VI, Allgemeine Besprechungen 1, 6, Schinnerer Early Works, Seite 44

box 36/6
Panphlets offprints
Earlg Works of Arthur Schnitzler
195
Magdalena.“ And the French influence is most obvious in the
Anatol scenes. According to Arnold“ these forerunners of
t.—und
Schnitzler are the Frenchmen Lavedan, Donnay, Marni and the
ng oder
Italian Bracco. In the nineties Gyp (Sibylie Gabrielle Marie
dritte
Antoinette Riqueti de Mirabeau, Comtesse de Martel de Jan¬
einen
ville) was frequently mentioned as one of the author’s models.
Specht also maintains“ that the sketch Mein Freund Vpsilon
elegant
and the novelettes" Reichtum'’ and Der Sohn'’ indicate that
levoted
not only Maupassant but Dostojevski and Tolstoi as well have
Bunday
had a share in shaping the early literary products of this Aus¬
et coat
trian poet.
e, who
As regards Anatol, we need have no misgivings in establishing
eep up
Schnitzler’s literary indebtedness, for we can summon our own
their
author as a witness. To Carl Marilaun he stated in an inter¬
kled by
view “ that, without any intention of contributing anything of
latest
value to the comedy literature of his native country, he wrote
ine has
a scene which to himself seemed quite unimportant, naming
nation
the chief character Anatol in recollection of agreeable Parisian
with a
comedies. In those days, he added, he did not know that an
author was obliged to have an original note of his own.“ Der
most
Einakter, dem ich dann noch einige folgen ließ,“ he is quoted
ht skill
as saying, war nichts weiter als eine Lesefrucht. Heute weiß
s with
ich, daß er von der Menge französischer Novellen und Komödien,
is ex¬
die ich damals las und sah, in gerader Linie abstammte.
selves
Schnitzler seems excessively modest on this score and
author
perhaps exaggerates the actual influence, for certainly a work
nolog,
that now for almost forty years has retained its charm and
ent of
freshness cannot be mere slavish imitation, but must have some
ons of
vital qualities of its own. If Anatol, however, was thus even
partially patterned after other models, we may take it for
Bis
granted that this holds equally true of the lesser works of this
br ihm
period. This, of course, is not meant to imply a reproach or to
isiert,
detract from the significance of these products. Every author,
poem
even the most original, must begin by experimenting with
"gele¬
established forms until he has mastered the technique and
thor's
8 Cf. Act II, Scene 5.
e Das moderne Drama, Straßburg, 1912, p. 237.
ponsor
6 Op. cit., 1161.
krüber
& Cf. Leipziger Abendpost, Nov. 20, 1925.
Maria
Se