box 35/11
14. Littie Novels
MOST of these ten tales, employing that
gravely ironical manner which is
SCHNITZLER’s very own, deai with the rela¬
tions between men and women; one or tWo,
such as The Prophecy, touch startlingly on
the supernatural and the workings of Fate;
and the finest of the collec on, a master¬
piece among masterpieces, is a tenderly
beautiful study of the love between a blind
man and his brother. Anyone who begins
The Fate of the Baron, which opens the col¬
lection, will not ceaseto turn the pages until
he has finished The Deuth of a Bachelor
which closes it.
It may surprise those who know
SCHNITZLEk only through his novels and
novelet.es to learn that the majority of con¬
tinental critics believe his finest and most
enduring work to have been accomplished
in the field of the short story. In these ten
Little Novels (for their compaciness
surely entitles them to the term) the pub¬
lishers feel 'that they are offering to
SCHNITZLER’s eager and growing American
audience the perfect flower of the genius of
the Viennese master.
Many of these tales, such as The Greek
Dancer and Blind Geronimo and His
Brother have for long been accepted is
German classics; it is to be hoped that by
virtue of Enic Surren’s graceful and intel¬
ligent translation they will now become
English classics also. They possess a grave
and burnished beauty of style and an aston¬
ishing compactness not to be found, perhaps,
even in SCHNITZLER’s famous novelettes.
They obey no particular literary canon—
many of them were written years ago, some
simplyto all lovers of high literature.
GN
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