Liebelei

by Arthur Schnitzler

Con Amoretto Schnitzler si rivela ancora una volta, un disincantato analista degli abbagli del cuore, dell'impossibilità che l'amore sia altro se non un succedersi di illusioni e di inganni, in un gioco superficiale e passeggero di seduzioni credute eterne.

Genres: German Literature, Classics, Plays, Drama, Theatre

111 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 1895

About the author

Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist.

The son of a prominent Hungarian-Jewish laryngologist Johann Schnitzler and Luise Markbreiter (a daughter of the Viennese doctor Philipp Markbreiter), was born in Vienna in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and began studying medicine at the local university in 1879. He received his doctorate of medicine in 1885 and worked at the Vienna's General Hospital, but ultimately abandoned medicine in favour of writing.

His works were often controversial, both for their frank description of sexuality (Sigmund Freud, in a letter to Schnitzler, confessed "I have gained the impression that you have learned through intuition — though actually as a result of sensitive introspection — everything that I have had to unearth by laborious work on other persons")[1] and for their strong stand against anti-Semitism, represented by works such as his play Professor Bernhardi and the novel Der Weg ins Freie. However, though Schnitzler was himself Jewish, Professor Bernhardi and Fräulein Else are among the few clearly-identified Jewish protagonists in his work.

Schnitzler was branded as a pornographer after the release of his play Reigen, in which ten pairs of characters are shown before and after the sexual act, leading and ending with a prostitute. The furore after this play was couched in the strongest anti-semitic terms;[2] his works would later be cited as "Jewish filth" by Adolf Hitler. Reigen was made into a French language film in 1950 by the German-born director Max Ophüls as La Ronde. The film achieved considerable success in the English-speaking world, with the result that Schnitzler's play is better known there under Ophüls' French title.

In the novella, Fräulein Else (1924), Schnitzler may be rebutting a contentious critique of the Jewish character by Otto Weininger (1903) by positioning the sexuality of the young female Jewish protagonist.[3] The story, a first-person stream of consciousness narrative by a young aristocratic woman, reveals a moral dilemma that ends in tragedy.
In response to an interviewer who asked Schnitzler what he thought about the critical view that his works all seemed to treat the same subjects, he replied, "I write of love and death. What other subjects are there?" Despite his seriousness of purpose, Schnitzler frequently approaches the bedroom farce in his plays (and had an affair with one of his actresses, Adele Sandrock). Professor Bernhardi, a play about a Jewish doctor who turns away a Catholic priest in order to spare a patient the realization that she is on the point of death, is his only major dramatic work without a sexual theme.
A member of the avant-garde group Young Vienna (Jung Wien), Schnitzler toyed with formal as well as social conventions. With his 1900 short story Lieutenant Gustl, he was the first to write German fiction in stream-of-consciousness narration. The story is an unflattering portrait of its protagonist and of the army's obsessive code of formal honour. It caused Schnitzler to be stripped of his commission as a reserve officer in the medical corps — something that should be seen against the rising tide of anti-semitism of the time.
He specialized in shorter works like novellas and one-act plays. And in his short stories like "The Green Tie" ("Die grüne Krawatte") he showed himself to be one of the early masters of microfiction. However he also wrote two full-length novels: Der Weg ins Freie about a talented but not very motivated young composer, a brilliant description of a segment of pre-World War I Viennese society; and the artistically less satisfactory Therese.
In addition to his plays and fiction, Schnitzler meticulously kept a diary from the age of 17 until two days before his death, of a brain hemorrhage in Vienna. The manuscript, which runs to almost 8,000 pages, is most notable for Schnitzler's cas

Reviews

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the sea of boring German classics, this one stood out to me. Since I had to read it three times for my German class, I can say we became good buddies.
Even though the story itself is fairly short and easy to read, the characters are complex and some of them have a veil of mystery around themselves. I loved the clear differences between characters and even though it was a bit cheesy, I enjoyed the ending.

[Gilfschnitte · Rating 3 out of 5]

It felt a bit half baked and the characters were too one-dimensional for me. I liked the forced coming-of-age of Christine when she realizes the difference of affection between her and her lover and she has to discard her naivety to endure. But it came a little too late.

[ella · Rating 2 out of 5]

damsels in distress aren’t my thing

[ChrissyBby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book just out of my interest for Arthur Schnitzler. And I really enjoyed the way he portrays young love and small crushes and affairs and, in doing so, takes the mask of purity off the Viennese high society's face. I didn't like it as much as „Reigen” but it's still a very great piece.

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another play by Schnitzler about love, real and unreal, in turn of the century Vienna. Fritz is having an affair with a seemingly disturbed married woman (who never appears in the play); his friend Theodor sets him up with Christine, the friend of his own girlfriend Mitzi, as a distraction. He likes her, but isn't really serious; she on the other hand falls in love with him, but neither he nor the others realize that she is serious. Of course it ends tragically, as with Das weite Land and many of Schnitzler's other plays.

[Patrick]

“Gesund” “Abholen” “Dämonen” set the stage in the first half of act one and never appear directly in the rest of the text. The conversation about the absent woman in black before the girls show up is the key to Fritz’s character.

The scene where Christina’s father describes his feelings about his younger sister - in particular his memory of seeing her smile in gratitude and wanting to fall to his knees and beg forgiveness - excellent.

Very impressed by Schnitzler.

[Dilan Esma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ilk elime aldigimda ürperdim, hayatimda ilk kez bu kadar eski basilmis bi eser vardi.( 1944 istanbul Maarif Marbaasi ) . Kokusu , sapsari ama yipranmamis nisanlidan tertemiz bir hediye . cok piyes okuma taraftari degilimdir ama kendisini zevkle okuttu.

[Dominic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spaß und moderne Lesung

[Monty · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Paper 4 Prelims German Oxford)

[klötz · Rating 2 out of 5]

der erzählfisch war hier nicht ganz ausgeprägt😞 insgesamt einfach sehr flach

[Sombre Grimoire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une histoire très moyenne...

Elle rend sûrement bien adapté au théâtre mais à lire... elle n'était pas très intéressante...

[Jean Bourgeois · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good insight into late 19th century Viennese social norms and their hypocrisy

[Sophia Beem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fritz and Christine both pmo

[Emma Wendt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blah

[Edit Burla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ein Einblick in die wiener Gesellschaft zu Schnitzler's Zeit. Ein bewegendes Theaterstück, aber kein weltbewegendes.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Zum Erholen sind sie da. Die Weiber haben nicht interessant zu sein, sondern angenehm. Du mußt dein Glück suchen, wo ich es bisher gesucht und gefunden habe, dort, wo es keine großen Szenen, keine Gefahren, keine tragischen Verwicklungen gibt, wo der Beginn keine besonderen Schwierigkeiten und das Ende keine Qualen hat, wo man lächelnd den ersten Kuß empfängt und mit sehr sanfter Rührung scheidet."

[Eingutesomen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slay Mizi💅✨