Editing Arthur Schnitzler (section)

==Literary works==
Schnitzler's works were often controversial, both for their frank description of sexuality (in a letter to Schnitzler [[Sigmund Freud]] confessed "I have gained the impression that you have learned through intuition – although actually as a result of sensitive introspection – everything that I have had to unearth by laborious work on other persons")<ref>[http://www.research-horizons.cam.ac.uk/features/schnitzler-s-hidden-manuscripts-explored.aspx Schnitzler's hidden manuscripts explored] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100315122800/http://www.research-horizons.cam.ac.uk/features/schnitzler-s-hidden-manuscripts-explored.aspx |date=15 March 2010 }} at research-horizons.cam.ac.uk</ref> and for their strong stand against [[antisemitism]], represented by works such as his play ''[[Professor Bernhardi]]'' and his novel ''[[Der Weg ins Freie]]''. However, although Schnitzler was Jewish, Professor Bernhardi and Fräulein Else are among the few clearly identified Jewish protagonists in his work.
[[File:Arthur Schnitzler (1862–1931) 1906 © Aura Hertwig (1861–1944) OeNB 3779022.jpg|thumb|Schnitzler in 1906]]
Schnitzler was branded as a pornographer after the release of his play ''[[La Ronde (play)|Reigen]]'', in which 10 pairs of characters are shown before and after the sexual act, leading and ending with a prostitute. The furor after this play was couched in the strongest antisemitic terms.<ref>[http://www.virtualvienna.net/columns/vinal/arthur_schnitzler_scandal.html Arthur Schnitzler scandal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070128074046/http://www.virtualvienna.net/columns/vinal/arthur_schnitzler_scandal.html |date=28 January 2007 }} at virtualvienna.net</ref> ''Reigen'' was made into a French language film in 1950 by the German-born director [[Max Ophüls]] as ''[[La Ronde (1950 film)|La Ronde]]''. The film achieved considerable success in the English-speaking world, with the result that Schnitzler's play is better known there under its French title. [[Richard Oswald]]'s film ''[[The Merry-Go-Round (film)|The Merry-Go-Round]]'' (1920), [[Roger Vadim]]'s ''[[Circle of Love (film)|Circle of Love]]'' (1964) and Otto Schenk's ''Der Reigen'' (1973) also are based on the play. A more recent adaptation is the [[Fernando Meirelles]]' film ''[[360 (film)|360]]''.

In the novella ''[[Fräulein Else (novella)|Fräulein Else]]'' (1924) Schnitzler may be rebutting a contentious critique of the Jewish character by [[Otto Weininger]] (1903) by positioning the sexuality of the young female Jewish protagonist.<ref>Barker, Andrew (2001). "Race, Sex and Character in Schnitzler's ''Fräulein Else''." ''German Life and Letters''. v. 54(1):1–9.</ref> The story, a first-person [[Stream of consciousness (narrative mode)|stream of consciousness]] narrative by a young aristocratic woman, reveals a moral dilemma that ends in tragedy.

In response to an interviewer who asked Schnitzler what he thought about the critical view that his works all seemed to treat the same subjects, he replied "I write of love and death. What other subjects are there?"<ref>{{Cite book|title=Vienna : a cultural history|last=Nicholas.|first=Parsons|date=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-537606-7|location=Oxford|oclc=221155367}}</ref> Despite his seriousness of purpose, Schnitzler frequently approaches the [[bedroom farce]] in his plays (and had an affair with  [[Adele Sandrock]], one of his actresses). ''Professor Bernhardi'', a play about a Jewish doctor who turns away a Catholic priest in order to spare a patient the realization that she is on the point of death, is his only major dramatic work without a sexual theme.

A member of the avant-garde group [[Young Vienna]] (''Jung-Wien''), Schnitzler toyed with formal as well as social conventions. With his 1900 novella ''Leutnant Gustl'', he was the first to write German fiction in stream-of-consciousness narration. The story is an unflattering portrait of its protagonist and of the army's obsessive code of formal honor. It caused Schnitzler to be stripped of his commission as a reserve officer in the medical corps – something that should be seen in the context of the rising tide of antisemitism of the time.

He specialized in shorter works like novellas and one-act plays. And in his short stories like "The Green Tie" ("Die grüne Krawatte") he showed himself to be one of the early masters of [[microfiction]]. However he also wrote two full-length novels: ''[[Der Weg ins Freie]]'' about a talented but not very motivated young composer, a brilliant description of a segment of pre-World War I Viennese society; and the artistically less satisfactory ''[[Therese (novel)|Therese]]''.

In addition to his plays and fiction, Schnitzler meticulously kept a diary from the age of 17 until two days before his death. The manuscript, which runs to almost 8,000 pages, is most notable for Schnitzler's casual descriptions of sexual conquests; he was often in relationships with several women at once (most of his liaisons occurred with an embroiderer named “Jeanette”) and for a period of some years he kept a record of every orgasm. Collections of Schnitzler's letters also have been published.
[[File:Arthur Schnitzler (1862–1931) 1927 © Ernst Förster (1879–1943) OeNB 7266842.jpg|thumb|Schnitzler in 1926]]
Schnitzler's works were called "Jewish filth" by [[Adolf Hitler]] and were banned by [[Nazism|the Nazis]] in Austria and Germany. In 1933, when [[Joseph Goebbels]] organized [[Nazi book burnings|book burnings]] in Berlin and other cities, Schnitzler's works were thrown into flames along with those of other Jews, including [[Albert Einstein|Einstein]], [[Karl Marx|Marx]], [[Franz Kafka|Kafka]], Freud and [[Stefan Zweig]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/schnitz.htm |title=Arthur Schnitzler |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206131904/http://kirjasto.sci.fi/schnitz.htm |archive-date=6 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

His novella ''[[Fräulein Else (novella)|Fräulein Else]]'' has been adapted a number of times, including the German silent film ''[[Fräulein Else (1929 film)|Fräulein Else]]'' (1929), starring [[Elisabeth Bergner]], and the 1946 Argentine film ''[[The Naked Angel]]'', starring [[Olga Zubarry]].

In 1973, five of Schnitzler's short stories were adapted as the BBC televsision series "Vienna 1900: Games with Love and Death." <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080302/?ref_=ttrel_ov |title=Vienna 1900 TV Mini Series 1973–1974|website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>