1929
TN·O GERMLIN NO1
THERESA: Tns Cnnosing or A Wenax’s
Lirz. By- Anrnun Scuatrzzmn, (Constable.
7s. 6d. net.)
Srerrzsworr. Be Henaanx Husst Trans¬
lated by Basn. Camrros. (Secker.
7s. 6d. net.)
Ir one wanted to give a mmmne to thie Ipe of
novel Arthur Sehmteler has been writing
during the last few gears, it weuld be possible
10
find a less deserptive label than
* Viennese.? It is from Vienna that we get
most of our idcas abont psve##canalysis; and
it is from psycho-analy'sis that Schnitzler
uppears of late to have got lis ilens abont
people. Not that a novel like“ Fräulein
Else,? for instance, contains a grent amount
of psychological exposition. That is not
Schnitzler’s way: he is an uchnirable story¬
teller, and hie seldom fails in this respect in
his regard for the render. But it hins been
evident for some thne Piat his opinions and
his interest in people have alike been deeply¬
coloured by the conclusions of Freuchan
psychology.
* Theresa, which orighmlly appeared last.
vear, is a precise and delicate study of
character, so impartial in manner as to seein
rather cynieal from beguming to end. The
novel is by no means a short oue, but it 18
written almost as coneisclens aclinienl report.
Theresa Fabiami, whien we first mect her, 18
a girl of sixteen, living in Salzburg with her
parents. Her father, a rettred Aring otticer,
is slowig becoming insam; her mother, a
silly, dissolute creature, is eschanging the
part of a render of sentünental novels for that
f a writer of thein. Theresa’s parentage, 11.
4s at onee clear to thie render, promises
nothing good. She beconnes indre or less
engaged to Alfred Nuellhenn, a young mnedlien!
student, without feeling the slighitest passion
for him, and is immnensely relieved when he
goes to Viemm, It is not long, however,
before she is also bored and lonely; and in
this frame of mind she mecis a voung öflicer,
is inmnechately attracted to himn and ahnost
inrnediately seduced by him. Tlus, the first.
of her love affairs, is imnlled with the coolest.
detaehment; one is persuntled of the truth
of the entire episode, however, by the way in
which the girl, although she loses her tender¬
biess for her lover, retams her passion for hiln.
Finally abandoned, she runs nway to Viennn
und gets work as a governess. Again she is
betraged bya selfish, thentrical, rendg-witted
fellow, Kasinur Tobisch—an neute character
study—who becomes the father of her cluld.
Theneeforth Theresa Hlits froin job to job and
lover to lover with painful regularity; she
almost appeurs at the end to hve exlmusted
thie possible mumber of lovers available in
Vienna. And through it ull, Schnitzler mnain¬
tains, his heroine is at heart a sinple, generous,
affectionate, und essentiallg innecent vounig
woinan. Oné has no wish to quarrel wich the
author about his fucts; it is rensonable to
asstune that Theresa constamtlg Fields her¬
seif to men for no worse reason thian that slie
18 made like that. But the einphasis on
Fscxual impulse is tresome. Dowever signiticant
it may be for the psycho-mmlgtie mund. The
wimlefling reads too mnich like Che notebook
ol a wedlieal practitioner or social work r;
#nrrase has a distinetive feature—there i8
roomn for varietg even in these umtters—bat
the tenth on the list means very littie mnor
than the first. Still, there is u gemmne note
of tragie drumna at thie close. Theresa’s mect¬
ing, after several gears, with Alfred, and, peurs
later, with Kasnmir deepens thie logie of the
storg : and tconclusion 1o der rclations with,
her son Franz, a precccions, corrupt Foutl,“
brings terror and pitg into thie linal pages.
Ne. r
M. esssssssssesteseensun
Araus Suise el International de la Presse S. H.
23, Kue du Rhöne - GENEVE
Adr. télégr.: Coupures-Genéve — Tél. Stand 40.05
Bureau International de coupures de journaux.
Traductions de et en toutes langucs.
Correspondants dans toutes les grandes villes.
Extrait du Journal:
N
Adresse:
Un
Date:
UNHAPPV-GO-LUCKV.
Tnßausa. The Storv of a Woman's
Life.Ba Arthur Schuitsler. London:
(Constable and Co. Pp. Z36. 78. 6d.
net.
Herr Schnitzler has an Zghrdordinary
gift. He knows how mitcsheer prose!
can be packed into n. Iyrie and still
make for a lyrieal effect." Theresa
#rne of the paradox. Hetells
here e-Peren
of decent birth and of some refinement,
withont conspienons intelligenee, deter¬
Inination of character, or even unusual
good looks. Moreover he omits nothing
of the prosaié details which another
would have skipped—Theresa’s endless
sequenee of teinporarg work, refrac¬
tory children, domneering mothers,
Jascivions fathers. And as she moves
spasinodically frem one “situation?' to
another, so in the spare moinents of a
governesss life she drifts from man to
inan in a serles of ephemeral contacts.
formless, bound
The succession is
together only bechronclogy, though
there is an effective moment near the
end ihen Theresa re-enconnters the
father of her child, after manyyeursy
and learns that even the name under
which she had known that amiable
nonentity was not bis own.
And get Herr Schnitzler contrives to
fashion something the effert of whicht
is definitelv poetical, and that not by
velling or skipping the prosaic episodes
in Theresa’s life but by giving them
their full valne. Perhaps perfect
balance is itself an element in the
poctical. But to deseribe the effect of
the book thus is possibly to give a
wrong impression, if it suggests that
the storg is a joyons one. There is the
lyric of gloom, even of monotony. The
terrible thing in this book is thei
inhumanitg of the human relations.
Theresa has affections, emtions, but
theg are entirely subjective, almost self¬
contained, It is as if she saw the outer
world always through a glass, and
apprehended it ouly as a succession of
shapes and colours, a purely sensory
—world, Which could be perceived but nor
Tunderstood in e sense in which we
say that human beings“ understand“
e#ch other as distinet from under¬
standing a mathematieal law.
The
onig person for whom Theresa feels!
ung intimate relation recognisable as
human is her son, but he remains
alwags inexplicable. She dies at bis
hands, alone to the end.
This impressive study of spiritunl
isolation makes one wonder abont
Ihsen’s maxim that“he 1s strongest
who stands most alone.
But perhaps
Theresa was strong in
soie tennous
sense of the word.
P. J. M.
TN·O GERMLIN NO1
THERESA: Tns Cnnosing or A Wenax’s
Lirz. By- Anrnun Scuatrzzmn, (Constable.
7s. 6d. net.)
Srerrzsworr. Be Henaanx Husst Trans¬
lated by Basn. Camrros. (Secker.
7s. 6d. net.)
Ir one wanted to give a mmmne to thie Ipe of
novel Arthur Sehmteler has been writing
during the last few gears, it weuld be possible
10
find a less deserptive label than
* Viennese.? It is from Vienna that we get
most of our idcas abont psve##canalysis; and
it is from psycho-analy'sis that Schnitzler
uppears of late to have got lis ilens abont
people. Not that a novel like“ Fräulein
Else,? for instance, contains a grent amount
of psychological exposition. That is not
Schnitzler’s way: he is an uchnirable story¬
teller, and hie seldom fails in this respect in
his regard for the render. But it hins been
evident for some thne Piat his opinions and
his interest in people have alike been deeply¬
coloured by the conclusions of Freuchan
psychology.
* Theresa, which orighmlly appeared last.
vear, is a precise and delicate study of
character, so impartial in manner as to seein
rather cynieal from beguming to end. The
novel is by no means a short oue, but it 18
written almost as coneisclens aclinienl report.
Theresa Fabiami, whien we first mect her, 18
a girl of sixteen, living in Salzburg with her
parents. Her father, a rettred Aring otticer,
is slowig becoming insam; her mother, a
silly, dissolute creature, is eschanging the
part of a render of sentünental novels for that
f a writer of thein. Theresa’s parentage, 11.
4s at onee clear to thie render, promises
nothing good. She beconnes indre or less
engaged to Alfred Nuellhenn, a young mnedlien!
student, without feeling the slighitest passion
for him, and is immnensely relieved when he
goes to Viemm, It is not long, however,
before she is also bored and lonely; and in
this frame of mind she mecis a voung öflicer,
is inmnechately attracted to himn and ahnost
inrnediately seduced by him. Tlus, the first.
of her love affairs, is imnlled with the coolest.
detaehment; one is persuntled of the truth
of the entire episode, however, by the way in
which the girl, although she loses her tender¬
biess for her lover, retams her passion for hiln.
Finally abandoned, she runs nway to Viennn
und gets work as a governess. Again she is
betraged bya selfish, thentrical, rendg-witted
fellow, Kasinur Tobisch—an neute character
study—who becomes the father of her cluld.
Theneeforth Theresa Hlits froin job to job and
lover to lover with painful regularity; she
almost appeurs at the end to hve exlmusted
thie possible mumber of lovers available in
Vienna. And through it ull, Schnitzler mnain¬
tains, his heroine is at heart a sinple, generous,
affectionate, und essentiallg innecent vounig
woinan. Oné has no wish to quarrel wich the
author about his fucts; it is rensonable to
asstune that Theresa constamtlg Fields her¬
seif to men for no worse reason thian that slie
18 made like that. But the einphasis on
Fscxual impulse is tresome. Dowever signiticant
it may be for the psycho-mmlgtie mund. The
wimlefling reads too mnich like Che notebook
ol a wedlieal practitioner or social work r;
#nrrase has a distinetive feature—there i8
roomn for varietg even in these umtters—bat
the tenth on the list means very littie mnor
than the first. Still, there is u gemmne note
of tragie drumna at thie close. Theresa’s mect¬
ing, after several gears, with Alfred, and, peurs
later, with Kasnmir deepens thie logie of the
storg : and tconclusion 1o der rclations with,
her son Franz, a precccions, corrupt Foutl,“
brings terror and pitg into thie linal pages.
Ne. r
M. esssssssssesteseensun
Araus Suise el International de la Presse S. H.
23, Kue du Rhöne - GENEVE
Adr. télégr.: Coupures-Genéve — Tél. Stand 40.05
Bureau International de coupures de journaux.
Traductions de et en toutes langucs.
Correspondants dans toutes les grandes villes.
Extrait du Journal:
N
Adresse:
Un
Date:
UNHAPPV-GO-LUCKV.
Tnßausa. The Storv of a Woman's
Life.Ba Arthur Schuitsler. London:
(Constable and Co. Pp. Z36. 78. 6d.
net.
Herr Schnitzler has an Zghrdordinary
gift. He knows how mitcsheer prose!
can be packed into n. Iyrie and still
make for a lyrieal effect." Theresa
#rne of the paradox. Hetells
here e-Peren
of decent birth and of some refinement,
withont conspienons intelligenee, deter¬
Inination of character, or even unusual
good looks. Moreover he omits nothing
of the prosaié details which another
would have skipped—Theresa’s endless
sequenee of teinporarg work, refrac¬
tory children, domneering mothers,
Jascivions fathers. And as she moves
spasinodically frem one “situation?' to
another, so in the spare moinents of a
governesss life she drifts from man to
inan in a serles of ephemeral contacts.
formless, bound
The succession is
together only bechronclogy, though
there is an effective moment near the
end ihen Theresa re-enconnters the
father of her child, after manyyeursy
and learns that even the name under
which she had known that amiable
nonentity was not bis own.
And get Herr Schnitzler contrives to
fashion something the effert of whicht
is definitelv poetical, and that not by
velling or skipping the prosaic episodes
in Theresa’s life but by giving them
their full valne. Perhaps perfect
balance is itself an element in the
poctical. But to deseribe the effect of
the book thus is possibly to give a
wrong impression, if it suggests that
the storg is a joyons one. There is the
lyric of gloom, even of monotony. The
terrible thing in this book is thei
inhumanitg of the human relations.
Theresa has affections, emtions, but
theg are entirely subjective, almost self¬
contained, It is as if she saw the outer
world always through a glass, and
apprehended it ouly as a succession of
shapes and colours, a purely sensory
—world, Which could be perceived but nor
Tunderstood in e sense in which we
say that human beings“ understand“
e#ch other as distinet from under¬
standing a mathematieal law.
The
onig person for whom Theresa feels!
ung intimate relation recognisable as
human is her son, but he remains
alwags inexplicable. She dies at bis
hands, alone to the end.
This impressive study of spiritunl
isolation makes one wonder abont
Ihsen’s maxim that“he 1s strongest
who stands most alone.
But perhaps
Theresa was strong in
soie tennous
sense of the word.
P. J. M.