Artistic landmarks in arthur schnitzler's short fiction

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Artistic landmarks in arthur schnitzler's short fiction

Ivan Zymomrya (Uzhhorod, Ukraine)

У статті проаналізовано художні чинники у новелістиці Артура Шніцлера (1862--1931). Мала проза видатного австрійського письменника, одного з чільних представників німецькомовної літератури, постає самобутнім мистецьким феноменом. schnitzler literature story

Ключові слова: австрійська мала проза, творчість Артура Шніцлера, інтерпретація, жанр, образ, переклад.

This article attempts to analyze the factors influencing the short story writings of Arthur Schnitzler (1862 -- 1931). The short prose of the prominent Austrian writer, one of the leading representatives of German literature, became a distinctive artistic phenomenon.

Keywords: Austrian short prose, the works of Arthur Schnitzler, interpretation, genre, image, translation.

There is no unanimous resolution in the matters of identity pertaining to a literary phenomenon. It always proves to be a difficult task. In part, this is dealt with by the search of analogy, but it is only productive when a universal factor is at place. In short, the essence of a specific pattern emerges first in the primary sources, the foundations of national culture, its primary (i. e. original) content, as well as in a variety of shapes and factors that cause the development of certain trends. They have their effects, both positive and negative, which may even be joined together by a common «momentum». As remarked by Ivan Franko, «in Germany the development of national literature at the end of the eighteenth century... began as a reaction against the French poetics...». The creator of the poem «Moses» stresses the fact that this «direction was given momentum (italics I. Z.) by the great classics of German literature such as Lessing, Herder, Schiller and Goethe» [8 : 156].

It is an interesting fact that Ukrainian literature has recently been enriched by a number of important publications examining the questions of identity hence the various aspects of the interaction within the realms of national cultural systems. Among them mention should be made of conceptually important monographs, including the authors such as Peter Rykhlo («Poetics of Dialogue. Paul Celan's Creativity as Intertext», 2005), Yaroslav Polishchuk («Literature as a Geo-Cultural Project», 2008), Yevheniya Voloshchuk («The Magic Flute of Modernism. Spiritual and Aesthetic Tendencies of the Twentieth Century German Modernist Literature in R. M. Rilke's Lyrical Poetry, Thomas Mann's Prose, M. Frisch's Drama», 2008), Larysa Tsybenko («Eastern Galicia in Austrian Literature», 2008) Lesya Kravchenko («Vasyl Stus an Interpretor of R. M. Rilke's Poetry», 2008), Tymofiy Havryliv («The Form and Shape. Identity in an Artistic Space», 2009), Oksana Babelyuk («Principles of American Postmodern Text Creation in Short Prose», 2009), Oksana Brodska («Arthur Schnitzler: the Poetics of Text», 2011). It goes not about the comparison of research aspects and themes, but rather about the construction of integrated projects around the pivotal idea of national identity. This approach is clearly seen in the German-language cultural where the Austrian and German literature co-operate with each other. From this point of view every mentioned work deserves its fair share of attention as they aim to objectively and unambiguously resolve the question of «interliterary communication» [6 : 296] with regard to the identity of a specific writing.

In the early twentieth century an outstanding Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler (1862 1931) wrote a short story titled «Die Weissagung» («The Prophecy», 1902), which was published in 1905. One of its reflections reproduces the prototype of motion: «A new movement of the wind extinguishes one of the two torches... ». This is a prediction of sorts, the essence of which causes the progress. After all, the resistance is never lacking, for the road through life is usually paved with stone. This comes to mind when one interprets the image of two torches and compares their light with the meaning of «two colors» red and black, celebrated by Dmytro Pavlychko in his glorious song about the red as love and black as sorrow... That said, every phenomenon isolates the logic and the nature of a particular event. However, the latter also contains a motivated energy that encourages creativity. A. Schnitzler is an outstanding creator of highly original short fiction in the history of German-language literature in general and Austrian one in particular.

In fact, the author of «Casanova's Homecoming» («Casanovas Heimfahrt», 1917) revealed new approaches as a unique writer, though his artistic legacy presents multi-genre paintings [15; 16], drama among other things, diaries (in ten volumes!) etc. However, it is no exaggeration to emphasize that short fiction should be considered as his main artistic achievement. It rightly dwarfs, both in content and form, all the multifaceted heritage of the artist. In this respect short stories «Lieutenant Gustl» (1900) and «Dream Story» (1926) should be viewed as illustrative examples of his short fiction. They demonstrate the excellence of an artistic reality model, which often introduces a character, usually a person's ego with the signs of neutralized morality. This poses a question: Why should a work about a character with negative features of human nature be treated as a masterpiece of short-story art? A reasonable response to this question was given by Dmytro Zatonskyj (1922 2009), a scholar and connoisseur of Austrian literature: «While taking as its object the image of Gustl as a person, Schnitzler in his story criticized the affairs in operetta-like Austrian army, and essentially he did the same to all the Habsburg state» [2 : 24].

The evidence of feasibility of constructing receptive contexts around the names of Ukrainian figures of literary art, who introduce meaningful artistic models with substantial aesthetic trends, comes from Yaroslav Polishchuk's monograph on the writings of Mykhaylo Kotsyubynskyi («He Loved both the Executioner and the Hero...: Mykhaylo Kotsyubynskyi: a Literary Portrait», 2010). In one of the sections, by eventfully and skillfully depicting the image of the creator of «Intermezzo» (1907), a researcher examined against the background of «a comparative horizon» the common features in the works of artists representing different cultural codes: Ukrainian Mykhaylo Kotsyubynskyi, Austrian Arthur Schnitzler, Norwegian Knut Hamsun. This relatedness is due primarily to the proximity of worldview and creative methods employed by these writers. According to Y. Polishchuk, «All three authors Schnitzler, Hamsun, Kotsyubynskyi managed to survive thanks to their characteristic ability to crystalize an artistic image. Their poetics may be grouped together on the basis of versatility, which to varying degree and form is evident in their work» [7 : 299]. It takes into account the presence of such a systemic outlook that indicates a creative potential not only of an author, but people in general. In this context the name of the creator of the story «Fraulein Else» is, to some extent, a qualitatitive sign of literary tradition. So, the researcher rightly emphasized the following «The creativity of A. Schnitzler in its leading motives and images is not only typical but also normative and canonical for modernism at the time when its aesthetic principles were being formed. In addition, this writer was a leading representative of Viennese Modernism. He significantly influenced the formation of the aesthetic qualities which represent modern literature in its discursive meaning» [7 : 227]. The complex interaction of national specific and common, aiming to outline a number of similarities and differences in stylistic experiments, ideological and emotional attitudes, comes from the factual volume of historical and literary material. A detailed analysis of multi-genre collection of illustrations, encompassing the literary output of M. Kotsyubynskyi (stories «Apple-Tree Blossom» (1902), «Duel» (1902), «Intermezzo» (1907), «The Stranger» (1907), «Debut» (1908) «A Trip to Krynytsya» (1908),«The Dream» (1911), «At a High Price» (1901), «Horses are not to Blame» (1912) and A. Schnitzler's stories («Dying» (1892), «Flowers» (1894), «A Farewell» (1895), «Lieutenant Gustl» (1900), «Fraulein Else» (1924), «Dream Story» (1926), the drama «The Green Cockatoo» (1898) helps a reader to better understand the artists and their era. It is founded, as reasonably proven by various critics (Y. Polishchuk, I. Mehela, Tsybenko, O. Brodska), primarily on the basis of understanding objectively the philosophical and ideological matrix of impressionistic psychology as an important ideological and stylistic phenomenon at the turn of 19^th 20^th centuries.

In the book «Arthur Schnitzler: the Poetics of Text» Oksana Brodska discovered some innovative approaches to reinterpreting the forms and means of cognition of interior human space in the works of these writers [5 : 165-174]. This is one of the reasonable observations made by the researcher: «Loneliness, split personality, vain illusions comprise the range of common problems for

M. Kotsyubynskyi, as well as for A. Schnitzler. The constitutive principles of poetics appear to be similar in the works of these artists: the narrator's subjective view, present oriented time-spatial logics, impressionistic implementation of color, the concept of a person, with their psychological and spiritual worlds. Besides the general artistic means, the art techniques employed by the writers also include some specific individual features which they often use. Based on the impressionistic view of the world, and the core impressionist principles M. Kotsyubinsky and A. Schnitzler repeatedly resorted to similar methods of rendering the experiences of characters «in the language of nature» [1 : 71].

By the way, in an attempt to disclose the features of the Austrian short fiction paradigm it is appropriate to place an emphasis on A. Schnitzler's «Lieutenant Gustl». The above mentioned work, in my opinion, represents a model of narrative structure with regard to the interpretation of artistic achievements of Austrian authors from different generations. These include Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Franz Kafka, Stefan Zweig and Thomas Bernhard [3 : 19]. I strongly believe that the short-story construction is traditionally considered to be a complete embodiment of a small epic form model. Inspiration plays a vital role in this mode of reading. It is therefore advisable to emphasize this parallel. Fruitful interaction between the paradigms of German and Austrian literature defines E. T. A. Hoffmann's artistic method. His unconventional methods employed in the fabula construction are clearly seen in A. Schnitzler's individual style. For example, in «Redegonda's Diary» («Das

Tagebuch der Redegonda», 1909) the writer, motivated by artistic means, used a combination of pictures and dreamlike reality. The mysterious circumstances of alleged relationship between the captain's wife Redegonda and Dr. Gottfried Wehwald emerge against this technique, as on his death the narrator retells an amazing story. In fact, the main characters stimulate the subconscious to understand what is beyond perception. He daydreams through his vivid love affairs, and she inexplicably records them in her diary. The contrast between a harmonious and disharmonious world results in a real tragedy when Redegonda's husband finds her diary: she dies of fright, and Dr. Wehwald participates, as an apparent lover, in a duel, where he finds his own death. A vital part of the narrative is placed in the comments of the narrator, who plays a key role in constructing the plot of the work due to the deployment of a dialogue between the creator and his potential readers.

Special attention is given to the theme of the changes in Austrian tradition and their perception. It was introduced by the short-story writers like A. Schnitzler. For example, «Redegonda's Diary», which was published in a collection of short stories «Masks and Miracles» («Masken und Wunder», 1912), presents conceptual artistic values professed by Austrian literary masters. These include the transformations of aesthetic experience of Romanticism: attraction to the fantastic, mystical and irrational. In this case, we can observe the typological parallels with the story «A Fragment from the Life of Three Friends» («Ein Fragment aus dem Leben dreier Freunde», 1816) E. T. A. Hoffmann, who became a part of collection «The Serapion Brothers» («Die Serapionsbrnder», 1819 1821). It is marked by the duality of narration, its real and mystical planes. This creates a powerful magical effect, due to which the characters come under the influence of mysterious aura. The merging of the explicit and implicit generally describes an imaginary narrative style employed by a unique translator of «characters coming from an inner world» [11]. This method allows him to reproduce the paradoxical condition of an average person in the era of Romanticism, for which the surrounding reality becomes a source of a deepening spiritual crisis and the reason for the flight in search of some illusory images. A. Schnitzler singled E. T. A. Hoffmann as his favorite author. He admitted this fact in his autobiography «My Youth in Vienna» («Jugend in Wien», 1920) [17 : 69-70]. The similarities to the works of the German writer, full of symbolic, mystical, grotesque images, are clearly tangible with a number of other authors of Austrian twentieth century short fiction. Among them it is worth mentioning such names as Gustav Meyrink (a storybook «The Hot Soldier and Other Stories» («Der heiBe Soldat und andere Geschichten», 1903), «The Cabinet of Wax Figures» («Wachsfigurenkabinett. Sonderbare Geschichten» 1908); Franz Kafka («Investigations of a Dog» («Forschungen eines Hundes», 1922); Franz Nabl («The Devil on the Wall» («Der Teufel an der Wand», 1931); «A Step into the Darkness» («Der Griff ins Dunkel», 1936), Fritz von Hertzmanovsky-Orlando («Signor Scurri or Herr von Yb's Strange Voyage to the Seaside» («Cavaliere Huscher oder Die sonderbare Meerfahrt des Herrn von Yb», 1958). Intentionally not detailing into the peculiarities of style, genre, cultural codes, which guide the system of a Romantic worldview, the spiritual aspirations of E. T. A. Hoffmann or L. Tieck present an intertextual appeal for the representatives of different generations G. F. Hofmannsthal («Tale of 672nd Night» («Das Marchen der 672. Nacht», 1895), E. Fried («The Car Drives along the Street» («Der Wagen fahrt durch die StraBe», 1956) and a «hidden romantic» [18 : 638] T. Bernhard («Is it a Comedy? Is it a Tragedy?» («Ist es eine Komodie? Ist es eine Tragodie», 1967). Such comparison shares a common base with systemic interactions of German and Austrian literature. Its general pattern involves, on the one hand, the comparative characteristics of a particular period studied, and on the other the systematization of an analyzed text.

The active assimilation of experience presupposes the analysis of a translation process at the level of interaction between national and supranational institutions in the light of I. Franko's combination of «the native with alien «as actually «the native with others». This understanding was extended by Ivan Mehela, a researcher of Hungarian, Austrian and German literature. His translations of A. Schnitzler's works are marked by the adequate reading of the original, the high level of rendering stylistic features, idiomatic phrases and nationally specific realia. This is evidenced by his translations contained in some publications: «The Prophecy» (Chernivtsi, 2001) [9] and «Casanova's Homecoming» (Chernivtsi, 2003) [10]. They absorbed multi-genre works (plays, novels, short stories). Instead the collection called «Spiel im Morgengrauen» («Game at Dawn»), which appeared in 2009, is entirely devoted to the short story «The Greek Dancer» («Die griechische Tanzerin», 1902). Readers are offered such texts as «The Little Comedy» («Die kleine Komodie», 1893), «The Last Letter of a Writer» («Der letzte Brief eines Literaten», 1917), «Game at Dawn» («Spiel im Morgengrauen» 1926), «The Shepherd's Pipe» («Die Hirtenflote», 1911), «I» («Ich», 1917), «Flight into the Darkness» («Flucht in die Finsternis», 1931), and «Redegonda's Diary» («Das Tagebuch der Redegonda», 1909). A special attention should be paid to «Redegonda's Diary» («Щоденник Регеронди») because it constitutes a separate case where I. Mehely's approach to translation does not correspond to the spirit of the original. After all, there has been a change in the image system of the work at the level of deviation from the original meaning both in the name of the story and the character's name Regeronda [14 : 984-991]. But this is rather an editorial omission which does not significantly affect the high level of interpretation, since it does not weaken the unity of understanding with respect to the textual structure.

The presence of ideological and emotional tensions between the poles of primary and secondary levels led to a strong emphasis on the intensive study of the inner world, on the observation of a particular state of mind in the works of writers such as Arthur Schnitzler, Rainer Maria Rilke, Stefan Zweig. The originality of their prose skilfully combined the opposite and conflicting intentions [4]. They caused a deep immersion into the mysteries of the human psyche, which found its reflection in scientific evidence. The latter reasonably overlaps with psychoanalysis of a famous Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856 1939), the author of «Moses and Monotheism» («Der Mann Moses und die monotheistische Religion», 1939). In this context, the prospects to determine the genre and thematic areas were typical for such of his works as «The Psychopathology of Everyday Life» («Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens», 1904), «Mourning and Melancholia» («Trauer und Melancholie», 1916), «The Ego and the Id» («Das Ich und das Es», 1923). These approaches were extended to solve the urgent issues in artistic creation, particularly in small prose genres and were heavily influenced by the founder of individual psychology Alfred Adler (1870 1937). By the way, his teaching has not lost its relevance in interpretational dimensions up till the present day. This was rightly emphasizes by Leopold Schimmer, who published in 2001 a thorough study titled «Individual Psychological Literary Interpretation. Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler and its Contribution to Literary Criticism» («Individualpsychologische Literaturinterpretation. Alfred Adlers Individualpsychologie und ihr Beitrag zur Literaturwissenschaft») [13].

At the turn of the century there was a characteristic emotional tone in the works of many Austrian authors, which resembled oversaturation as a psychological state close to spiritual desolation. The books of A. Schnitzler, G. F. Hofmannsthal, R. M. Rilke reflect this general mood based on the constant feeling of imminent collapse to befall the multinational monarchy. This atmosphere extends to practically all areas of life. At the beginning of the 20^th c. the Austrian literature raised painfully burning questions of a public nature. Penetration into the human soul as one of the characteristic features of psychologism led to the concentration in imagery. It reinforced the decadent movement more than in any other German literature [12; 19]. The heroes who carry out passive way of life in society, focusing exclusively on achieving individual benefits, appear to be significant for this phenomenon in the Austrian prose writing. When it comes to an introvert character-types, they are ready to accept the general mood of decline or even contribute to the acceleration of this process. In this respect it is R. M. Rilke and A. Schnitzler who visibly updated the palette of artistic language. Apparent conformist position in their works is closely linked with deep penetration into the intricate processes of inner life. However, it became a part of philosophical and aesthetic characteristics which aim to describe the spiritual world and condemn social injustice and national prejudices. A. Schnitzler purposefully implemented the structural criteria of individual and social psychology in the internal organization of the text, which affected the formation of artistic techniques employed for the presentation of material. In his small prose the epic «I» is primarily a voice of thoughts and feelings, means of communication, which make visible the social stereotypes and theatrical rules as to space and time at the level of narrative elements. This also includes compositional movement pertaining to artistic landmarks which concern the structure of Arthur Schnitzler's prose samples as a short-story writer.

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