31.
Fraeulein EIse
box 5/1
1 4 C — — — — — — — 5 4
GERMAN LETTER
334
next to this delightful person and extraordinary artist; while simul¬
taneously, as representative of its German branch, my brother
Heinrich was attending the international congress ef the Club in
Paris.
Apropos of this, the Berlin organization had not been sure that
the international situation instified the sending of delegates to
Paris. There was active opposition, in counteracting which your
correspondent may boast of having had a part. The result was
most fortunate: not only was vigorously spontaneous applause
accorded Heinrich Mann’s address—which this student of Stendhal
and Zola was courteous enough to deliver in French—but a choice
was made by a large majority, of Berlin as the meeting-place of
the next congress, despite the Belgian plea for Brussels. This was
a friendly requital, and we are hoping that the French speaker in
cur capital will decide to speak in German.
By reason of significant newly published work, Arthur Schnitzler
and Heinrich Mann are at the moment, again prominent in the
literary world. The English translation of Fräulein Else is,.L,
ET
suppose, already in progress; if not, it ought to be begun with¬
out delay. Undoubtedly abroad, the story will be found as divert¬
ing and engrossing as it is here. In his sixties, its author writes
with an intensive concentration which puts to shame a whole
generation whose acknowledged ambition runs in the same
channel. Dispensing with all customary narrative methods and
comprising little more than a hundred pages, his new work is a
kind of monodrama. It presents no more than the inner life of
a young girl who, suffering a profound psychic shock in the ex¬
cruciating conflict between her purity and an immoral, covetous
environment, kills herself with veronal. The setting is a sophis¬
ticated health resort in the mountains; and everything objective,
an entire picture of society, is reflected merely in the continuous
inner monologue of the heroine. Schnitzler’s handling of this
shows him to be more the dramatist when he writes fiction than
others are when they turn to the drama. Fräulein Else is one
of the greatest literary triumphs of recent years.
A contrast to Schnitzler’s moral intimacy, Heinrich Mann’s new
novel, Der Kopf, discloses a wide historical and political pano¬
rama. It is the work of many years, a work rich in character and
plot—and is withal only the third part although a totally separate
and independent part, of an epic trilogy which bears the general
Fraeulein EIse
box 5/1
1 4 C — — — — — — — 5 4
GERMAN LETTER
334
next to this delightful person and extraordinary artist; while simul¬
taneously, as representative of its German branch, my brother
Heinrich was attending the international congress ef the Club in
Paris.
Apropos of this, the Berlin organization had not been sure that
the international situation instified the sending of delegates to
Paris. There was active opposition, in counteracting which your
correspondent may boast of having had a part. The result was
most fortunate: not only was vigorously spontaneous applause
accorded Heinrich Mann’s address—which this student of Stendhal
and Zola was courteous enough to deliver in French—but a choice
was made by a large majority, of Berlin as the meeting-place of
the next congress, despite the Belgian plea for Brussels. This was
a friendly requital, and we are hoping that the French speaker in
cur capital will decide to speak in German.
By reason of significant newly published work, Arthur Schnitzler
and Heinrich Mann are at the moment, again prominent in the
literary world. The English translation of Fräulein Else is,.L,
ET
suppose, already in progress; if not, it ought to be begun with¬
out delay. Undoubtedly abroad, the story will be found as divert¬
ing and engrossing as it is here. In his sixties, its author writes
with an intensive concentration which puts to shame a whole
generation whose acknowledged ambition runs in the same
channel. Dispensing with all customary narrative methods and
comprising little more than a hundred pages, his new work is a
kind of monodrama. It presents no more than the inner life of
a young girl who, suffering a profound psychic shock in the ex¬
cruciating conflict between her purity and an immoral, covetous
environment, kills herself with veronal. The setting is a sophis¬
ticated health resort in the mountains; and everything objective,
an entire picture of society, is reflected merely in the continuous
inner monologue of the heroine. Schnitzler’s handling of this
shows him to be more the dramatist when he writes fiction than
others are when they turn to the drama. Fräulein Else is one
of the greatest literary triumphs of recent years.
A contrast to Schnitzler’s moral intimacy, Heinrich Mann’s new
novel, Der Kopf, discloses a wide historical and political pano¬
rama. It is the work of many years, a work rich in character and
plot—and is withal only the third part although a totally separate
and independent part, of an epic trilogy which bears the general