—.—
box 36/4
1. Pamphlets offprints
32
ARTHUR SCHNITZLER
night with the most beautiful woman of Bologna. When he learns that
Beatrice is on the way to her marriage he refuses to interfere until he
perceives that she herself is wavering. She consents to follow the Duke
if he will make her his wife. This condition is granted, and Beatrice
receives a costly veil as a bridal gift. All of the fair ones of Bologna are
invited to the wedding, at the climax of which Beatrice disappears. She
goes back to Loschi and again declares her love. She consents to die with
him, but when Loschi actually takes poison she is controlled by the youthful
impulse to live — to live at any cost. With the excuse that she has been
praying in a chapel she returns to Lionardo, who discovers that she has
lost her veil. He threatens to kill her if she refuses to lead him to the place
where it has been lost. At first she refuses, but once more her love of mere
life dominates her. Lionardo at first is shocked when he sees that this
girl could forsake the poet whom he loved and adored above all other men
of Bologna. Beatrice implores him to kill her, and when he refuses to do so
Francesco, her brother, rises to the occasion, thus making good his early
resolutions. The gist of the tragedy is contained in Lionardo’s last words
to Beatrice:
Were you not but a child — 0 Beatrice,
That dallied with the crown because it glittered;
A poet’s soul because it held enigmas,
Ayoung man's heart — because a happy chance
Presented it to you? But we, too haughty,
Scorned what you did — and each of us desired
To be your only toy — nay more —to be
The world to you. And so we called your deeds
Deceit and outrage — and you were a child.
With Mrs. Bertha Garlan’ (’0l) the author returns to the novel.
This book is a remarkably sympathetic analysis of the inner life of a woman.
In her youth Bertha attends a conservatory of music and falls in love with
ayoung musician. Her father takes her out of school and secretly informs
the young man that his attentions must cease. Later she marries Garlan,
a petty official in a provincial town. After three years of monotonous
married life, during which she gives birth to a son, Garlan dies. Bertha
spends three years of her widowhood in dull routine, rounding out her
modest income by giving music lessons. The advances made to the young
woman, who is still singularly beautiful, awaken her old dream of happi¬
ness. She reads the announcements of her triumphs of the former lover,
who is to appear at a concert in Vienna, and addresses a note to him. He
invites her to a rendezvous, and she does what she had refused to do as a
girl — surrenders to him without resistance. Although she makes no
2
box 36/4
1. Pamphlets offprints
32
ARTHUR SCHNITZLER
night with the most beautiful woman of Bologna. When he learns that
Beatrice is on the way to her marriage he refuses to interfere until he
perceives that she herself is wavering. She consents to follow the Duke
if he will make her his wife. This condition is granted, and Beatrice
receives a costly veil as a bridal gift. All of the fair ones of Bologna are
invited to the wedding, at the climax of which Beatrice disappears. She
goes back to Loschi and again declares her love. She consents to die with
him, but when Loschi actually takes poison she is controlled by the youthful
impulse to live — to live at any cost. With the excuse that she has been
praying in a chapel she returns to Lionardo, who discovers that she has
lost her veil. He threatens to kill her if she refuses to lead him to the place
where it has been lost. At first she refuses, but once more her love of mere
life dominates her. Lionardo at first is shocked when he sees that this
girl could forsake the poet whom he loved and adored above all other men
of Bologna. Beatrice implores him to kill her, and when he refuses to do so
Francesco, her brother, rises to the occasion, thus making good his early
resolutions. The gist of the tragedy is contained in Lionardo’s last words
to Beatrice:
Were you not but a child — 0 Beatrice,
That dallied with the crown because it glittered;
A poet’s soul because it held enigmas,
Ayoung man's heart — because a happy chance
Presented it to you? But we, too haughty,
Scorned what you did — and each of us desired
To be your only toy — nay more —to be
The world to you. And so we called your deeds
Deceit and outrage — and you were a child.
With Mrs. Bertha Garlan’ (’0l) the author returns to the novel.
This book is a remarkably sympathetic analysis of the inner life of a woman.
In her youth Bertha attends a conservatory of music and falls in love with
ayoung musician. Her father takes her out of school and secretly informs
the young man that his attentions must cease. Later she marries Garlan,
a petty official in a provincial town. After three years of monotonous
married life, during which she gives birth to a son, Garlan dies. Bertha
spends three years of her widowhood in dull routine, rounding out her
modest income by giving music lessons. The advances made to the young
woman, who is still singularly beautiful, awaken her old dream of happi¬
ness. She reads the announcements of her triumphs of the former lover,
who is to appear at a concert in Vienna, and addresses a note to him. He
invites her to a rendezvous, and she does what she had refused to do as a
girl — surrenders to him without resistance. Although she makes no
2