—
box 36/3
Pamphlets offprints
ARTHUR SCHNITZLER
589
is transmuted by Viennese grace and good nature. In
Dar Vermächtmir, Toni Weber has borne an illegitimate
child to Hugo Losatti, the son of well-to-do professional
parents. On his deathbed he commends her and the
little boy to the care of his family, and the testament
(Das Vermächtnis) is faithfully observed until the child
also dies. Then Toni, who has been received by the
different members of the family with varying degrees of
cordiality, finding herself excluded, disappears from their
midst—perhaps to take her own life. The fine shades of
character, of real or pretended enlightenment and sympathy,
are delicately drawn, particularly in Hugo’s father, Pro¬
fessor Adolf Losatti. He poses as a political and social
pioneer, but he is narrow and timid at heart. He is
satisfied that his son should be as other young men in
relation to women; he gushes, posturing and blustering
in the family circle, over Toni and her child; but, like
the others, he too breathes a sigh of relief when the en¬
cumbrance is removed. The subject of Dar Märchen is
a variation on this theme in different social surroundings.
The literary and artistic milen is cleverly indicated at Frau
Theren’s At Home,' where all the characters meet.
Her daughter Fanny is ready to abandon the stage, in
spite of increasing success as an actress, for the sake of
Fedor Denner, an author of repute. In her presence he
pours scorn upon the“ fiction of fallen women (Da.r
Märchen der Gefalienen), and Fanny, who has tripped
in her time, accepts his words at their face value. He
will, she thinks, surely forgive 4er past. She visits his
rooms, and after extorting from her a full confession, he
does indeed forgive her—for the moment. We conclude
that he becomes her lover. But her facile devotion
revolts him. His attitude is not so much due to moral
disapproval or conventional prejudice or jealousy, as to a
timid distaste for Fanny’s coarser, or, if you will, franker
and more vigorous, temperament. He is the literary man
box 36/3
Pamphlets offprints
ARTHUR SCHNITZLER
589
is transmuted by Viennese grace and good nature. In
Dar Vermächtmir, Toni Weber has borne an illegitimate
child to Hugo Losatti, the son of well-to-do professional
parents. On his deathbed he commends her and the
little boy to the care of his family, and the testament
(Das Vermächtnis) is faithfully observed until the child
also dies. Then Toni, who has been received by the
different members of the family with varying degrees of
cordiality, finding herself excluded, disappears from their
midst—perhaps to take her own life. The fine shades of
character, of real or pretended enlightenment and sympathy,
are delicately drawn, particularly in Hugo’s father, Pro¬
fessor Adolf Losatti. He poses as a political and social
pioneer, but he is narrow and timid at heart. He is
satisfied that his son should be as other young men in
relation to women; he gushes, posturing and blustering
in the family circle, over Toni and her child; but, like
the others, he too breathes a sigh of relief when the en¬
cumbrance is removed. The subject of Dar Märchen is
a variation on this theme in different social surroundings.
The literary and artistic milen is cleverly indicated at Frau
Theren’s At Home,' where all the characters meet.
Her daughter Fanny is ready to abandon the stage, in
spite of increasing success as an actress, for the sake of
Fedor Denner, an author of repute. In her presence he
pours scorn upon the“ fiction of fallen women (Da.r
Märchen der Gefalienen), and Fanny, who has tripped
in her time, accepts his words at their face value. He
will, she thinks, surely forgive 4er past. She visits his
rooms, and after extorting from her a full confession, he
does indeed forgive her—for the moment. We conclude
that he becomes her lover. But her facile devotion
revolts him. His attitude is not so much due to moral
disapproval or conventional prejudice or jealousy, as to a
timid distaste for Fanny’s coarser, or, if you will, franker
and more vigorous, temperament. He is the literary man