Fr.
1
Mor
n
rauen
box 6/1
34 Spie Se
MBER 22.1927.
—
al spirant
xplosive.
THREE MELODRAMATIC
ful, read
GERMAN NOVELS
ablet was
L. 14,
erse, l. 5,
ong
8
Scharrzum. (Berlin: S. Fischer.)
iisu) Lir¬
the
un¬
Murren Maniz. Von Hrisnien MasN.
xt here
(Vienna: Paul Zsolnay.)
and a.
Töchren: DEn RoMAN zwEIERGENERArfONEN.
Liturrn.
Von Ganaiuzk Raures. (Berlin: Ulistein.)
ginning,
Arthur Schnitzler has brought ihe shore,
L. 5. for
novel to something like perfection of formt.
5.515).
His latest work in this category is not qufte
ich case
such a reinarkable example as the two
reading
previous,
Fräulein Else“ and “ Träum¬
eminine
99
novelle,
both of which have been re¬
nter!
viewed in these columns, but it is, from be¬
ks indi¬
ginning to end, a möst effective piece of
wed by
writing, gripping the attention rather by its
trans¬
construction than by its dietion, or its psycho¬
ted out
logical interest, which is rather superficial.
L. 24,
The plot is not very original. A young lien¬
he last
tenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army is
id-so,
appealed to by a comrade who is faced with
cluded
chsaster unless he can qutekly pay his gamb¬
se l. 5,
ling debts. The lieutenant undertakes to
operly
gamble, and with the winnings he anticipates
E. ZIR
being ableto helphis friend. The long-drawn¬
good
out game of baccarat, with its alternations of
end.
loss and gain, its acute suspense and its
reless
intense anxiety, is admirably rendered. The
first
fever of the play catches the lieutenant, and he
been
finds himself at the end very heavily in debt.
same
Now the expedient he had previonsly rejected
ithe
as intolerable, an appeal to his uncle, 18
forced upon him. But he finds that the uncle
on's
has married a former Gelicbte of his, has
iven
parted from her; and that she has control of
his money. There is nothing for it but an
15,
appeal to her. Her manner is hard and busi¬
-mi
nesslike. Still, she accepts a desperately
#hta¬
proffered invitation to dinner and leaves on
me,
the table, as “ payment for the entertain¬
hen
ment, a sum just enough to save the other
ents
oflicer. The young lieutenant shoots himself
and is found dead by his uncle, who had
sion
broughit the necessary sum from his wife. The
ling
story is melodrama, inferior in depth and in¬
t is
telligence to both the stories already men¬
iru,
tioned, but planned and built up with admir¬
the
able skill.
Heinrich Mann’s novel is also melodramatie,
sa!
not only in matter but in style; it is far from.
3Or
giving the illusion of complete reality. Felicie
g
is the“ Mutter Marie?' of the title. As a poor
servant-girl she has an illegitimate child,
9—
whom she takes to the river-bank but has not
the heart to drown. The baby is taken into
the house of the childiess General von Lambart
and his wise, and brought upas their own. The
mother, in tiie meantime, marries à rich old
man, inherits his wealth, and then feels a
longing for her child. At length she traces
him and finds him abeutto marry a poverty¬
stricken princess, if a shameless old profiteer,
in erhose clutches the General has come, can be
forced to keep his hands öff her. The rest of
the story is concerned with how Felicie con¬
quers her love for her son and her jealousy of
the princess, and cooperates in deceiving the
villamons profiteer, and in saving from finan¬
c##al min the General who had stolen her childl.
Tlis is a frank piece of melodramna, even down
to thie long but, we fear, incredible scene in the
confessional, where Felicie makes the great
renunciation. The novel is saved from com¬
plete banality by the picture it gives of the
General’s household and the charming young
princess, aristocracy reduced to beggary after
the war.
The chief value of Gabriele Reuter’s novel,
- 1 too, lies in the picture it gives of a certain
1
Mor
n
rauen
box 6/1
34 Spie Se
MBER 22.1927.
—
al spirant
xplosive.
THREE MELODRAMATIC
ful, read
GERMAN NOVELS
ablet was
L. 14,
erse, l. 5,
ong
8
Scharrzum. (Berlin: S. Fischer.)
iisu) Lir¬
the
un¬
Murren Maniz. Von Hrisnien MasN.
xt here
(Vienna: Paul Zsolnay.)
and a.
Töchren: DEn RoMAN zwEIERGENERArfONEN.
Liturrn.
Von Ganaiuzk Raures. (Berlin: Ulistein.)
ginning,
Arthur Schnitzler has brought ihe shore,
L. 5. for
novel to something like perfection of formt.
5.515).
His latest work in this category is not qufte
ich case
such a reinarkable example as the two
reading
previous,
Fräulein Else“ and “ Träum¬
eminine
99
novelle,
both of which have been re¬
nter!
viewed in these columns, but it is, from be¬
ks indi¬
ginning to end, a möst effective piece of
wed by
writing, gripping the attention rather by its
trans¬
construction than by its dietion, or its psycho¬
ted out
logical interest, which is rather superficial.
L. 24,
The plot is not very original. A young lien¬
he last
tenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army is
id-so,
appealed to by a comrade who is faced with
cluded
chsaster unless he can qutekly pay his gamb¬
se l. 5,
ling debts. The lieutenant undertakes to
operly
gamble, and with the winnings he anticipates
E. ZIR
being ableto helphis friend. The long-drawn¬
good
out game of baccarat, with its alternations of
end.
loss and gain, its acute suspense and its
reless
intense anxiety, is admirably rendered. The
first
fever of the play catches the lieutenant, and he
been
finds himself at the end very heavily in debt.
same
Now the expedient he had previonsly rejected
ithe
as intolerable, an appeal to his uncle, 18
forced upon him. But he finds that the uncle
on's
has married a former Gelicbte of his, has
iven
parted from her; and that she has control of
his money. There is nothing for it but an
15,
appeal to her. Her manner is hard and busi¬
-mi
nesslike. Still, she accepts a desperately
#hta¬
proffered invitation to dinner and leaves on
me,
the table, as “ payment for the entertain¬
hen
ment, a sum just enough to save the other
ents
oflicer. The young lieutenant shoots himself
and is found dead by his uncle, who had
sion
broughit the necessary sum from his wife. The
ling
story is melodrama, inferior in depth and in¬
t is
telligence to both the stories already men¬
iru,
tioned, but planned and built up with admir¬
the
able skill.
Heinrich Mann’s novel is also melodramatie,
sa!
not only in matter but in style; it is far from.
3Or
giving the illusion of complete reality. Felicie
g
is the“ Mutter Marie?' of the title. As a poor
servant-girl she has an illegitimate child,
9—
whom she takes to the river-bank but has not
the heart to drown. The baby is taken into
the house of the childiess General von Lambart
and his wise, and brought upas their own. The
mother, in tiie meantime, marries à rich old
man, inherits his wealth, and then feels a
longing for her child. At length she traces
him and finds him abeutto marry a poverty¬
stricken princess, if a shameless old profiteer,
in erhose clutches the General has come, can be
forced to keep his hands öff her. The rest of
the story is concerned with how Felicie con¬
quers her love for her son and her jealousy of
the princess, and cooperates in deceiving the
villamons profiteer, and in saving from finan¬
c##al min the General who had stolen her childl.
Tlis is a frank piece of melodramna, even down
to thie long but, we fear, incredible scene in the
confessional, where Felicie makes the great
renunciation. The novel is saved from com¬
plete banality by the picture it gives of the
General’s household and the charming young
princess, aristocracy reduced to beggary after
the war.
The chief value of Gabriele Reuter’s novel,
- 1 too, lies in the picture it gives of a certain