box 36/6
E S
Pamphlets, offprin
The Germanic Reviem
106
discovered the mode of expression most in consonance with his
own native genius. Schnitzler is no exception to this rule.
Dur survey, however, has shown an impressive variety of both
form and content in his early works. He has not narrowly
confined himself to one genre or continually harped on one and
the same theme. He has successfully tried his hand at apho¬
risms, poems and a play in verse, sketches, novelettes and
one-act plays. Artistically his poems are perhaps the most
vulnerable, and very likely his own critical insight told him so,
as there is no record of any later poems. Although the verse in
Alkandis Lied'’ occasionally lacks polish, he has repeatedly
used the verse form in his later plays with marked success, as in
Paracelsus, Der Schleier der Beatrice, Die Schwestern oder Casa¬
nova in Spa, and Der Gang zum Weiher. That he has continued
to write aphorisms throughout his career is evident from Das
Buch der Sprüche und Bedenken, in which he has revealed
himself as a profound thinker. His most noteworthy accom¬
plishments in his early years were his novelettes and plays and
these are also his outstanding triumphs in his maturer works.
As to content, we found occasion in the case of almost each
one of these early efforts to point out how similar themes and
ideas recur in his later works, indicating that he was far less
dependent on other authors for his ideas than for the form of
his writings. We have called attention to the absence of erotic
themes in his work up to 1880 and can now cite the novelettes
Reichtum'' and Der Sohn as additional instances. In the
remaining works which we have discussed, this subject, to be
sure, occupies a prominent position, as it does in so many later
plays and novelettes.
In some of these early works we note the same fondness for
rare and unusual names that is so characteristic of the later
Schnitzler. The title of an early unpublished play, for instance,
is Agidius. In“ Uber den Patriotismus and Er wartet auf
den vazierenden Gott'’ the chief characters are named Balduin
and Albin respectively. In Alkandis Lied' we meet with
Assad, Maja, Alkandi, Irsil, and Zoé. Körner“ also mentions
this predilection for rare names and cites Anatol, Amadeus,
V Op. cit., 22.
E S
Pamphlets, offprin
The Germanic Reviem
106
discovered the mode of expression most in consonance with his
own native genius. Schnitzler is no exception to this rule.
Dur survey, however, has shown an impressive variety of both
form and content in his early works. He has not narrowly
confined himself to one genre or continually harped on one and
the same theme. He has successfully tried his hand at apho¬
risms, poems and a play in verse, sketches, novelettes and
one-act plays. Artistically his poems are perhaps the most
vulnerable, and very likely his own critical insight told him so,
as there is no record of any later poems. Although the verse in
Alkandis Lied'’ occasionally lacks polish, he has repeatedly
used the verse form in his later plays with marked success, as in
Paracelsus, Der Schleier der Beatrice, Die Schwestern oder Casa¬
nova in Spa, and Der Gang zum Weiher. That he has continued
to write aphorisms throughout his career is evident from Das
Buch der Sprüche und Bedenken, in which he has revealed
himself as a profound thinker. His most noteworthy accom¬
plishments in his early years were his novelettes and plays and
these are also his outstanding triumphs in his maturer works.
As to content, we found occasion in the case of almost each
one of these early efforts to point out how similar themes and
ideas recur in his later works, indicating that he was far less
dependent on other authors for his ideas than for the form of
his writings. We have called attention to the absence of erotic
themes in his work up to 1880 and can now cite the novelettes
Reichtum'' and Der Sohn as additional instances. In the
remaining works which we have discussed, this subject, to be
sure, occupies a prominent position, as it does in so many later
plays and novelettes.
In some of these early works we note the same fondness for
rare and unusual names that is so characteristic of the later
Schnitzler. The title of an early unpublished play, for instance,
is Agidius. In“ Uber den Patriotismus and Er wartet auf
den vazierenden Gott'’ the chief characters are named Balduin
and Albin respectively. In Alkandis Lied' we meet with
Assad, Maja, Alkandi, Irsil, and Zoé. Körner“ also mentions
this predilection for rare names and cites Anatol, Amadeus,
V Op. cit., 22.