arthur schnitzler

The Austrian and German drama are often confused. In reality, they have nothing in common but language, and the difference between them may be measured by the difference between the spirit of Berlin and the spirit of Vienna. The German playwrights reflect phases of their national temperment clearly enough. Sudermann, for example, is always heavily Prussian. The stucco palaces of Die Ehre and Sodoms Ende belong essentially to upper middle class Berlin; the farms and country houses of Johannisfeuer and Das Glück im Winkel are as distinctively North German as their pastors are Protestant. Hauptmann's legendary plays are built of German mythology, and even his Silesian peasant dramas gravitate naturally towards the Northern capital. Wedekind's laborious introspection and substantial satire are German to the core. […]


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