Arthur Schnitzler

Japanese: シュニッツラー - しゅにっつらー（英語表記）Arthur Schnitzler

Austrian novelist and playwright. Born in Vienna on May 15th. He spent his whole life in his birthplace Vienna, where he wrote melancholic portrayals of the love and death of his contemporaries. Born into a wealthy Jewish intellectual family, he first became a doctor, following in the footsteps of his father, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Vienna University. However, after he became interested in psychiatry and hypnotism, he became deeply involved in literature, and with the success of his one-act cycle Anatol (1893), he began to pursue a career in writing. This work depicts the fleeting love affairs of a young, upper-class "casual sulker," who is an epicurean on the surface but a pessimist deep inside, with a "pretty young girl" from the downtown area and an upper-class "socialite." These three characters are characteristic of the author and appear in many of his later works, including plays on the same theme such as Love Ambition (1896) and Rondo (1900). Furthermore, his impressionistic novels such as the novella "Death" (1895, translated by Mori Ogai as "Miren"), the short stories "Dead Men Tell No Tales" (1897) and "The Greek Dancer" (1902) are counted among the few masterpieces of psychological fiction in German literature. These early works have earned him a place in literary history as a representative of the "Young Vienna School" along with Hofmannsthal. Unlike the naturalist literature of Hauptmann and others that emerged mainly in Berlin, his school of aestheticism placed emphasis on the senses. In his short story "Lieutenant Gustl" (1901), in which the author was stripped of his officer status for insulting a military man, and his later controversial work "Miss Else" (1924), he uses a technique of expressing the deep psychological state known in literary studies as "internal monologue." The latter is a novella about a woman's hysterical fits caused by the repression of sexual desire, and, along with the novella "Fraud Beate and Her Son" (1913), which deals with libido (sexual desire), the influence of Freud's psychoanalysis is strong. Other works include works that deal with the Jewish issue, such as the long novel "The Road to Freedom" (1908), works that deal with human aging, such as the novella "Cazanova's Return" (1918), works in which reality and dreams intersect, such as the play "The Green Parrot" (1899) and the novella "The Story of a Dream" (1926), and the long novel "Therese" (1928), which deals with a woman's life. He passed away on October 21, 1931. In Japan, many researchers, including Mori Ogai and Yamamoto Yuzo, have translated and introduced his works since the Meiji era.

[Shuichi Inoue]

Short story

Schnitzler cannot be separated from Vienna, the capital of the declining Habsburg Empire. His literature is also a clinical report on the city. In particular, his short stories depicting the figures of regressive men and women beautifully reflect the pathology of the capital in its final stages. The characters have already lost the vitality to carve out their own lives. Anger disappears without exploding (Glory Day), jealousy does not crystallize into jealousy (The Greek Dancer), and awareness of injustice does not rise to a sense of atonement (Dead Men Tell No Tales). They do not have the energy to burn their emotions. Because life is not fulfilling as life, death is also empty and remains an extension of lethargy (Death). However, if it were just this content, it would not be difficult to find similar works by other authors. The best part of Schnitzler's short stories is that they wrap up the figures of these people in an elegant style with a classical tone. The contrast between the aesthetic perfection of the writing style and the spiritual decadence it depicts exudes a strong atmosphere of decadence throughout the work, which beautifully overlaps with the image of Vienna as a city that gave birth to art but had lost its social vitality.

[Shuichi Inoue]

"Mori Ogai et al., Translated: The Selections of Schnitzler, 5 volumes (1951, Jitsugyo no Nihonsha)"

[Reference] | Rondo | Love Absorption

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

オーストリアの小説家、劇作家。5月15日、ウィーン生まれ。生涯を生地ウィーンで過ごし、そこに住む同時代人の愛欲と死をメランコリックに描いた。裕福なユダヤ系知識階級の出身で、初めはウィーン大学医学部教授の父を継いで医者になった。しかし精神医学や催眠術に関心をもち始めてから文学に深く携わるようになり、一幕物連作『アナトール』（1893）の成功によって本格的に創作の道に入った。この作品は、表面的にはエピキュリアンだが内面的にはペシミストである上流青年「気軽なふさぎ屋」が、下町の「可憐(かれん)なおぼこ娘」や上流「社交婦人」と繰り広げる刹那(せつな)的恋愛遊戯図である。なおこの3人は同テーマの戯曲『恋愛三昧(ざんまい)』（1896）や『輪舞』（1900）をはじめとして、後の多くの作品にも出てくる作者特有の人物類型である。また中編『死』（1895。森鴎外(おうがい)訳『みれん』）や短編『死人に口なし』（1897）、『ギリシアの踊子』（1902）などの印象主義的小説は、ドイツ文学に数少ない心理小説の傑作に数えられている。これら初期の活動によって文学史上ホフマンスタールとともに「若きウィーン派」の代表者とみなされている。ベルリンを中心に台頭していたハウプトマンらの自然主義文学と違って、感覚重視の唯美主義的流派である。軍人侮辱で作者の士官の身分が剥奪(はくだつ)された短編『グストル少尉』（1901）や後期の問題作『令嬢エルゼ』（1924）には文芸学上「内的独白」とよばれる深層心理の表現技法が用いられている。後者は性欲の抑圧による女性のヒステリー発作を扱った中編で、リビドー（性的欲求）を取り上げた中編『ベアーテ夫人とその息子』（1913）と並んでフロイトの精神分析の影響が強くみられる。ほかに長編『自由への途(みち)』（1908）などのユダヤ人問題が絡むもの、中編『カザノバの帰旅』（1918）などの人間の老いを扱ったもの、戯曲『緑のオウム』（1899）や中編『夢の物語』（1926）などの現実と夢が交錯するもの、女の一生を扱った長編『テレーゼ』（1928）などがある。1931年10月21日没。わが国では明治以来、森鴎外や山本有三(ゆうぞう)をはじめとして多くの研究者によって翻訳紹介が行われている。

［井上修一］

短編

シュニッツラーは没落するハプスブルク帝国の都ウィーンと切り離すことができない。彼の文学はこの町の臨床報告書でもある。ことに退嬰(たいえい)的な男女の姿を描いた短編には、終末期を迎えた都の病理がみごとに映し出されている。人物たちはすでに己の人生を切り開く生命力を失っている。怒りは爆発することなく消え（『栄誉の日』）、嫉妬(しっと)が嫉妬として結実せず（『ギリシアの踊子』）、不義の自覚が贖罪(しょくざい)の意識にまで高まらない（『死人に口なし』）。彼らには感情を燃焼させるだけのエネルギーもないのである。生が生として充実しないから、死もまた空疎であって無気力の延長線上にとどまる（『死』）。しかしこういう内容だけならば、他の作家にも類似作品をみつけることはさしてむずかしくないだろう。シュニッツラー短編の醍醐味(だいごみ)は、こうした人々の姿を古典的な格調を備えた典雅な文体で包んだところにある。文体の美的完成度とそれによって描かれる精神の退廃との落差から、全編に濃厚なデカダンスの雰囲気が醸し出され、芸術は生んだが社会の活力を失ったウィーンの姿とみごとに重なり合ってくるのである。

［井上修一］

『森鴎外他訳『シュニツラー選集』全5巻（1951・実業之日本社）』

[参照項目] | 輪舞 | 恋愛三昧

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例

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