—
box 36/3
Pamphlets offprints
596
THE NEW QUARTERLY
staginess of life so characteristic of Schnitzler, it does not
qutte reach the high level of its subject; pathos is his vein,
rather than the terror of poetic tragedy. The scientific
habit of mind, which is at the back of so much modern
rcalism, emphasised perhaps by his medical training,
prompts in him a kindly aloofness, a patient attention
to men as they are. The sort of positive knowledge thus
acquired is the foundation of his artistic superstructure;
but guesses beyond into the illusive secrets of human
nature fascinate him too. On the stage he is for the most
part clear and precise; in his stories he has adumbrated
the strange things seen when he has looked within himself.
The numerous doctor types, all admirable, corresponding
in their way to the wise old men of Macterlinck, are a
characteristic feature in his plays. They are constantly
face to face with the desire to live, with that joy of life of
which we hear so much and feel so little; and they are
mostly pitiful, humane men, loving life themselves. In
this spirit the author himself contemplates the stream of
life as it pours along the Ringstrasse, or through the
Viennese ca/ér. Are these beings real, or do they only
make believe, he sccms to ask himself. Yet he delights
in the spectacle, and loves each and all. Young men
especially appeal to him as to all humane persons; he
condones their failings and smiles at their follies, but, god¬
like, he prefers them young in death. If he has any
ethical prepossession, it is the sacredness of parenthood;
when a child is born to man and woman, whether in or
out of wedlock, he scems to imply their union is a marriage.
This conception of the paramount importance of the
child scems due, however, rather to kindness of heart
than to any doctrinaire views. Upon sex-relations apart
from offspring he neither utters nor implies judgment. In
the charming comedy, Zwischenspief (rooy), he lightly
mocks, indeed, at the #eory of free love, by showing how
naturally strong the marriage tie is, when habits have been
box 36/3
Pamphlets offprints
596
THE NEW QUARTERLY
staginess of life so characteristic of Schnitzler, it does not
qutte reach the high level of its subject; pathos is his vein,
rather than the terror of poetic tragedy. The scientific
habit of mind, which is at the back of so much modern
rcalism, emphasised perhaps by his medical training,
prompts in him a kindly aloofness, a patient attention
to men as they are. The sort of positive knowledge thus
acquired is the foundation of his artistic superstructure;
but guesses beyond into the illusive secrets of human
nature fascinate him too. On the stage he is for the most
part clear and precise; in his stories he has adumbrated
the strange things seen when he has looked within himself.
The numerous doctor types, all admirable, corresponding
in their way to the wise old men of Macterlinck, are a
characteristic feature in his plays. They are constantly
face to face with the desire to live, with that joy of life of
which we hear so much and feel so little; and they are
mostly pitiful, humane men, loving life themselves. In
this spirit the author himself contemplates the stream of
life as it pours along the Ringstrasse, or through the
Viennese ca/ér. Are these beings real, or do they only
make believe, he sccms to ask himself. Yet he delights
in the spectacle, and loves each and all. Young men
especially appeal to him as to all humane persons; he
condones their failings and smiles at their follies, but, god¬
like, he prefers them young in death. If he has any
ethical prepossession, it is the sacredness of parenthood;
when a child is born to man and woman, whether in or
out of wedlock, he scems to imply their union is a marriage.
This conception of the paramount importance of the
child scems due, however, rather to kindness of heart
than to any doctrinaire views. Upon sex-relations apart
from offspring he neither utters nor implies judgment. In
the charming comedy, Zwischenspief (rooy), he lightly
mocks, indeed, at the #eory of free love, by showing how
naturally strong the marriage tie is, when habits have been