—.—
box 36/3
Pamphlets offprints
ARTHUR SCHNITZLER
593
the Marquise Severine, during an unusually brilling
moment in the performance, remarks—
* No! Iswear that’s genuine feeling! There's no acting
about that, at any rate!
Rorzin (te poet).“ Quite so! That’s the charm of
it! At any moment one suddenly gets a lightning glimpse
of reality.
It is impossible to imagine a more subtle use of the
device of a play within a play. With Schnitzler it is,
indeed, no mere device, but an implication of his whole
philosophy of life and art. Dramatic irony is the sub¬
stance of the piece and no mere ornament or contrivance.
Each of the twenty-two characters are touched in with
light, bold strokes upon the momentous background of the
French Revolution, which gives dignity and weight tothe
episode. It is full of rapid movement. A succession of
comic, even“ funny,' episodes does not hide a meaning
as grave as that of the Festin de Pierre.
Setting aside Der grüne Kakadu, Schnitzler is at his
best in his latest novel, Der Meg ir Freie, which gives a
picture of social elements in Vienna almost comparable to
Thackeray’s view of London, or in such a one-act play
as Die letzten Marken, which, under the title In a
Horpital, was brilliantly performed some years ago by the
Stage Society, and later by the Vedrenne-Barker company
at the Court Theatre. In this piece the dying man,
Rademacher, clings to his delusions and the prizes men
pursue, until he suddenly becomes aware of the vast gulf
separating himself, about to “go down into the pit,' from
his literary rival and former friend, Weihgast. The striking
scene will be remembered in which the healthy man, who
enjoys the worldly success of a popular novelist, tries to
draw from his old, sick, disappointed friend the confidence
he seemed about to make. Rademacher has rehearsed the
interview beforchand with the actor Florian, a fellow¬
patient, doomed himself, though he does not know it. He
No. 8.—VoL. II.
—
box 36/3
Pamphlets offprints
ARTHUR SCHNITZLER
593
the Marquise Severine, during an unusually brilling
moment in the performance, remarks—
* No! Iswear that’s genuine feeling! There's no acting
about that, at any rate!
Rorzin (te poet).“ Quite so! That’s the charm of
it! At any moment one suddenly gets a lightning glimpse
of reality.
It is impossible to imagine a more subtle use of the
device of a play within a play. With Schnitzler it is,
indeed, no mere device, but an implication of his whole
philosophy of life and art. Dramatic irony is the sub¬
stance of the piece and no mere ornament or contrivance.
Each of the twenty-two characters are touched in with
light, bold strokes upon the momentous background of the
French Revolution, which gives dignity and weight tothe
episode. It is full of rapid movement. A succession of
comic, even“ funny,' episodes does not hide a meaning
as grave as that of the Festin de Pierre.
Setting aside Der grüne Kakadu, Schnitzler is at his
best in his latest novel, Der Meg ir Freie, which gives a
picture of social elements in Vienna almost comparable to
Thackeray’s view of London, or in such a one-act play
as Die letzten Marken, which, under the title In a
Horpital, was brilliantly performed some years ago by the
Stage Society, and later by the Vedrenne-Barker company
at the Court Theatre. In this piece the dying man,
Rademacher, clings to his delusions and the prizes men
pursue, until he suddenly becomes aware of the vast gulf
separating himself, about to “go down into the pit,' from
his literary rival and former friend, Weihgast. The striking
scene will be remembered in which the healthy man, who
enjoys the worldly success of a popular novelist, tries to
draw from his old, sick, disappointed friend the confidence
he seemed about to make. Rademacher has rehearsed the
interview beforchand with the actor Florian, a fellow¬
patient, doomed himself, though he does not know it. He
No. 8.—VoL. II.
—