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Erzählungen. Jubiläums- Edition.
Lebensmüdigkeit und Lebenslust, Schein und Wirklichkeit, Zufall und Notwendigkeit – Schnitzlers Erzählungen sind geprägt von der Stimmung der Dekadenz im Wien des frühen zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts. Als erster deutschsprachiger Schriftsteller wandte Schnitzler, unter dem Einfluss der aufkommenden Psychoanalyse, in der Erzählung ›Leutnant Gustl‹ die Methode des inneren Monologes die äußere Handlung entwickelt sich aus einem unkontrollierten Reflexionsstrom der Hauptfigur und ist demnach ganz auf dessen Denkwelt bezogen.
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First published January 1, 1969
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About the author
Arthur Schnitzler
1,011 books541 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 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 15, 2019
Besides Lieutenant Gustl, Casanova's Heimfahrt and Fraulein Else, this edition contains:
Die Frau des Weisen (The Wife of the Sage, 1897). The wife of a wise man fell in love with a student lodging with her and her husband. She never realized her husband knew about this love. The wise man saw it and endured it silently and magnanimously. When the lover finally realizes this, he is impressed by so much self-control and goodness. He does not want to cheat any longer and flees from his beloved.
Die Toten schweigen (The Dead are Silent, 1897). A married woman has an affair with a young man. On one of their secret meetings they go for a night ride to the outskirts of Vienna. But the driver is drunk and causes an accident. The young man dies. Will the woman be able to get home before her husband? Will the dead keep silent about her adultery?
Der blinde Geronimo und sein Bruder ( Blind Geronimo and his Brother, 1900). Geronimo and his brother Carlo are beggars: Geronimo plays the guitar and sings, while Carlo collects the offerings. When they were children, an accident caused by Carlo resulted in his brother's blindness and since then Carlo has cared for Geronimo. But when Geronimo starts distrusting him about money matters and a girl, things fall apart.
Das Schicksal des Freiherrn von Leisenbohg (Baron von Leisenbogh's Destiny, 1903). The baron is deeply in love with Clara Hell, a singer. For ten years he follows her throughout Europe, without coming close to his goal, as she takes one lover after another. Will he finally be rewarded for his devotion?
Spiel im Morgengrauen (Night Games, 1926/27). To help a friend, Lieutenant Willi Kasda joins a card game, but the end is disastrous for him. The description of the all-night game alone is an unforgettable piece of literature.
Die Frau des Weisen (The Wife of the Sage, 1897). The wife of a wise man fell in love with a student lodging with her and her husband. She never realized her husband knew about this love. The wise man saw it and endured it silently and magnanimously. When the lover finally realizes this, he is impressed by so much self-control and goodness. He does not want to cheat any longer and flees from his beloved.
Die Toten schweigen (The Dead are Silent, 1897). A married woman has an affair with a young man. On one of their secret meetings they go for a night ride to the outskirts of Vienna. But the driver is drunk and causes an accident. The young man dies. Will the woman be able to get home before her husband? Will the dead keep silent about her adultery?
Der blinde Geronimo und sein Bruder ( Blind Geronimo and his Brother, 1900). Geronimo and his brother Carlo are beggars: Geronimo plays the guitar and sings, while Carlo collects the offerings. When they were children, an accident caused by Carlo resulted in his brother's blindness and since then Carlo has cared for Geronimo. But when Geronimo starts distrusting him about money matters and a girl, things fall apart.
Das Schicksal des Freiherrn von Leisenbohg (Baron von Leisenbogh's Destiny, 1903). The baron is deeply in love with Clara Hell, a singer. For ten years he follows her throughout Europe, without coming close to his goal, as she takes one lover after another. Will he finally be rewarded for his devotion?
Spiel im Morgengrauen (Night Games, 1926/27). To help a friend, Lieutenant Willi Kasda joins a card game, but the end is disastrous for him. The description of the all-night game alone is an unforgettable piece of literature.
November 30, 2025
Die Frau des Weisen
Die Toten schweigen
Leutnant Gustl
Der blinde geronimo und sein bruder
Das Schicksal des freiherrn von Leisenbogh
Casanovas heimfahrt
Fräulein Elsa
Spiel im Morgengrauen
Die Toten schweigen
Leutnant Gustl
Der blinde geronimo und sein bruder
Das Schicksal des freiherrn von Leisenbogh
Casanovas heimfahrt
Fräulein Elsa
Spiel im Morgengrauen
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews