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box 36/4
Pamphlets offorints
ARTHUR SCHNITZLER
34
not only untrue to her, but reveals chapters of her inner life shamelessly in
his dramas. She becomes infatuated with Lconhart but wants to escape
the dangers of temptation, and therefore confesses her infatuation to her
husband, who decides to take her away. Before their departure Pauline
meets Leonhart in a picture gallery, before the painting The Lady and
the Dagger.' After gazing at this picture she falls asleep and dreams the
following story into which she puts parts of her own experience: — Paola is
married to Remigio, the painter, who has a pupil Lionardo. During the
absence of the master, Lionardo wins the love of Paola. On the morning
after their adventure Paola implores Lionardo to depart, but he tarries in
the studio until Remigio returns. Lionardo is willing to pay the penalty
for his deed — yes, implores Remigio to kill him. When the master refuses
to do so, and Lionardo reviles and threatens him, Paola seizes a dagger and
kills her lover. Remigio promptly grasps the artistic possibilities of the
event and forces Paola to pose for the picture that has inspired this dream.
When Pauline awakes from her dream she fully understands the sordidness
of her husband and follows Leonhart, her lover.
In The Last Masks' the reader is introduced to a bit of life in a
Vienna hospital. Florian, an invalid comedian, has been utilizing his time
by studying the comical possibilities of this place which witnesses so many
tragedies. Among the doomed men of the ward is Rademacher, a news¬
paper man, who expresses a desire to see Weingast, a literary man, who has
been his professional rival. Rademacher explains to Florian how he will
take delight in excoriating this man in the impending interview. With
supreme satisfaction he rolls under his tongue the many sarcastic things
that he will say, when Weingast actually appears. Rademacher, however,
now fails to say a single bitter word. He has been relieved by his tirade
to Florian, and in the shadow of death all of these matters shrink into
insignificance to him.
Literature' portrays Margarethe, a poetess, who has a love affair
with Gilbert, a novelist, whom she eventually deserts for Clemens, a sports¬
man. Clemens is by no means a man of high moral principles, but he de¬
spises the men and women with whom Margarethe has associated. It is
incomprehensible to him that she can put her feelings and personal ex¬
periences into poems that are published. He is unspeakably exasperated
when he learns that she intends to publish a novel. Gilbert tries to win
Margarethe back. He brings her his novel — fresh from the press — and
it comes to light that both novels contain their love letters. Both finally
confess that they had originally written these letters with the expectation
of utilizing them in this manner. Clemens returns with the news that he
has had the publisher destroy the whole edition of Margarethe’s novel,
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