Therese
36. Jnn
box 6/2
Por
110
an¬
1018
18 118
Mr.
C 18
1 are
frate
und
kind
in a
their
6011-
20 Of
port
10118
ko a
S 10
vith
108
rec
mit
# IIIi ie ie i een
innnedliatelg sedured bgr imn. Tius. thie first.
#t her lovenfuirs, 18 Immlled wich tir Soolest
dethelnnent; oue is persimtledl ol thie Prith
ol iie entire episode. however, Dr the wug in
Wilich the girt, althonghi she loses ber tender¬
ness for her lover. retnins her pussion for nn.
Finallg abamlonedl, she rumns nwag to Viemm
und gets work us n governess. Agum she is
betraged bra sellish, Tientrienl. rendv-witted
fellow. Kasmnr Pobisch =un neite cimracter
stüdg--wlio becoines the lather of her cliildl.
Theneeforth Theresa flits from jobto job and
lover to lover with painful regularity; she
ahnost appears at the end to lmve cximnusted
the possible mnunber of lovers nvailable in
Viemm. And through it all, Schnitzler umin¬
tains, lis heroine is ab hentta simple. generouis,
affectionate, und essenttallg inneceht goillig
woinan. Oué lns no wierte qunerel with iin
ntther slnde ine tmte: W1s tensonabien
nssiune that Theresa constantly vields her¬
sell tomnen for no worse renson than that she
is made like that. But thie einphasis on
scxinl inpilse is tiresome, however signiticant
it mny be for thie psycho-umalgtie mind. The
wliole thing reads too mch like Chie motebool.
of n mnedieal practitioner or social worker;
each ense hins a distinetive feature-there is
rooin for varlety even in these matters—but
the tenth on Tie list mneans very little more
Chan the first. Still, there is n gennine note
of trngie druina at die close. Theresa’s mect¬
ing. aster severnl geurs, with Alfred, und, vears
later, with Kasnmir deepens the logie of the
story'; und thie conelusien to her relations with
her son Franz, a preescious, corrupt youth,
brings terror and pitg into thie iinal pages.
If Sehnitzler’s work is Viennese, Hermann
Hesse’s is echl Deutsch. Der Steppenwolf.
pitblished in 1927, wus enormously successful
in German, lt shared the honours of the
pulblishng senson with Arnold Zweig’s
winch is uiich more
Sergeant Grischa,
truly representative of the spirit
the Germnan novel in these last ten
geurs. It is fuir, however, to charncterize
Hesse’s novel as Geminan because it is con¬
ceived from first to last in the intellectual
strle of Germmn mnetaphysies. It is unpreg¬
nated with the thought of Novalis (and also
of Dostoevsky, whose drumatie mystifica¬
tions still exereise the minds of so many
German writers), and it pursues tirelessly the
triek of finichnig the mniversal in thie partieu¬
lar. As a novel Steppenwolf“ is likely to be
ruther too magniloquent for the English
render; but it is iteresting as an illustration
of the attitude of thie German intellectunl to
Thie mnore aeadeinie probleins of thought of
the present day.
Written in a high vein of introspection, it
Ims fer hero a mnan of fiftgor so, Harry Haller,
who is in dendlg earnest abeut the
state of lis soul. He finds in hinself a genius
for self-contempt; he has an infinite capacity
for suffering and a procligions love of pain.
The idea wluch gives hum most botheris that
Inan has a dual nature. In therold days this
duality was considered a mmtter of being both
Hiuan and divine. This is apparently ise
simnple for Hesse, who prefers a mixture of
Innnan and woltish. Haller, after playing
with thoughts of suleide, enters a cheap dance
hall one evening and discovers a girl called
Hermine. It is not clearat what precise stage
in thie storg thie maturahstie element ceases
(is the first philosophiical talk with Hermine
meant to be real or illusory ?), but the whole
thing eventuallg develops into a riot of fan¬
tasy. It is, of course, the statement of
the problein, not thie solution of it, wluch is
significant, but it is necessarg 10 say that the
first is not much more clear-than the second.
In fact, ingenious as soine of dhie phiilosophneal
passages are, thewolf iden wears an
obstinate air of unrealitg all throngh the
novel. Mr. Basil Creigiitons translation is
excellent. The anonvinons translator of the
other novel is also eflicient for the most part,
1 but he is guilty of a few errors of meamng.
36. Jnn
box 6/2
Por
110
an¬
1018
18 118
Mr.
C 18
1 are
frate
und
kind
in a
their
6011-
20 Of
port
10118
ko a
S 10
vith
108
rec
mit
# IIIi ie ie i een
innnedliatelg sedured bgr imn. Tius. thie first.
#t her lovenfuirs, 18 Immlled wich tir Soolest
dethelnnent; oue is persimtledl ol thie Prith
ol iie entire episode. however, Dr the wug in
Wilich the girt, althonghi she loses ber tender¬
ness for her lover. retnins her pussion for nn.
Finallg abamlonedl, she rumns nwag to Viemm
und gets work us n governess. Agum she is
betraged bra sellish, Tientrienl. rendv-witted
fellow. Kasmnr Pobisch =un neite cimracter
stüdg--wlio becoines the lather of her cliildl.
Theneeforth Theresa flits from jobto job and
lover to lover with painful regularity; she
ahnost appears at the end to lmve cximnusted
the possible mnunber of lovers nvailable in
Viemm. And through it all, Schnitzler umin¬
tains, lis heroine is ab hentta simple. generouis,
affectionate, und essenttallg inneceht goillig
woinan. Oué lns no wierte qunerel with iin
ntther slnde ine tmte: W1s tensonabien
nssiune that Theresa constantly vields her¬
sell tomnen for no worse renson than that she
is made like that. But thie einphasis on
scxinl inpilse is tiresome, however signiticant
it mny be for thie psycho-umalgtie mind. The
wliole thing reads too mch like Chie motebool.
of n mnedieal practitioner or social worker;
each ense hins a distinetive feature-there is
rooin for varlety even in these matters—but
the tenth on Tie list mneans very little more
Chan the first. Still, there is n gennine note
of trngie druina at die close. Theresa’s mect¬
ing. aster severnl geurs, with Alfred, und, vears
later, with Kasnmir deepens the logie of the
story'; und thie conelusien to her relations with
her son Franz, a preescious, corrupt youth,
brings terror and pitg into thie iinal pages.
If Sehnitzler’s work is Viennese, Hermann
Hesse’s is echl Deutsch. Der Steppenwolf.
pitblished in 1927, wus enormously successful
in German, lt shared the honours of the
pulblishng senson with Arnold Zweig’s
winch is uiich more
Sergeant Grischa,
truly representative of the spirit
the Germnan novel in these last ten
geurs. It is fuir, however, to charncterize
Hesse’s novel as Geminan because it is con¬
ceived from first to last in the intellectual
strle of Germmn mnetaphysies. It is unpreg¬
nated with the thought of Novalis (and also
of Dostoevsky, whose drumatie mystifica¬
tions still exereise the minds of so many
German writers), and it pursues tirelessly the
triek of finichnig the mniversal in thie partieu¬
lar. As a novel Steppenwolf“ is likely to be
ruther too magniloquent for the English
render; but it is iteresting as an illustration
of the attitude of thie German intellectunl to
Thie mnore aeadeinie probleins of thought of
the present day.
Written in a high vein of introspection, it
Ims fer hero a mnan of fiftgor so, Harry Haller,
who is in dendlg earnest abeut the
state of lis soul. He finds in hinself a genius
for self-contempt; he has an infinite capacity
for suffering and a procligions love of pain.
The idea wluch gives hum most botheris that
Inan has a dual nature. In therold days this
duality was considered a mmtter of being both
Hiuan and divine. This is apparently ise
simnple for Hesse, who prefers a mixture of
Innnan and woltish. Haller, after playing
with thoughts of suleide, enters a cheap dance
hall one evening and discovers a girl called
Hermine. It is not clearat what precise stage
in thie storg thie maturahstie element ceases
(is the first philosophiical talk with Hermine
meant to be real or illusory ?), but the whole
thing eventuallg develops into a riot of fan¬
tasy. It is, of course, the statement of
the problein, not thie solution of it, wluch is
significant, but it is necessarg 10 say that the
first is not much more clear-than the second.
In fact, ingenious as soine of dhie phiilosophneal
passages are, thewolf iden wears an
obstinate air of unrealitg all throngh the
novel. Mr. Basil Creigiitons translation is
excellent. The anonvinons translator of the
other novel is also eflicient for the most part,
1 but he is guilty of a few errors of meamng.