The Jew in Me and My Works
Confessions of Literary Luminaries on Their Intimate Attitude Toward
the Jewish Complex
(
Copyright, The American Hebrew. All Rights Reserved)
Religion has become a current topic even on the crowded
front pages of the metropolitan newspapers. In the general recension of thought
following the intellectual upheaval that is an aftermath of the war, men and women
have turned the searchlight of inquiry to the fundamentals of life; and religion
whether positive or negative is one of the basic impulses of the human soul. With
this in mind The American Hebrew has requested
several well-known American and European writers to subject themselves to a
spiritual X-ray, and record the findings graphically for our readers. We present
herewith the first two of these self-dissections by Arthur Schnitzler, keen analyst of human motives and
emotions, and by Arthur Guiterman, most popular of American mirthful bards
Arthur Schnitzler – Social Satirist
The Viennese
playwright-philosopher-novelist is best known for the human warmth that permeates
his writings and the courage with which he scourges social sham. His irony and wit
is akin to that of Bernard Shaw, whose
spiritual brother he undoubtedly is. »None but the Brave« (Simon and Schuster) is the latest of
his many works to be published in America.
I Spurn Dodge of Baptism
By Arthur Schnitzler
I am inclined to say that there is no basic
individual Jewish characteristic apart from certain traits acquired through force
of
environment. I do not believe that the Jew is essentially different from his Gentile
fellow being; there is no difference of spiritual rhythm between them. The attitude
of the world towards him has produced certain psychological modifications. Remove
this attitude and those modifications will vanish.
I believe that if a child of Jewish parentage, even of the humblest sort, were to
be
taken to another country, kept in ignorance of its origin, and if that origin were
also kept from its associates, this child would grow up absolutely unconscious of
a
difference between its playmates and itself – save perhaps that it might develop and
become aware of a keener and quicker brain.
I have no hesitancy in affirming that the Jews are a creative people. We may be on
the verge of a great artistic Jewish renaissance. Just what is the nature of the
artistic message Judaism has to convey to the world, I am unable to say. Time alone
will tell.
As for the so-called Jewish problem, there is no general solution for it.
Zionism does not seem to me to
be a solution at all. It seems to me actuated too much by sudden impulses, by
resentment, by a mere desire to escape from one’s environment and scarcely ever to
spring from a wellreasoned decision. Though I admire people who dream so splendidly,
they cannot ever convince me. The Zionist plays actively into the hand of the
anti-Semite; he confesses a weakness in our position which, to my mind, does not
exist.
I regard
Zionism as the worst affliction that
has ever burst upon the Jews. . . I do not mind recognizing Zionism as a moral principle
and a social movement, if it could honestly be regarded in that light, but the idea
of the foundation of a Jewish State on a religious and national basis strikes me as
a
nonsensical defiance of the whole spirit of historical evolution.
My parents, for instance, came from
Hungary,
but I have no desire to return either to
Hungary or to
Palestine. I am rooted
here in
Vienna, I am an integral part of its
highly individual culture; it in turn is a part of me. What care I about the opinion
of a few ill-bred fools toying with anti-Semitism.
However, I’ll admit that in spite of my complete indifference to every single form
of
religion, I would positively never allow myself to be baptized, even if it were
possible – though that is less the case today than ever it was – to escape once and
for all anti-Semitic bigotry and villainy by a dodge like that.