—
n
box 36/3
Pamphlets Offpri###s
ARTHUR SCHNITZLER
591
There is, however, an obstacle between them. She has
written a novel as well as a published volume of poems
containing the gem“ An deinem Halse hang ich, trunken,
both of which works are based upon a former intrigue with
a certain Gilbert. Clement is shocked by such poetry from
a lady who has, presumably, no experience of unseemly
emotions, and insists, without reading it, upon the suppres¬
sion of the novel. Margarethe is in despair, but finding
that Gilbert has actually forestalled her by bodily transferring
their correspondence, of which each, unknown to the
other, had carefully retained copies, to the pages of his
own novel, she thrusts her work into the flames as a
triumphant proof of her love to Clement.
In 1800 Schnitzler produced his masterpiece, Der
grüne Katadu, described by him as a“ Groteske,' a word
for which “ farce' is an inadequate equivalent. It is a
lightly written onc-act play. Already discovered in France,
it may, perhaps, according to the usual law of such pro¬
gressions, dawn upon the English consciousness in another
decade. So far Schnitzler has done nothing better, nor so
good. It stands out in his work as a classic, much as Praro
stands out from the drama of Beaumarchais. The period is
that of the French Revolution, on the eve of the fall of
the Bastille. Prospère, the host of the Green Cockatoo,
formerly the director of a suburban theatre, has had the idea
of attracting custom to his inn by theatrical performances
of a novel kind. He, Prospero, the magician who works
the puppets, plays himself the part of a revolutionary,
and insults to their faces the aristocrats who form his
audience. The rest of his company have carte ölanche to
improvise the parts of robbers, murderers, incendiaries or
what they will; the point of their performances lying in
the fact that the actors themselves are really half in carnest
in the parts they assume. Prospère himself is a Jacobin,
and his insults, though spoken apparently in jest, are meant.
To this motley crew comes one day a real murderer, Grain,
n
box 36/3
Pamphlets Offpri###s
ARTHUR SCHNITZLER
591
There is, however, an obstacle between them. She has
written a novel as well as a published volume of poems
containing the gem“ An deinem Halse hang ich, trunken,
both of which works are based upon a former intrigue with
a certain Gilbert. Clement is shocked by such poetry from
a lady who has, presumably, no experience of unseemly
emotions, and insists, without reading it, upon the suppres¬
sion of the novel. Margarethe is in despair, but finding
that Gilbert has actually forestalled her by bodily transferring
their correspondence, of which each, unknown to the
other, had carefully retained copies, to the pages of his
own novel, she thrusts her work into the flames as a
triumphant proof of her love to Clement.
In 1800 Schnitzler produced his masterpiece, Der
grüne Katadu, described by him as a“ Groteske,' a word
for which “ farce' is an inadequate equivalent. It is a
lightly written onc-act play. Already discovered in France,
it may, perhaps, according to the usual law of such pro¬
gressions, dawn upon the English consciousness in another
decade. So far Schnitzler has done nothing better, nor so
good. It stands out in his work as a classic, much as Praro
stands out from the drama of Beaumarchais. The period is
that of the French Revolution, on the eve of the fall of
the Bastille. Prospère, the host of the Green Cockatoo,
formerly the director of a suburban theatre, has had the idea
of attracting custom to his inn by theatrical performances
of a novel kind. He, Prospero, the magician who works
the puppets, plays himself the part of a revolutionary,
and insults to their faces the aristocrats who form his
audience. The rest of his company have carte ölanche to
improvise the parts of robbers, murderers, incendiaries or
what they will; the point of their performances lying in
the fact that the actors themselves are really half in carnest
in the parts they assume. Prospère himself is a Jacobin,
and his insults, though spoken apparently in jest, are meant.
To this motley crew comes one day a real murderer, Grain,