What do you think?
Rate this book
Little Novels
Collection of short pieces. Translated from the German by Eric Sutton.
- GenresGerman Literature
279 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1927
4 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
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
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 14, 2020
Arthur Schnitzler is perhaps remembered as the author of 'Dream Story' which became the Kubrick film 'Eyes Wide Shut' (which I haven't seen). He is also known for his play 'La Ronde' which had various censorship issues for its portrayal of sexual encounters at all levels of Viennese society.
Reading these ten short stories I was reminded of the 'contes cruels' epitomised by decadents such Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam in that many concern themselves with the destruction (metaphorical or actual) of a participant in some sort of relationship. This can be sexual; for example ‘The Death Of the Baron’ in which the titular character purses a particular woman for years; or familial, as in ‘Blind Geromino and his Brother’ where a joke(?) comment by a traveller to Geromino has huge consequences for him and his brother. A few have supernatural elements, a hypnotic vision of the future, premonition, and especially the (excellent) ‘Redogonda’s Diary’ in which a romantic fantasy becomes a strange duplicitous reality.
In the decadent hands these themes would often have a heightened emotional intensity about them but these are told with a clinical detachment, almost as case histories or demonstrations of a ‘type’ such as obsessional or envious. ‘The Greek Dancing Girl’ has elements of both its strange ending initially feels like a ‘twist’ but on reflection seems to make perfect (albeit ‘crazy’) sense. This does not make them ‘dull’ or ‘unexciting’ but they are certainly more ‘cerebal’. This is all perhaps unsurprising as Schnitzler was trained (and practised) as a psychologist in Vienna and was at one point almost a rival to Freud (neither man cared for each other). Knowing this adds another layer to the tales themselves.
I really liked all of these stories and it seems strange to me that Schnitzler (highly regarded in Europe and a Penguin ‘classic’) still seems largely ignored/untranslated (bar ‘Dream Story’). If you’re choosing a Schnitzler book, make it this one (If you can find a copy, its either stupidly expensive or super-cheap); this is an excellent introduction to his work.
Reading these ten short stories I was reminded of the 'contes cruels' epitomised by decadents such Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam in that many concern themselves with the destruction (metaphorical or actual) of a participant in some sort of relationship. This can be sexual; for example ‘The Death Of the Baron’ in which the titular character purses a particular woman for years; or familial, as in ‘Blind Geromino and his Brother’ where a joke(?) comment by a traveller to Geromino has huge consequences for him and his brother. A few have supernatural elements, a hypnotic vision of the future, premonition, and especially the (excellent) ‘Redogonda’s Diary’ in which a romantic fantasy becomes a strange duplicitous reality.
In the decadent hands these themes would often have a heightened emotional intensity about them but these are told with a clinical detachment, almost as case histories or demonstrations of a ‘type’ such as obsessional or envious. ‘The Greek Dancing Girl’ has elements of both its strange ending initially feels like a ‘twist’ but on reflection seems to make perfect (albeit ‘crazy’) sense. This does not make them ‘dull’ or ‘unexciting’ but they are certainly more ‘cerebal’. This is all perhaps unsurprising as Schnitzler was trained (and practised) as a psychologist in Vienna and was at one point almost a rival to Freud (neither man cared for each other). Knowing this adds another layer to the tales themselves.
I really liked all of these stories and it seems strange to me that Schnitzler (highly regarded in Europe and a Penguin ‘classic’) still seems largely ignored/untranslated (bar ‘Dream Story’). If you’re choosing a Schnitzler book, make it this one (If you can find a copy, its either stupidly expensive or super-cheap); this is an excellent introduction to his work.
May 16, 2023
Quello che vorrei fare io...scrivere brevi racconti ma pieni di significato e interessanti. Entrare subito nella storia è emozionante quanto arrivare per gradi alla risoluzione di un enigma.
Questo poi scrive cose deprimenti degne di me 😂
Questo poi scrive cose deprimenti degne di me 😂
July 30, 2017
Voi tutti sapete per la mia predilezione per i libri che io scherzosamente chiamo "muffosi", forse perche' il mondo (e l'umanita' che lo abita) mi piacciono sempre meno :D, ed ho un debole per gli scrittori Mitteleuropei.
Quindi quando ho cominciato queste Novelle di Arthur Schnitzler, scrittore austriaco nato nel 1862 e morto nel 1931, pensavo di ritrovare quelle atmosfere di "Finis Austriae" che a me piacciono tanto.
Non e' stato cosi', o meglio, Schnitzler mi ha stupito in quanto i suoi racconti sono cosi' attuali che ogni personaggio potrebbe, dopo un cambio d'abito, adattarsi perfettamente ai nostri tempi.
Non leggo mai le prefazioni prima di aver letto il libro, proprio perche' non voglio sapere nulla in anticipo, e quindi non sapevo che il famoso film di Stanley Kubrik "Eyes wide shut", che alcuni indicano come il testamento artistico del grande regista, si basa sulla novella di Schnitzler "Doppio Sogno", ma il racconto che mi ha colpito di piu', e che merita senza dubbio 5 stelle con lode, e' "Il ritorno di Casanova", dove la figura dell'ormai maturo seduttore veneziano e' cosi' struggente e maliconica che mi ha emozionato.
Schnitzler e' veramente un grande scrittore, capace di toccare ogni corda recondita dell'animo umano (non per niente era un medico e sembra che Freud lo considerasse un suo "doppio" letterario).
Assolutamente da consigliare.
Quindi quando ho cominciato queste Novelle di Arthur Schnitzler, scrittore austriaco nato nel 1862 e morto nel 1931, pensavo di ritrovare quelle atmosfere di "Finis Austriae" che a me piacciono tanto.
Non e' stato cosi', o meglio, Schnitzler mi ha stupito in quanto i suoi racconti sono cosi' attuali che ogni personaggio potrebbe, dopo un cambio d'abito, adattarsi perfettamente ai nostri tempi.
Non leggo mai le prefazioni prima di aver letto il libro, proprio perche' non voglio sapere nulla in anticipo, e quindi non sapevo che il famoso film di Stanley Kubrik "Eyes wide shut", che alcuni indicano come il testamento artistico del grande regista, si basa sulla novella di Schnitzler "Doppio Sogno", ma il racconto che mi ha colpito di piu', e che merita senza dubbio 5 stelle con lode, e' "Il ritorno di Casanova", dove la figura dell'ormai maturo seduttore veneziano e' cosi' struggente e maliconica che mi ha emozionato.
Schnitzler e' veramente un grande scrittore, capace di toccare ogni corda recondita dell'animo umano (non per niente era un medico e sembra che Freud lo considerasse un suo "doppio" letterario).
Assolutamente da consigliare.
Want to read
April 19, 2020#8
Leute kommen ihr entgegen; sie hat keine Angst mehr vor ihnen – das Schwerste ist überstanden. Der Lärm der Stadt wird deutlich, immer lichter wird es vor ihr; schon sieht sie die Häuserzeile der Praterstraße, und es ist ihr, als werde sie dort von einer Flut von Menschen erwarteten der sie spurlos verschwinden darf. Wie sie jetzt zu einer Straßenlaterne kommt, hat sie schon die Ruhe, auf ihre Uhr zu sehen.
#12
»Hier wäre ein kleines Garterl,« sagte Herr Rebay, und Karl fuhr zusammen. Es war heller Sonnenschein; weit erglänzte die Straße, ringsum war es licht und lebendig. »Da könnt' man sich hineinsetzen,« fuhr Rebay fort, »auf ein Glas Wein; ich hab' schon einen argen Durst – es wird ein heißer Tag.«
Leute kommen ihr entgegen; sie hat keine Angst mehr vor ihnen – das Schwerste ist überstanden. Der Lärm der Stadt wird deutlich, immer lichter wird es vor ihr; schon sieht sie die Häuserzeile der Praterstraße, und es ist ihr, als werde sie dort von einer Flut von Menschen erwarteten der sie spurlos verschwinden darf. Wie sie jetzt zu einer Straßenlaterne kommt, hat sie schon die Ruhe, auf ihre Uhr zu sehen.
#12
»Hier wäre ein kleines Garterl,« sagte Herr Rebay, und Karl fuhr zusammen. Es war heller Sonnenschein; weit erglänzte die Straße, ringsum war es licht und lebendig. »Da könnt' man sich hineinsetzen,« fuhr Rebay fort, »auf ein Glas Wein; ich hab' schon einen argen Durst – es wird ein heißer Tag.«
December 12, 2011
Excellent collection of ten short pieces translated by Eric Sutton.
Titles of the stories as follows:
"The Fate of the Baron"
"The Stranger"
"The Greek Dancing-Girl"
"The Prophecy"
"Blind Geronimo and His Brother"
"Andreas Thameyer's Last Letter"
"Redegonda's Diary"
"Dead Gabriel"
"The Murderer"
"The Death of a Bachelor"
Titles of the stories as follows:
"The Fate of the Baron"
"The Stranger"
"The Greek Dancing-Girl"
"The Prophecy"
"Blind Geronimo and His Brother"
"Andreas Thameyer's Last Letter"
"Redegonda's Diary"
"Dead Gabriel"
"The Murderer"
"The Death of a Bachelor"
September 13, 2014
Il maestro dell'indagine psicologica ottocentesca, per quel che mi riguarda.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews