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1. PanbhletsOffbrints
Monatshefte für deutschen Unterricht
fills accordingly not a few of the pages. Although the young baron
feels that the girl does not share their characteristics, he is disturbed
by her loyalty to the members of her race. He feels that she moves
in a different world from his, and he is relieved when their child
dies at birth. He leaves her in order to find his way out into the
open. But there does not seem to be any logical necessity for his
breaking with her to find his way to freedom. Moreover, his awakening
to the serious problems of life is not well blended with the tragedy
of the voung Jewess who yearns to rise above the sordidness of her
environment, and yet cannot break the ties that bind her to it. But
the love story is only of secondary importance. The great value of
the book lies in the subtle characterization, in the richness of thought,
in the many deep reflections on life, and in the discussions of the
vital problems of the day. Der Weg ins Freie gehört zu den uner¬
schöpflichen Büchern'’ writes Robert Specht, “zu denen mien immer
wiederkehrt; zu denen, die zuerst spielerisch, ja manchmal tändelnd
und eberflächlich scheinen und die dann immer tiefere Kreise ent¬
hüllen, weil es ein Lebensbuch ist.? And Albert Soergel: “Staunens¬
wert bleibt, wie zwanglos um diese Liebesnovelle die Ausschnitte aus
dem jüdischen Wien gruppiert sind, wie zwanglos mit dem Fortrücken
der Handlung und Charakteristik der Liebenden die Charakteristik
einer großen Zahl jüdischer Typen jeden Alters, Standes, und Ge¬
schlechts vorrückt, wie mit dem Abschluß der Geschichte der Liebenden
auch die Geschichte der anderen abgeschlossen ist. Ein hoher Reiz
geht von der Sprache aus, von diesen klaren Sätzen, diesen immer in
den Kern treffenden Adjektiven, aber das Beste ist doch, daß, wie bei
Fontane, die Gestalt des Dichters durchleuchtet, klug, klar, weich und
bescheiden.?
Schnitzler’s play Professor Bernhardi (1912) created a wild sen¬
sation throughout the whole of Austria and Germany. It is believed
that some of the author’s ownl or his father’s experiences have entered
directly into the situation dramatized. The chief figure of the play
is the noble-minded Jew, Professor Bernhardi, head of a large hospital
and a specialist of world-wide reputation. One of Bernhardi’s patients,
a young girl of the people is dring from the consequences of a
criminal operation. But she does not know that her hours are
numbered. She imagines that she is getting well and that her lover
is coming to take her away. Professor Bernhardi, who considers it
his dluty as a physician to make her last hours on earth as happy as
possible, bars the priest who has come to administer the supreme
unction from the sick room in order not to disturb the dving sinner.
The patient, however, dies of fright when the priest is announced to
her without receiving the supreme unction. The incident grows into
a scandal. The church takes a hand in the matter, Intrigues among
the faculty and politics and societr are brought into play. Finally

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