fess
25. PrO er e e e e
box 31/7
Doston Trunsiript
324 Wasnisoros Srazer, Bosrox, Mass.
(Entered st the Post Offlce, Boston, Mass.,
as Second Class Matl Matter)
MONDAV. JANUARV 27, 1913
S
Schnitsler's Nezo Play
Professor Bernhardi,' a Drama of Ideas,
Involving Medicine and the Jew
RTHUR SCHNITZLER’S newest play,
Professor Bernhardi' — censored
and banned in Vienna--has made a
+ #. saber success in Berlin. Sober, be¬
cause it is the kind of play of wnich one
thinks more than one talks. It is really a
remarkable work, one which few of us wer¬
prepared to expect from the cynical "dec¬
adent“ of Austria. Both in matter and in
dramatie procedure it is a work of impor¬
tance.
Mr. Schnitzler, the physician and Jew, has
written a play about doctors and anti-semit¬
ism. His hero, Professor Bernhardi, diree¬
tor of the Elizabeth Institute, made a slight
mistake in tactics, in pursuance of his pro¬
fessional duties. He had a patient, a wo¬
man at the point of death, who believed
herself cured and was leaving the world
happily. The nurse, from force of hablt,
had telephoned for the priest. Professor
Bernhardi, feeling that it was his profes¬
sional duty not to destroy the peace of his
patient’s last hours by disillusioning her,
forbade the priest to enter. It was, to him
at least, a mere matter of professional rou¬
tine. But because of it he found himself
thrown into the centre of Viennese politics.
For Professor Bernhardi was a Jew. The
anti-semitic party made capital out of the
Incident. The royal patrons withdrew their
support. The patriotic papers charged him
with having refused the consolations of the
Whristian religion to a patlent. The board 1
of directors, including in its number an
archbishop, resigned in a body. Parliament
instituted a process against the director.
Under pressure of his confrères he withdrew
from the direction of the institute. The
court then sentenced him to two months
imprisonment and took away his medical
license. It is true that his license was re¬
stored and that the best of his personal
practice remalned with him after his re¬
lease. But the thing happened, in spite
of the friendship and would-be support of
his superior, the State minister for publie
instruction.
This is a play which seems to be ut¬
terly undramatic, especially in Mr.
Schnitzler’s handling of the subject, a
play in which everything dramatic (ex¬
cept the incident with the priest) hap¬
pens off stage. But the author has
packed its dialogue so full of ideas and
observation, and has drawn his charac¬
ters so richly and distinctly, that the
performance is fascinating. In partieu¬
lar, there is the remarkable scene (com¬
prising a whole act) in which Bernhardi
fights it out with his confrères of the
institute. This scene, which is merely a
formal session of the faculty, carries us
Into the centre of prejudices and argu¬
ments, showing ideas, dogmas and per¬
sonalities in continual and subtle con¬
flict. Its nearest counterpart in modern
drama is the third act of Granville Bar¬
ker’s“ Waste,“ the cabinet meeting scene
which is to be cut when the play is per¬
formed in America. It is par excellence
the Vtalky“ sort of drama which play¬
writing courses teach us to avoid, but
it is thrilling and dramatic throughout.
Possibly Professor Bernhardi“ will
never “go“ in America, because the sub¬
Ject is not so vital a one to us. But in Ger¬
many and Austria, where a Jew can
hardly get an official chair in any State
educational institution, no matter how
learned and capable he may be, where a
Jew’s advancement in the State service
practically and admittedly depends upon
his formal acceptance of the Christian
faith, where anti-semitism is a formal
and recognlzed factor in polities—there
any able setting forth of the subject.BN.
None who knows ihe fücts and feels the
situation is an event of the highest in¬
terest. We can imagine the work, on
the part of Arthur Schnitzler, to be al¬
most autobiographieal.
But the mere treating of an interesting #
thesis would by no means make a play.
25. PrO er e e e e
box 31/7
Doston Trunsiript
324 Wasnisoros Srazer, Bosrox, Mass.
(Entered st the Post Offlce, Boston, Mass.,
as Second Class Matl Matter)
MONDAV. JANUARV 27, 1913
S
Schnitsler's Nezo Play
Professor Bernhardi,' a Drama of Ideas,
Involving Medicine and the Jew
RTHUR SCHNITZLER’S newest play,
Professor Bernhardi' — censored
and banned in Vienna--has made a
+ #. saber success in Berlin. Sober, be¬
cause it is the kind of play of wnich one
thinks more than one talks. It is really a
remarkable work, one which few of us wer¬
prepared to expect from the cynical "dec¬
adent“ of Austria. Both in matter and in
dramatie procedure it is a work of impor¬
tance.
Mr. Schnitzler, the physician and Jew, has
written a play about doctors and anti-semit¬
ism. His hero, Professor Bernhardi, diree¬
tor of the Elizabeth Institute, made a slight
mistake in tactics, in pursuance of his pro¬
fessional duties. He had a patient, a wo¬
man at the point of death, who believed
herself cured and was leaving the world
happily. The nurse, from force of hablt,
had telephoned for the priest. Professor
Bernhardi, feeling that it was his profes¬
sional duty not to destroy the peace of his
patient’s last hours by disillusioning her,
forbade the priest to enter. It was, to him
at least, a mere matter of professional rou¬
tine. But because of it he found himself
thrown into the centre of Viennese politics.
For Professor Bernhardi was a Jew. The
anti-semitic party made capital out of the
Incident. The royal patrons withdrew their
support. The patriotic papers charged him
with having refused the consolations of the
Whristian religion to a patlent. The board 1
of directors, including in its number an
archbishop, resigned in a body. Parliament
instituted a process against the director.
Under pressure of his confrères he withdrew
from the direction of the institute. The
court then sentenced him to two months
imprisonment and took away his medical
license. It is true that his license was re¬
stored and that the best of his personal
practice remalned with him after his re¬
lease. But the thing happened, in spite
of the friendship and would-be support of
his superior, the State minister for publie
instruction.
This is a play which seems to be ut¬
terly undramatic, especially in Mr.
Schnitzler’s handling of the subject, a
play in which everything dramatic (ex¬
cept the incident with the priest) hap¬
pens off stage. But the author has
packed its dialogue so full of ideas and
observation, and has drawn his charac¬
ters so richly and distinctly, that the
performance is fascinating. In partieu¬
lar, there is the remarkable scene (com¬
prising a whole act) in which Bernhardi
fights it out with his confrères of the
institute. This scene, which is merely a
formal session of the faculty, carries us
Into the centre of prejudices and argu¬
ments, showing ideas, dogmas and per¬
sonalities in continual and subtle con¬
flict. Its nearest counterpart in modern
drama is the third act of Granville Bar¬
ker’s“ Waste,“ the cabinet meeting scene
which is to be cut when the play is per¬
formed in America. It is par excellence
the Vtalky“ sort of drama which play¬
writing courses teach us to avoid, but
it is thrilling and dramatic throughout.
Possibly Professor Bernhardi“ will
never “go“ in America, because the sub¬
Ject is not so vital a one to us. But in Ger¬
many and Austria, where a Jew can
hardly get an official chair in any State
educational institution, no matter how
learned and capable he may be, where a
Jew’s advancement in the State service
practically and admittedly depends upon
his formal acceptance of the Christian
faith, where anti-semitism is a formal
and recognlzed factor in polities—there
any able setting forth of the subject.BN.
None who knows ihe fücts and feels the
situation is an event of the highest in¬
terest. We can imagine the work, on
the part of Arthur Schnitzler, to be al¬
most autobiographieal.
But the mere treating of an interesting #
thesis would by no means make a play.