I glanced at the words I conjured
upthe ffor me) memorahle visit to
hie home on Sterwartestrasse in the

fashionable new cottage section of

Vienna, and the admonition, kindly
and sage, and afterward long pon¬
#
KRlC
dered, which he then gave me.
Gach
I had invited the“finest portraitist


of the old Austrian regime“ as Dr.
Schnitzler has often been called, to
furnish an introduction to a charming,
racy book of memoirs by Countess Her¬
Dr. Arthur Schnitzler
mynia zur Muhlen, who is asort of run¬
away princess, a niece of Archduke
writer for me: how, far back In the host and asked: Why is it, do vor
Ferdinand who was assassinated at
think, that your books have not had :
eighties and nineties, he and the late
Sarajevo. Countess zur Muhlen is al¬
steady sale in America?“
Hugo von Hofmannsthal were closely
ways witty and engaging, acerb and
I belleve 1 am appreciated In Amerl¬
associated, Von Hofmannsthal writing
thoroughly objective in her revelations
ca,“ he replied, "but so far I do no#
exquisite Parnassian poetry and
of pre-war Austria and Russia, into
think I have had a fair chance. But¬
Schnitzler emerging as a realistic satir¬
which country she married; and a tone
the situation Is about to change. The.
ist, witty and graceful, softening the
of indulgent irony permeates ner casy
American public is waking up to the¬
naturalist current which had reached
style. This being so, it was but natural
Vienna via Berlin and Paris.
value of a psychologieal method in the.
to call on Arthur Schnitzler, also gen¬
*T owe my recognition,“ he sald. “to
dellneation of character, Of course, it
tle and ironical and tout-a-fait Vien¬
is easier for any audience to swallows
a young journalist on the Neue Freie
nois, to supply an introduction to the
Presse. He at once percelved the im¬
light raillery or gay cynicism rathen
American edition of the book.
portance of the new movement and my
than ripe irony. Trony implies, as yon¬
Dr. Schnitzler in reply to my request
ration to it, He pointed out that I
know, a certaln amount of intellectuial
pleaded the urgency of other work, al¬
gazed into the human soul and made
sophistication. Perhaps this explains
though he admitted that he was
people speak as though they were under
why my Vienna and Budapest colleaguest.
strongly tempted. He was, of course;
the influence of Professor Charcot, the
are more successful on the New York##
familiar with the milleu and the char¬
French psychologist, who at that time
While wander-
stage than I am.
acters involved, but his role was that
used hypnotism in his cures. Professor
Ing about Vienna,“ he called after mer
of the creative artist. He declined
Charcot’s experiments affected me
as I was going out, “don't forget tot
gracefully. To the production of novels
deeply and set me thinking, as they
read Stifter and Grillparzer.“
and plays he must, he felt, henceforth
also did Professor Freud, who was, I
Shortly afterward I called on a well¬
exclusively devote himself, as in the
believe, his assistant in Paris then.
known Viennese lady who had figuredt
past. Behind his prosaic words
The direct outcome of this influence
brilliantly in pre-war society. I in¬
of
glimpsed the phantasmal outline
may be seen in Anatole,' where hyp¬
qutred aboüt the authentielty of Dr.##
his grief over a dead daughter.
notism Is employed as a dramatie de¬
Schnitzler’s charackers.
Frice. Both as an artist and a physi¬
In Schnitzler,“ I said, “there is al¬
His Spirit Crushed
cian, however, I felt that hypnotism
ways delicate charm, light amour ands
—That daughter, it will be remem¬
was Inadequate in the long run. But
so on. Did the sex game, as his playss
bered, Häd büt recently married an
it did help me in some way to get an
Imply, once take up a good part of ther
Italian nobleman, and a few weeks
insight into the inner life of my char¬
lives of the Viennese?“
after her wedding she committed sul¬
acters. Reigen' was written as a serles
The. lady laughed, her eyes suddenly!
eide in Venice. Dr. Schnitzler char¬
of case histories. Does this surprise
grown youthful and gay.Oh, Schnitzs
tered a special plane and flew to her
you? The question I asked myself was
ler is very, very clever,“ she said, exf
bedside, but it was too late. The giri
this: Clinically speaking, how do cer¬
tending toward me a platter heaped up!
was dead. Broken in spirit, his face
taln people, drawn from all classes, act
with rich pastry. He's profound, and, 1
older and more tired, his eyes sadder,
under the stress of sexual passion? I
of course, almost any woman will recog K
Schnitzler returned to Vienna and
have been accused of having produced
nize herself in one, at least, of his
withdrew more and more deeply within
a kind of sublimated joke. Ah, not at
characters, I hear he’s been translaten #
himself. Of course, he still has his
all. The Hands Around’ idea was best
into every language. And he deserves #
only son, a promising young actor
fitted to carry out my purpose.“
to be, for he is universal—a great writ¬
whom he sees nowadays from time to
er.“ She paused. Her eyes glistened &
Appraises Von Hofmannsthal
time, I cannot forget his sigh when
But,“ she went on“you mustn't taken
he said:" It is hard to work in peace
The name of Von Hofmannsthal, who
him too literally. Most of us women,
ne#adags, free from erushing anziety,
was having a modern comedy produced
you know, dream all our lives of those
It is not like before the war.“
by Reinhardt in Vienna at the time,
gay infidelities which he so delicatelyg
And I sometimes wonder if old age and
portrays. But, alas! they never come
was next brougnt up and Dr. Schnitzg
a consclousness of great work well
to us. Ah, well!“ she sighed.
done will at last bring him the healing
ler sald:
gift of millennial peace.
As a poet he is unequaled, bub¬
Circumstances had, of course, been
SARRR
find his plays a little lacking in hu¬
relentless toward him, as toward many
manity. Von Hofmannsthal is the mod.
others, during the spare and bitter war
Fears and during the inflation of the
ern counterpart of Ben Jonson—if yon
Austrian crown and the German mark.
will make huge allowances for the dif¬
His work was practically at a standstill.
ferences of temperament and age. You
The royalties from the output of a life¬
must remember that his prose comedies:
time-—about twenty volumes of novels
have no kinship with his verse. Buti
and plays in all—amounted to exactly
he is scholarly, even wonderfully eru¬
85 This was his income from the
dite, and he is quick to see the humors
Fischer verlag, his German publishers.
in people. This Is what concerns him
Tuchenschanz Park, near Schnitzler'’s
most and in this trait he comes closest
home, is one of the loveliest spots in
to the Elizabethan. He# is a good ex¬
Vienna. As the name indicates, the
ample of the playwright of humors; but
Turks, during their prolonged invest¬
realistic comedy, when all is said and
ment of the city, had built a fort there.
done, is not his special fleld. He is
A short, stout man with curly brown
essentially a poet, a great dramatic
hair and beard, profusely dusted with
poet, as his librettos written for
gray. came to meet me. His forehead
was narrow, lined, his nose long and Strauss’s musie show, and one of the
finest Austria has ever produced.“
well modeled, his lips thick and full.
Since these words were spoken, the
But his most arresting feature was his
two llfelong friends, as everybody
Teyes—they were deep-sunk and had
knows, have suffered kindred tragedies,
penumbra; they were by no means
tragedies of fate with nothing less than
cynical, as one might perhaps expect
a Sophoclean touch, in their own
from some of his plays, but weary, seif¬
lives. Schnitzler’s daughter and Von
effacing, asking little of people and
Hofmannsthal's young son committed
things. He was well past sixty.
suleide within a short period of each
Thirty Vears After" Anatole“
other. In Von Hofmannsthal’s case
He greeted me cordially. The room,
the shock of the catastrophe was the
oblong in shape and not very large, was
immediate cause of the poet’s death.
lined with rows of beautifully bound
After talking to Schnitzler for a half
books. Noar the window stood a tall


r manhasar