Arthur Schnitzler: biography, creativity, plays

Arthur Schnitzler is a famous Austrian writer and playwright, famous for his famous plays and short stories that have long become a classic of world literature. His work is very multifaceted, so that many researchers find it difficult to determine the direction to which he belongs. The author's works are extremely interesting because they can be used to determine the state of literature at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Carier start

Arthur Schnitzler was born in Vienna in 1862 to a Jewish family. His father was a doctor, and the young man, following the example of a parent, entered the medical faculty of the University of Moscow. For several years he worked as a psychoanalyst, worked in his father's clinic and even did scientific work. However, feeling an interest in literature and theater, he soon abandoned medical practice and started writing. Glory did not come to him at once. At first, his works either went unnoticed, or caused sharp dissatisfaction with a number of critics and literary critics.

However, by the beginning of the First World War Arthur Schnitzler had become quite well known among the creative intelligentsia. His work at first had the features of modernism. The writer began with the creation of one-act plays, which were quite popular at the turn of the century. "Anatole" (1893) is the story of a poet, dandy, who is in constant search of himself and his own creative path. He leads a rather idle life, which is a series of love adventures and adventures. He contrasted the image of his friend Max - a sensible and soberly reasoning person who tries to settle his friend and periodically helps him in his conflicts with women. Anatole constantly deceives his beloved, but at the same time he himself is often deceived - a motive that is characteristic of the writer's work.

The theme of modern society

Arthur Schnitzler paid much attention to the image of his contemporary society. At the turn of the century, the intelligentsia was surrounded by an atmosphere of despondency and anguish in connection with the crisis of cultural life. The accumulated contradictions in the empire, which was a motley conglomerate of peoples united only by territory, became more and more clear. The strained socio-political situation affected literature. Young writers increasingly began to depict the degradation of high society, the disintegration of the morals of its representatives. In this case, a big role was played by the love theme. Schnitzler Arthur paid her quite a lot of attention. In the plays "Fairy Tale" and "Flirt" he again returned to the topic of deceived love, showing this tragedy by the example of the fate of an actress and a simple village girl.

Popularity in Russia

The writer became known in our country after the publication of his story "Lieutenant Gustl" (1901). This work is fundamentally different from what he wrote before: this novel represents the inner monologue of the protagonist, who, because of an empty encounter with a baker in the dressing room of the concert hall, experiences a storm of emotions. He perceives this as an insult, which became the impetus to the whole chain of reasoning of this character.

Unlike the previous works of the author, this story does not have a clearly expressed plot structure and plot. Since the writer was deeply fond of the psychoanalytic theory of Freud, great attention was paid to describing the emotional experiences of his characters. Therefore, the author in our country was often compared with Dostoevsky and Chekhov, which, perhaps, explains the reason for his popularity in Russia. Many critics and poets wrote articles and reviews of his works, which speaks of the serious interest of the Russian intelligentsia in his work (A. Blok, M. Tsvetaeva, L. Trotsky).

The flowering of prose

In the last decade of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, the writer became known as a talented prose writer thanks to the release of short stories. One of them, The Wife of the Sage, tells of an unusual love story that happened between the hero and one young woman, who, incidentally, was older than him. The story begins with the moment when several years passed after this event. The hero comes to the resort and unexpectedly meets a woman whom he once loved, but was forced to flee for fear of getting caught up in her husband. In conversation with her, he learns that the husband has forgiven her, and she herself does not understand this and continues to live a dream of love. Little by little, he begins to perceive everything that happens as a dream - the main motive in the writer's work, formed under the influence of Freud's theories. In this respect, the author adjoins the Viennese Impressionists. Among his most famous prose works can be identified such as "Theresa", "Frau Beata and her son."

Main topics

One of the most famous writers of the 20th century was Arthur Schnitzler. "Horovod" is a work that became the quintessence of all his work. However, the love problem solved by him in the spirit of Freud and Impressionism, cross-cutting theme goes through all his writings. All heroes, as a rule, pass through the test with this feeling. In the works of writers, the sentimental, romantic and naturalistic motifs are whimsically intertwined, the latter clearly predominating. The author pays much attention to a detailed description of the luxury of the high world, which depicts the spiritual decline of influential nobles and fashionable beauties.

Prohibited play

The real master of impressionism was Arthur Schnitzler. The "round dance", the brief content of which is rather uncomplicated, became his most controversial work. The author again turned to the description of the romantic adventures of his heroes, but if earlier the love line developed against the background of a description of social reality that also played an important role in the writer's work, now he concentrated exclusively on analyzing the hero's love adventures, and described their adventures in a too naturalistic way . Here you can see the influence of the famous French novelist Guy de Maupassant. The audience was outraged by a series of frank scenes, which, in fact, were the content of the play. In it there is no clear plot, the author describes several amorous encounters of heroes of different ranks and estates.

Plot

Arthur Schnitzler, whose "Love Circle" became the central work in his work, became famous as a subtle psychologist who could very accurately convey the subconscious movements and experiences of his characters. In this play reflected the most characteristic features of the playwright's work: the depiction of the depravity of society contemporary to him, the decline of moral values and cheerfulness of morals. In the work the actors are an officer, a street girl, a poet, an actress, a young woman, a young man, an influential count. The author has always tried to show representatives of the most diverse classes and classes and to present their behavior in various situations. The first meeting takes place in the night city, on the banks of the Danube, then the author is transferred to the living quarters, describing the dark rooms where the pairs meet again.

Features

The work "Horovod" (a play by the Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler) got scandalous in many respects due to the fact that the author too frankly showed the disorderly love affairs of the characters. The public found this work vulgar and indecent, although some theaters still tried to put it. This time the playwright focused exclusively on the cynical depiction of love - he did not soften the paint, in his drama there is not a single hero who would like to empathize or sympathize. There is nothing life-affirming or bright in the work, there is no moral or moral idea that makes the play very pessimistic and dull. It is not surprising that the play "Horovod" based on Arthur Schnitzler's play proved to be scandalous. The audience did not want to accept this story, it even came to the point that they threw smoke on the stage . And in our days this work is perceived extremely ambiguous because of its controversial plot.

Military years

The play "Round Dance" by Arthur Schnitzler is a description of the love affairs of heroes of different ranks, estates and ages. This topic is the main one in his prose, in which, through a subtle psychological analysis, he tried to explain the motives of love passion. However, the war proved to be a serious shock for him, and she affected his work. The author began to write less and nevertheless created one of his most iconic works - the story "The Return of Casanova", which tells about the old age of a famous lover who did not want to surrender his position and came into competition with a young lieutenant who does not take him seriously. In the following years, his other novels appeared, among which the work "The Young Lady Elsa" should be noted.

The writer again resorted to his favorite reception - the inner monologue of the heroine, through which the reader gets the opportunity to understand her psychology. A young girl, the daughter of a successful lawyer, suddenly finds out about the ruin of her father, and this prompts her to serious mental reflections on how to help the parent who asked her for help. In her mind she models and constructs various situations, represents conversations with acquaintances, and thus, the story turns into an inner monologue of the heroine.

Last years

After the war and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the writer remained faithful to his favorite themes of depicting the pre-war life of the country. So, in the story "Playing at Dawn" the main character, the lieutenant, seems to rehabilitate the old Austrian army. However, the author was hard to perceive the collapse of the empire and the radical breaking of the old foundations and way of life. At the same time, there is a tragedy in his personal life. His daughter, having married, at a very young age committed suicide, which accelerated the death of the author. He died of a stroke in 1931.

Value

Prose and drama occupy a prominent place in the world literature. One-act plays, novels, Schnitzler's novels became a landmark event in the cultural life of Europe at the turn of the century. Some researchers associate his works with the works of the Impressionists, others - with the modernists. Anyway, his works are interesting because they reflected the life of his contemporary Hungarian society, both higher and lower.

In addition, he introduced the concept of "internal monologue" into literature, which had a great influence on the development of the psychological direction in prose. His observations of love relationships differ not only in naturalism, but also in psychological analysis. In many respects it was thanks to this that Arthur Schnitzler became European famous. "Round dance", the content of which is a collection of love scenes between different people, is the most striking example of a play demonstrating the author's desire to describe the intimate aspects of human life.