11. Reigen
box 19/1
15
“T consider the great ethical value of this playy
to be its inexorable truthfulness and its ex¬
posure of the merely sexual passion which is
devoid of all finer qualities.)
Dr. Alfred Klaar, prominent German critic, for¬
merly a Professor of the Institute of Technology in
Prague, likewise declared:
*Pean find absolutely nothing objectionabie in
Reigen.
Ludwig Skernaus, dramatic critic of the Berlin
Lokal-Anzeiger, said:
“1 do not understand how anyone could take
offense at it. 1 do not consider it comedy at

which you laugh and grin. To me it is a trag¬
edy.“
Professor George Witkowski, outstanding pro¬
fessor of literature at the University of Leipzig, tes¬
tified as follows:
This work is the product of a varied, engag¬
ing, brilliant mind. It certainly is not friv¬
olous; in fact, frivolity is out of the question.
The subject matter is so perfectly controlled by
the author that it is placed entirely in the serv¬
ice of a high artistic purpose.?
The comment of Professor Albert Koester, of the
University of Leipzig, was:
This drama has been called erotic. I believe
that no word could be less appropriate. What
we have in these ten scenes is not eroticism but
mere sexuality. According to my opinion it is
an eloquent outburst on the part of the author,
who holds up a mirror to the world and says.
Von sce that what you consider love is mere
sexuality. There is a curse on the communion
of bodies if it is not also a communion of the
souls.'