33.
Traumnovelle
15
1
*
B
A Mind on the-Loose.
FRHAPSODY“ (Traumnovelle) by Ar¬
Mur Schnttzter
SIions and Schus¬
ter, New York. 31.50.
Arthur Schnitzler is a confusing per¬
son. He writes of stark psychological
realities and also of romantie fantasies.
And his realism is fantastical, and his
fantasies are realistic. You never know
where you are with Schnitzler, except
that you are, when reading him, in the
midst of as sharp and rare delight as
comes with reading.
Perhaps Schnitzler might be de¬
scribed, were we an advertising man, a:
the man who made the world “conscious
ness-consclous.“ More truly than anz
other compétent writer he has achievei
artistlo expression of the fact that th
wall between the real world of matte
and the real world of imagination an
reverie is a thin and vaguely deline
barrier. Here, in“ Rhapsody“ whie
Otto P. Schinnerer has so deftly tran:
lated, Schnitzler makes shat barrier:
vagué that even-the prineipal charace
a young and fashionable physician,
not quite certain whether he has be¬
walking arcund all night, attendir
occult orgies and identifying the r
mainstof a lady whom he had only sce
once land masked, or whether it was a
mucha dream as his wife's coufesse
revelation that she had dreamed of n
infidelitg to him and of laughing horri
bly when he was abont to be erneilie
rather than be false to her. Fridolil
is perhaps too quick to see reality in
his wife's traumerei and to hate he
for dreaming Frendian dreams. And i
therefanyone who will deny that a ma
is living in a less ‘real“ plane when h
is dreaming than wlien he is, as we sa
charitably, awake?
ButRhapsody“ is not to be dis
missed or nccepted as a Rudy
psychology or entirely a tour de fore
for it is a beautifully written and bal
ancedf piece of work, filled with ine
dent and color, perhaps more trul
dramätie in
feeling than anythin
Schnitzlei has written of late. Th
scenie value öf the-becult bal masgu
alone makes the book worth the hou
that t will take yousto rend it, am
the scehle value is merelg a ground for:
host of pressions and hauntings whiel
makerone wonder why it has come 1.
be believed that a novel of action mus
necessarily involve physical action.
novellzof the mind which tempts iin
reader with all the
715
□0
und Pihl- Aidete elhhlssten
220
DERic RELSON 76 72
ihe morgue, with the undefined signlfi¬
rmnden dc the Noui— ihnt semn to un v
Frough approximation of an apt phrase
to describe “Rhapsody.“ But we dare
Pnot consult a Kraft-Ebbing or a die
Otionary for fear we'll wake up!
box 5/7
ENSTRIE
G
EVENING POST
NEW VORK CITV
FEB 261927
Schnitzler's Powerful Small Nore
Readers of the novelettes of Arthur
Schnitzler, such as Beatrice,“Fraulein
Else“ and None But the Brave,“ will ex¬
pect much from his newRhapsody“
(Simon and Schuster, 81.50) and will not
be diseppolnted. Its sub-title 1s A Dream
Novel'—in German it is called simply
Traumnovelle’—and it is the story of a
moment in the life of a married couple
###trem realitg and dream are 80 subtly
olended that one is never certaln which
s which. Albertina and her physician¬
zusband, Fridolin, begin .yy confessing that
ach has been mentally unfalthful, then
Fridolin is led through a series of curious
idventures in which sexual fantasy plays
the major part. Most important among
these is a revel in which the participants
appear first as monks and nuns.
Always for Fridolin there is pursuit and
promised ecstasy, ending in frustration. At
last he and Albertina are back in each
other's arms, a new day begun with clear
sun to drive away the memories of bizar¬
rerie. Here is a short novel of power: ma¬
cabre, fantastic and, above all, not to be
laid aside, even for a minute, until it is
finished.
the
leat
door.
hecol
Traumnovelle
15
1
*
B
A Mind on the-Loose.
FRHAPSODY“ (Traumnovelle) by Ar¬
Mur Schnttzter
SIions and Schus¬
ter, New York. 31.50.
Arthur Schnitzler is a confusing per¬
son. He writes of stark psychological
realities and also of romantie fantasies.
And his realism is fantastical, and his
fantasies are realistic. You never know
where you are with Schnitzler, except
that you are, when reading him, in the
midst of as sharp and rare delight as
comes with reading.
Perhaps Schnitzler might be de¬
scribed, were we an advertising man, a:
the man who made the world “conscious
ness-consclous.“ More truly than anz
other compétent writer he has achievei
artistlo expression of the fact that th
wall between the real world of matte
and the real world of imagination an
reverie is a thin and vaguely deline
barrier. Here, in“ Rhapsody“ whie
Otto P. Schinnerer has so deftly tran:
lated, Schnitzler makes shat barrier:
vagué that even-the prineipal charace
a young and fashionable physician,
not quite certain whether he has be¬
walking arcund all night, attendir
occult orgies and identifying the r
mainstof a lady whom he had only sce
once land masked, or whether it was a
mucha dream as his wife's coufesse
revelation that she had dreamed of n
infidelitg to him and of laughing horri
bly when he was abont to be erneilie
rather than be false to her. Fridolil
is perhaps too quick to see reality in
his wife's traumerei and to hate he
for dreaming Frendian dreams. And i
therefanyone who will deny that a ma
is living in a less ‘real“ plane when h
is dreaming than wlien he is, as we sa
charitably, awake?
ButRhapsody“ is not to be dis
missed or nccepted as a Rudy
psychology or entirely a tour de fore
for it is a beautifully written and bal
ancedf piece of work, filled with ine
dent and color, perhaps more trul
dramätie in
feeling than anythin
Schnitzlei has written of late. Th
scenie value öf the-becult bal masgu
alone makes the book worth the hou
that t will take yousto rend it, am
the scehle value is merelg a ground for:
host of pressions and hauntings whiel
makerone wonder why it has come 1.
be believed that a novel of action mus
necessarily involve physical action.
novellzof the mind which tempts iin
reader with all the
715
□0
und Pihl- Aidete elhhlssten
220
DERic RELSON 76 72
ihe morgue, with the undefined signlfi¬
rmnden dc the Noui— ihnt semn to un v
Frough approximation of an apt phrase
to describe “Rhapsody.“ But we dare
Pnot consult a Kraft-Ebbing or a die
Otionary for fear we'll wake up!
box 5/7
ENSTRIE
G
EVENING POST
NEW VORK CITV
FEB 261927
Schnitzler's Powerful Small Nore
Readers of the novelettes of Arthur
Schnitzler, such as Beatrice,“Fraulein
Else“ and None But the Brave,“ will ex¬
pect much from his newRhapsody“
(Simon and Schuster, 81.50) and will not
be diseppolnted. Its sub-title 1s A Dream
Novel'—in German it is called simply
Traumnovelle’—and it is the story of a
moment in the life of a married couple
###trem realitg and dream are 80 subtly
olended that one is never certaln which
s which. Albertina and her physician¬
zusband, Fridolin, begin .yy confessing that
ach has been mentally unfalthful, then
Fridolin is led through a series of curious
idventures in which sexual fantasy plays
the major part. Most important among
these is a revel in which the participants
appear first as monks and nuns.
Always for Fridolin there is pursuit and
promised ecstasy, ending in frustration. At
last he and Albertina are back in each
other's arms, a new day begun with clear
sun to drive away the memories of bizar¬
rerie. Here is a short novel of power: ma¬
cabre, fantastic and, above all, not to be
laid aside, even for a minute, until it is
finished.
the
leat
door.
hecol