SCHNITZLER, ARTHUR (1862-1931), Austrian play wright and novelist, was born in Vienna on May 15, 1862. He took a medical degree, and practised for a time as a physician. In 1908 he won the Grillparzer prize. Schnitzler's first and one of his most characteristic pieces was his Anatol (1893, Eng. trans. Granville Barker, 1911), a series of dramatic sketches of the love-adventures of a rich young Viennese. Nearly all Schnitz ler's gifts are revealed in this series : a limpid style, a strong but i never exaggerated sense of humour, an inimitably light touch, and above all, a gift of characterization second to none. Schnitzler understood the charming and frivolous Vienna of his day like no other writer, and his plays and stories are faultless reproductions of that life, so delightful within its limitations. Other plays in the same style are Liebelei (1895, Eng. trans. 1914) and Frei wild (1896), each striking a more tragic note in the fate of the "sweet little girl" round whom Viennese romance centres, and Reigen, a series of dialogues describing Viennese amours in such detail that, although written in 190o, it could only be performed in 192o. The best of his early stories are Sterben (1895), de scribing the decline of a consumptive, and Leutnant Gustl (Igor), a monologue portraying the kindly but stupid soul of the Austrian subaltern with such deadly accuracy as to involve the author in some unpleasantness. As Schnitzler grew older, he approached
his themes with added fervor but less lightness of touch. His one long novel Der Weg ins Freie revealed his limitations; limitations still more marked in his long romantic play Der Junge Medardus (192o). He continued, however, to produce short stories and plays whose perfection of style and characterization never flagged. Notable are the stories Die Griechische Tanzerin (19o4), Casa novas Heimfahrt (1918, Eng. trans. E. and C. Paul, Casanova's Homecoming, 1922) and Friiulein Else (1924, Eng. trans. 1925), and the play Professor Bernhardi (1913). In his later period, Schnitzler at times left Vienna to deal with such subjects as the life and adventures of Casanova; but he remained happiest in describing his Viennese. His verse, while polished and brilliant, gives less scope to his talents than his prose. His collected works (1918) do not contain many later writings. Among his more re cent works are Beatrice (Eng. trans. 1926) ; Buch der Spriiche and Bedecken (1927); and Daybreak (Eng. trans. 1928).
See J. Kapp Arthur Schnitzler (1912), and R. Specht, Arthur Schnitzler (1922). (C. A. M.)