....
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and playes.
The work which first attracted the attention of the German
literary world was Anatol (1892), a cycle of seven one-act playe written
around a central character appearing in each and presenting seven
different seenes of the love Adventurers of the same able philanderer.
The essential immorality of some of the Anatol scenes is, of course,
oblicus. Yet, they are depicted with such subtle irony and humor and
such delicate art that they scarcely offend. Few German author are
able to express themselves as gracefully and artistically as he.
Not since Heine have the Germans produced such a wit couple with such
a rare sense of form and artistic sensibleness. In the words of
Alfred Kerr: "Dass man doch in Deutschland noch immer zu wenig Ehr-
furcht vor den Grazien hat, die so oft leider ausgeblieben sind.
Von der besonderen Art der Schnitzlerschen Grazie, von der besorderen
Art entzückender Feinfühlsamkeit haben Gewaltigere unter den Heutigen
keine Ahnung. Was niemand erwerben kann, erhielt er im Schlaf,
Jawohl, es gibt Tiefere: aber sie können nicht, was er kann.“ And
Gerhart Hauptmann: "Arthur Schnitzlers warme und feine Begabung
besitzt einen Zug, der in Deutschland selten ist, Grazie. Es ist
deutsche Grazie, keine französische... Den Sinn für Schnitzler besitzen,
heisst Kultur besitzen, und sich von Schnitzler angezogen fühlen,
heisst die Kultur suchen." Schnitzler is an unsurpassed master in
manipculating delicate,shades of feeling, in revealing the diepest
recesses of the soul, and in reportiing his Cicoveries lightly and
gracefully.
Liebelei (1895) made the author fameus throughout the world.
Here he uses the same material as in Anatol in creating a play of
deepost tragic significance, one that hold the stage both in Austria