23. Der Neg ins Freie
—
S I NEW B00KS
Der Weg ins Freie. Roman.
Schnitzler, Arthur: Berlin, S. Esch¬
er, 1908. 491 pp.
It must be quite a
large Aibrary
which would contain all work of fie
ztion, presenting Jewish chhracters,
and yet it is strange low few have
treated the subject with the instinet
and the ability of a trud aytist, not
#0
speak of mediocre genißses like Sid
ney Luska or Sir Walter Besant, who
carry the snobbery of their petty sohle
into their novels and lacking all true
poetic instinct, fail to comprehend the
Jew.
We have really great authors
like Emile Zola and Anatole Fraice
who without either knowing or wish
ing it, see in Jews only unsympathetic
features of character. We have other
great poets like Gustav Freytag, who
aside from their somewhat unsympa¬
thetic attitude, present only the Jew as
non-Jewish society sees him. The Jew,
as he is, is a book with seven seals
to them. Jewish authors of real merit
are not very numerous. The ghetto
novelist must be excluded because he
deals with one single phase, with the
Jew of the eraof transition in the con
flict of ghetto life with modern cul
ture which forces him out of his iso
lation. Men like Theodore Herzl give
us in spite, or perhaps because of the
accuracy with which they present cer
tain features, rather a caricature,
either the idealized Jew who is living
in their imagination only, er the cari¬
catured Jew whom they wish to edu¬
cate to their own ideas.
In Arthur Schnitzler we have atrulz
great poet, who gives us the Jew as
he sees him with the eyes of the ge#
uine great artist. Arthur Schnit¬
is the son of the famous laryngologi
the late Johann Schnitzler, professer
of Vienna University. Himself a phy
sician, he has devoted himself to lit¬
erature and occupies a prominent rank
box 3/2
pen of an artist. Baron von Wergen¬
thin presents to us a Christian wht
can not understand why the Jews
should all the time talk of their Juda¬
ism, as he hardly thinks of this fact
when he comes in contact with them,
but he finds that they either con¬
stantly believe that they are attacked
as Jews, or they either attempt to
conceal their Judaism, if they do not
obnoxiously push it to the front fear¬
ing that somebody else might think
hat they are ashamed of it. The
prominent figure is old Solomon Ehr¬
enberg, S. Ehrenberg, as is written on
the door-plate of his apartment, be
cause the family objects to the Solo¬
mon. His wife is a society lady who
delights in gathering around herself
a circle of artists, authors, compos¬
ers, statesmen and aristocrats. The
daughter Else can not bear to hear
anything Jewish, including a Jewish
joke, and the son Oscar, who haf
served his year as a volunteer in the
army and is lieutenant in the reserve
affects the manners of the nobility
while the father, just for the pleasure
of showing his contempt of this pose,
delights in speaking in Jewish ac
cents, and in emphasizing his Juda
Christians
ism in the presence of
Young
This leads to open conflict.
Ehrenberg, passing by a church with
some of his aristocratie friends
wishes to show his complete assimila¬
tion by doffing his hat. The old man
happened to pass by and slaps his
scn’s face in the presence of all his
titled friends. The young man as ar
officer can not survive this insult, and
attempts suicide. The attempt, while
unsuccessful, purges him from the
stigma, and he has the satisfaction
ef going in company of a genuine
prince on a tour around che world.
Old Ehrenberg is in his manner a 21
onist, although he does not think of
When
settling in Palestine himself.
one of the friends of the house the
author, Nuerenberger, who is a “con¬
fessionsloser' Jew, teases him about
it, he says: The scheme is all right,
although I personally am too old te
Strange, says
Palestine.
go to
Nuerenberger “I did not know thaf
you were looking for the welfare of
vour son and your daughter.“ Ehren¬
berger answers, as many people will
do when they are cornered, by say
ing: you are an antisemite. Nueren¬
berger replies that he has only found
one real antisemite in all his life and
this was a leader in Zionist circles
This observation that amongst the
Jews the most determined antisemites
are found occurs very often. One of
the leading characters of the novel is
Heinrich Bermann, a prominent dra
matic author, who, dissatisfied with
himself and suffering from persecu¬
tion mania, sees antisemitism every
where. Very cleverly he obrerves
when Baron Wergenthin brings him
home and the janitor, who, as is the
case in Vienna, opens the door for
him and has to wait while the friends
are still talking: You know what
this man is calling me in his heart.
He says there is no Christian who is
not an antisemite in some way, even
those who do not show it and those
wvho believe they are free from preju¬
dice, will display this feeling unknown
to themselves. Still Bermann himself
has the very same feeling.
friend met him in the coffee-house,
when a young man reads to him Some
of his poetry. Bermann objects to the
word “hei' in a lyric poem. He says
very cleveriy“The lyric hei' does not
exist for you or for any oneofus. He
weans that the subjective sentiment
a true German can not exist in a
Later, when he is alone with
W.
the baron, he says that this young man
is the only one whom he will tolerate
of that class of people, on whose lips
there is alwavs the dae soi.“ He al¬
expresses his own ideas, but with ab¬
solute fairness he makes the cham¬
pion of Zionism say, What do you
It is a
know of the Jewish question?
small thing whether a Jewish play¬
wright has to swallow some malicious
remarks or whether a Jewish pro¬
fessor has to wait longer for an ap¬
pointment than a non-Jew, or whether
a Jewish army officer is promoted or
not. The real evil is deeper seated.
The sister of the Zionist, Leo Golow¬
ski, is the opposite of her brother; she
is a socialist and Zionism is to her a
craze. The ilis of humanity must not
be considered from the angle of Ju¬
daism. As soon as social injustice
shall be remedied, the troubles of the
Jews will also disappear. Old Ehren¬
berg, who is a relative of hers, and
who, in spite of the fact that he is a
capitalist, supports the socalist cause,
ridicules her idea. You will see,“ he
says, Pthat the socialists will act just
Now
as the German liberals did.
while they are fighting for power, thei
accept assistance from the Jews and
make them believe that they do not
think of Jews as in any way differen
from themselves, but as soon as they
will be in power, and will be seatec
down at the table, they will repay the
Jews with ingratitude, as did the other
parties whom they served.“ Therese
can mersiy answer, We shall see.“ By
which the poet impressively suggests
that she is not sure of her own asser
tion. There is another socialist poli¬
tician in the Jewish circles, Dr.
Berthold Stauber, a physician, who
has done very good work as bacteriolo.
gist, but has abandoned his profession
in order to devote himself to politics.
As an honest man, he is disgusted
with politics, as they are in Austria.
While he delivered a speech in parlia¬
ment, he was interrupted by the Chris¬
tian socialists with the most insulting
remarks, as “Shut up, Jew,“ and the
like. He does not deny that he feels
insulted, but this would not have dis¬
gusted him. When, however, after his
speech, he went to the buffet, one of
the fiercest shouters was standing
there, raising his glass to him and say¬
ing,Hello, Doctor, what will you
have?“ The little incident is power¬
fully presented and seems to be a
clear picture of Austrian politics. It
is all done for the galleries; even the
antisemites are not sincere in their
antisemitism. It is an amusing incl¬
dent that Therese Golowski, the so¬
zialist worker, who has served a term
in prison, goes on a tour with a cav¬
alry captain, thus showing, not merely
her advanced ideas as to morality,
but also her occasional emancipation
from the sccialistic hatred of the mili¬
tary profession.
Experience teaches that few readers
retain clear ideas about a book from
reading a review, no matter how ex¬
haustive. One nas to read the book
in order to appreciate it, and it was
my object to impress upon Jewish
lovers of literature their duty to take
up the book of Schnitzler, which I
consider one of the, if not the strong¬
est presentation of Jewish sentiment
in our days. If they take it up, they
will not lay it down without haying
read it over and over again, foy the
author will fascinate themf as ge fas¬
Gorrnann Drufsen.
cinated me.