed himself to be one of the early masters of microfiction. However he also wrote two full-length novels: Der Weg ins Freie about a talented but not very motivated young composer, a brilliant description of a segment of pre-World War I Viennese society; and the artistically less satisfactory Therese.
In addition to his plays and fiction, Schnitzler meticulously kept a diary from the age of 17 until two days before his death, of a brain hemorrhage in Vienna. The manuscript, which runs to almost 8,000 pages, is most notable for Schnitzler's cas
The son of a prominent Hungarian-Jewish laryngologist Johann Schnitzler and Luise Markbreiter (a daughter of the Viennese doctor Philipp Markbreiter), was born in Vienna in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and began studying medicine at the local university in 1879. He received his doctorate of medicine in 1885 and worked at the Vienna's General Hospital, but ultimately abandoned medicine in favour of writing.
His works were often controversial, both for their frank description of sexuality (Sigmund Freud, in a letter to Schnitzler, confessed "I have gained the impression that you have learned through intuition — though actually as a result of sensitive introspection — everything that I have had to unearth by laborious work on other persons")[1] and for their strong stand against anti-Semitism, represented by works such as his play Professor Bernhardi and the novel Der Weg ins Freie. However, though Schnitzler was himself Jewish, Professor Bernhardi and Fräulein Else are among the few clearly-identified Jewish protagonists in his work.
Schnitzler was branded as a pornographer after the release of his play Reigen, in which ten pairs of characters are shown before and after the sexual act, leading and ending with a prostitute. The furore after this play was couched in the strongest anti-semitic terms;[2] his works would later be cited as "Jewish filth" by Adolf Hitler. Reigen was made into a French language film in 1950 by the German-born director Max Ophüls as La Ronde. The film achieved considerable success in the English-speaking world, with the result that Schnitzler's play is better known there under Ophüls' French title.
In the novella, Fräulein Else (1924), Schnitzler may be rebutting a contentious critique of the Jewish character by Otto Weininger (1903) by positioning the sexuality of the young female Jewish protagonist.[3] The story, a first-person stream of consciousness narrative by a young aristocratic woman, reveals a moral dilemma that ends in tragedy.
In response to an interviewer who asked Schnitzler what he thought about the critical view that his works all seemed to treat the same subjects, he replied, "I write of love and death. What other subjects are there?" Despite his seriousness of purpose, Schnitzler frequently approaches the bedroom farce in his plays (and had an affair with one of his actresses, Adele Sandrock). Professor Bernhardi, a play about a Jewish doctor who turns away a Catholic priest in order to spare a patient the realization that she is on the point of death, is his only major dramatic work without a sexual theme.
A member of the avant-garde group Young Vienna (Jung Wien), Schnitzler toyed with formal as well as social conventions. With his 1900 short story Lieutenant Gustl, he was the first to write German fiction in stream-of-consciousness narration. The story is an unflattering portrait of its protagonist and of the army's obsessive code of formal honour. It caused Schnitzler to be stripped of his commission as a reserve officer in the medical corps — something that should be seen against the rising tide of anti-semitism of the time.
He specialized in shorter works like novellas and one-act plays. And in his short stories like "The Green Tie" ("Die grüne Krawatte") he showed himself to be one of the early masters of microfiction. However he also wrote two full-length novels: Der Weg ins Freie about a talented but not very motivated young composer, a brilliant description of a segment of pre-World War I Viennese society; and the artistically less satisfactory Therese.
In addition to his plays and fiction, Schnitzler meticulously kept a diary from the age of 17 until two days before his death, of a brain hemorrhage in Vienna. The manuscript, which runs to almost 8,000 pages, is most notable for Schnitzler's cas
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 7, 2026
badziewie, kazda kobieta ma ujemny iloraz inteligencji a ci faceci to uwazaja sie za lepszych od siebie
ale rowniez daje taka slaba ocenke bo to lekturka i mnie zmuszaja do czytania takich pazernych rzeczy ;)))
ale rowniez daje taka slaba ocenke bo to lekturka i mnie zmuszaja do czytania takich pazernych rzeczy ;)))
December 14, 2025
Najchętniej bym dała 0na5. Japidi co to miało być. Większego gówna ostatnio nie czytałam, sorry not sorry mordo niestety. Główny bohater to jeden wielki narcystyczny mężczyzna, który ma wywalone ego, a kobiety to mają jakieś 1 IQ w tej lekturze. Jedyna spoko postać w tej książce to Aneta bo ma trochę oleju w głowie i służący Franciszek.
May 4, 2025
„Ich liebe dich, nur dich - so fühle ich nicht, daß ich sie belüge, auch wenn ich in der Nacht vorher am Busen einer anderen geruht.“
In den sieben Einaktern des Dramas macht sich Arthur Schnitzler auf subtile Weise über selbstverliebte, narzisstische Männer lustig – dargestellt durch die Figur Anatol, der sich für tiefgründig hält, etlichen Frauen ihre „Untreue“ vorwirft, und selbst kaum unreflektierter sein könnte.
In den sieben Einaktern des Dramas macht sich Arthur Schnitzler auf subtile Weise über selbstverliebte, narzisstische Männer lustig – dargestellt durch die Figur Anatol, der sich für tiefgründig hält, etlichen Frauen ihre „Untreue“ vorwirft, und selbst kaum unreflektierter sein könnte.
April 10, 2021
No hay conexión entre escenas.
October 21, 2025
Good read, funny. A little bit trite though.
December 5, 2025
byung af
August 13, 2016
I used this play years ago in a college class on Directing.
LOVED IT!
Saw lots of Woody Allen esqe characters and humor.
My choice was to cast using an androgynous aesthetic so my male lead was played by a brilliant female student with a pony tail and dressed in the fashion of that day.
Loved that process.
I may have to re read it after all these years as details are fuzzy.
LOVED IT!
Saw lots of Woody Allen esqe characters and humor.
My choice was to cast using an androgynous aesthetic so my male lead was played by a brilliant female student with a pony tail and dressed in the fashion of that day.
Loved that process.
I may have to re read it after all these years as details are fuzzy.
April 9, 2023
How pretentious, egocentric and elitist snob Anatol (the main character) is! If he were a real person, he would deserve being run over by an omnibus.
At least if the story were (and it was not) handled in a captivating style; unfortunately, it was nearly as intolerable as the protagonist himself.
At least if the story were (and it was not) handled in a captivating style; unfortunately, it was nearly as intolerable as the protagonist himself.
July 26, 2013
200th book! Yay!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews