La Ronde

Arthur Schnitzler, Eric Bentley

S. French, 1954 - Drama - 82 pages

Arthur Schnitzler, Translated by Eric Bentley

Full Length, Comedy

Characters: 5 male, 5 female

By the author of the classic romantic romp The Loves of Anatol, Schnitzler's popular roundelay of love in old Vienna is told in ten interwoven scenes: two characters appear in each and one of these moves into the next. The soldier of the first scene leaves a prostitute to appear in the next scene with a parlor maid. The maid then departs to be with her wealthy employer. He, in turn

Contents

• Section 1: 3
• Section 2: 5

About the author

Arthur Schnitzler, Viennese playwright, novelist, short story writer, and physician, was a sophisticated writer much in vogue in his time. He chose themes of an erotic, romantic, or social nature, expressed with clarity, irony, and subtle wit. Reigen, a series of ten dialogues linking people of various social classes through their physical desire for one another, has been filmed many times as La Ronde. As a Jew, Schnitzler was sensitive to the problems of anti-Semitism, which he explored in the play Professor Bernhardi (1913), seen in New York in a performance by the Vienna Burgtheater in 1968. Henry Hatfield calls Schnitzler "second only to Hofmannsthal among the Austrian writers of his generation and one of the most underrated of German authors.... He combined the naturalist's devotion to fact with the impressionist's interest in nuance; in other words, he told the truth" (Modern German Literature). In his most famous story, Lieutenant Gustl (1901), Schnitzler employs the stream-of-consciousness technique in an exposition of the follies and gradual disintegration of society in fin de siecle Vienna. Schnitzler has also been linked with Freud (see Vols. 3 and 5) and is credited with consciously introducing elements of modern psychology into his works.

Bibliographic information

• Title: La Ronde; G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series
• Authors: Arthur Schnitzler, Eric Bentley
• Translated by: Eric Bentley
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: S. French, 1954
• Original from: the University of California
• Digitized: Jul 24, 2007
• ISBN: 0573611920, 9780573611926
• Length: 82 pages
• Subjects: Drama / European / General; Drama / General; Performing Arts / Theater / General