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2. Cuttings
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CURRENT LITERATURE
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SCHNIEZLER+-DRAMATIST OF THE
ARTHUR S
TWILIGHT SOUL
much of a psychologist not to know how un¬
EE ARE accustomed to look upon
stre is the apparently surest possession of
Anstria culturally as a German
life, the ego. Asthe same writer shows, hyp¬
province. This opinion is de¬
sosis, dual personality, dreams, have always
cidedly unjust, for at the same
SA
interested him so much that he questions
time with the deeline of polit¬

ahie
ical power of the Hapsburg which is the real man, the waking or the
sleeping; where the boundary between reality
monarchy, Vienna has seen a renaissance of
and drcam. This very haziness of outline
literature, especially of the drama. Not only
gives his best work its peculiar charm, and
Merry Widows and Kiss Waltzes have come
while it shuts out him and his herocs from
to us from the jocund capital of Francis
clear and complete joy, gives to these Ptwi¬
Joseph, but also the rugged strength of
Eght souls, as he calls them, a curions beauty.
Schocnherr, author of" Faith and Fireside,?
Schnitzler himself, in his novel Der Weg ins
the uncannily beautiful marriage of hectic
Freie.“ blames his Jewish heritage for his
modernity and classic austerity shadowed
self-divided, Drooding nature, that can never
forth in the works of Hugo von Hofmanns¬
be naive. However, living in Vienna makes
thal, the chiseled art of Stephan George, the
it equally impossible to be gloomy, and his
German pre-Raphaelite, and the cynical
Tiennese gayetg is the trait by which the gen¬
genius, half sad, half gay, of Arthur Schnitz¬
eral public best knows him.
ler, who invades with the weapon of psychol¬
Anatol.“ Schmitzler’s most characteristic
ogy the twilight of the soul.
work, is a study of passion in a series of one¬
Arthur Schnitzler has stood for more than
act plays. The playwright portrays his hero’s
one decade at the head of the Austrian school
endless quest for happiness in love. Anatol,
of playwrights, he ranks as a veteran of the
as Pan, an esthetic Berlin weckly, remarks, is
German stage and is a favorite in Berlin,
Sthe cheerful great-grandson of Childe Harold,
yet he is almost unknown in English-snenking
an always busy idler, a life-lusty, world-sick.
countries. Every few vears he is rediscov¬
vouth, at once enhungered and satiated of
ered by some English admirer in a magazine
kisses.“ Oue of the Anatol playlets,The
artiele, or an isolated play of his lives through
Farewell Supper,' was produced in French in
occasional American production. The essen¬
New Vork by Charlotte Wiche in 1007. The
tial genius of the man, his curious esychology,
scene is laid in the cabinet particulier of a
his subile, brilliant, vet melancholy gift of
Viennese restaurant, where Anatol describes
anaiysis-these remain beyond our grasp.
to his friend Max the inconveniences arising
Like Maupassant he is obsessed with sex.
from letting two love-affairs overlap. He is,
yet is without illusion. Like Maupassant he
for example, ruining his digestion by cating
is enamored of death. His phrazes, like Mau¬
two suppers every night. This, however, is
passant’s, are polished and piquant. Even in
to be the last, tho Anna, the old love, does
his own land he is considered more Freuch
not yet know that. They have an agreement
than German. France is beginning to appre¬
to part whenever affection wanes, and during
ciate him, and London recently saw his
the repast he will gracefully break the news
Anatol.“ a series of onc-att plays just pub¬
to her. But Anna comes in from the theater
lished in this country by Mitchell Kennerley
too hungry to open such a sübject at once,
in Granville Barker’s excellent translation.
and brthe end of the oysters she has broken
His latest work. The Young Medardus,“ was
the news to him¬sthere is someone else in her
the sensation of the Burg-Theater of Vienna.
life too. Max explodes into laughter; Ana¬
In short, Arthur Schnitzler may undoubtedly
tol’s speech comes just too late to be effective,
be called one of the few world-figures in
or even to be believed. His appetite is gone,
modern drama.
and the curtain falls on Anna carrwing off the
From early youth a poct and student of
supper to her waiting adorer.
psychology. Schnitzler became a practicing
Another play,Question to Fate,“ is built
physician. Inthe hospitals he watched many
on the old question," Does she love me truly
die, and always with the same shudder in face
and me only?“ Anatol will hypnotize Coras
ofthe unknown moment that follows the last.
and learn from her the truth. But at the last
He trusts his scientific knowledge no more
moment, Cora fast in a trance, he must be
than anv religious belief. Schnitzler is too