Miss Else

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Fräulein Else is a monologue novella by the Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler , published in 1924 .

content

Else T., daughter of a Viennese lawyer, is spending a few days of vacation in the Trentino spa town of San Martino di Castrozza , financed by her mom and pop. After she has finished the tennis game with Cissy and cousin Paul, she receives an express letter from her mother, in which she is asked to ask the wealthy art dealer Dorsday for an urgently needed loan because Else's father had embezzled ward money and about to be arrested. Else approaches Dorsday and describes the difficult family situation to him.

Dorsday agrees to provide the necessary 30,000 guilders , but demands permission to look at Else naked in return . Else reacts indignantly to this request, but in the course of the evening realizes the dilemma in which she finds herself. Caught between unconditional loyalty to her father and a strong longing for autonomy and self-determined femininity, she cannot commit to any of the alternatives: if she refused Dorsday's offer, she would have to leave her father to his fate; but responding to Dorsday would be tantamount to self- prostitution and thus the task of self-determined disposal over one's own body.

In this conflict situation, in which Else tries to explore her room for maneuver in constant thought variations, other aspects of Else's desire emerge again and again, including longing for death and exhibitionistic desires, need for love and hardly admitted striving for emancipation . In Else's lustful imagination of a public exhibition and the simultaneous shameful defense of forced exposure before Dorsday, the connection between male dominance over female and a female striving for emancipation defending itself can be seen again and again. But in the end it turns out that Else is not in a position to turn against the claims of the father and to enforce her own integrity . At the same time it is becoming increasingly clear that Else's self-abandonment will go hand in hand with suicide - the possible suicide is constantly included in her decision-making thoughts. However, it also becomes clear to Else that she will not be able to go to Dorsday's room alone, that she would not be able to be humiliated . In her surprising decision, the exhibitionistic longing is combined with the pressure exerted by Dorsday to expose: In the hotel's music salon - in the presence of Dorsday, whose request is thus fulfilled - Else shows the assembled evening party her naked body, which was initially covered by a black coat then falls into a faint faint . When brought to her room, she manages to take the sleeping pill veronal that has been provided without being noticed . She falls into a dream-like state that seems to finally free her.

interpretation

The novella Fräulein Else is a typical work of Viennese literary modernism, also known as aestheticism . It shows the problems of love and existence of the upper middle class. Arthur Schnitzler's work is pervaded by the attempt to find adequate linguistic means of expression for the inner-psychological processes of humans. In Fräulein Else this is done using the form of representation of the inner monologue : the reader takes part in Else's story and thoughts from the inner perspective of the protagonist; Schnitzler creates identification with and distance from the heroine at the same time . The monological reflection of inner reality is only occasionally interrupted by the direct representation of external dialogues: In this way Schnitzler succeeds in epically depicting the peculiar contrast between inner and outer reality.

Money plays an essential role. It is the cause of the whole misery. The well-off people in the hotel are all respected people, but not from Else's moral and sharply revealing point of view, in which she describes everyone, even her father, as villains , thus exposing the fragility of her family and the lies of a privileged society.

The following sentence also occurs in her reflections: (p. 44, line 25 "I'm not afraid of snakes. If only none of them bite my foot.") This has a mythological background: Eurydice succumbs to the bite of a poisonous snake, which she stepped on while escaping a rapist.

Else has a very unstable personality with a high level of spontaneity (p. 52, line 3: "Even as a dead person, I don't want to go back. And papa and mom shouldn't be offended. I'm better off than them. And I forgive them. It it's not a shame about me. "; p. 52, line 19" But it's all not true. I won't seem dead and neither will I. I won't kill myself at all, I'm too cowardly. " ) This shows her utter indecision. This interplay continues over several pages.

Schnitzler criticizes the lies of the higher-ranking society as well as the egocentric desires of the men, to whom the poor girls are helpless. (P. 33, line 15 "Well, Else, I am ready - Doctor Fiala is supposed to have thirty thousand guilders at twelve noon the day after tomorrow - on one condition [...] Nothing else I ask of you than to stand for a quarter of an hour in devotion before your beauty ")

In the last part it becomes clear that Else is not understood by her fellow men even shortly before her death (p. 78, line 20 “Dorsday, Dorsday! That's the - fifty thousand! Will he send her? For God's sake, if he doesn't send it? I have to tell you. You have to force him. For God's sake, if everything has been in vain? But now I can still be saved. Paul! Cissy! Why don't you hear me? Don't you know that I'm dying? But I don't feel anything. Just I'm tired. Paul! I'm tired. Can't you hear me? I'm tired, Paul. I can't open my lips. I can't open my lips. I can my tongue don't move, but I'm not dead yet. ”In the end, it is not clear whether Else has died of an overdose or whether she only feels the hallucinogenic effects of the veronal and falls asleep, since she has already used two packets of powder before has taken once. She still describes her fellow human beings and the family as murderers. However, this can be seen not only on a physical, but also on a social and psychological level. It is also interesting whether the viscount transferred the sum of money and thus saved the father or whether the father got into the criminal investigation or committed suicide.

Fräulein Else can be read as an “exemplification of orthodox Freudian theorems” (Bühler?): In this sense, Arthur Schnitzler lets Else experience precisely certain psychological patterns of behavior that correspond to Sigmund Freud's teachings; however, he uses literature to embed them in the social milieu of contemporary Vienna , from which Freud's ideas also originate. Despite all ideal and personal closeness to Freud - there was an exchange of letters between the two - Schnitzler did not see himself as his follower.

expenditure

  • Miss Else , novella. 1. – 11. Thousand. Zsolnay, Berlin 1924.
  • Miss Else , novella. Edited by Johannes Pankau. Universal Library Volume 18155. Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018155-0 .
    • French Translator Dominique Valentin: Mademoiselle Else. Portaparole, 2017.
  • Lieutenant Gustl and Miss Else , short stories. 211 Hamburg reading book, Husum 2006.
  • Digital historical-critical edition: Fräulein Else . Ed. Christian Belz, Kristina Fink, Vivien Friedrich, Wolfgang Lukas, Kathrin Nühlen, Michael Scheffel, Giulia Speciale, Jonas Wolf. Wuppertal 2018 online .

Film adaptations

  • Miss Else was made intoa silent film by Paul Czinner in 1929. Elisabeth Bergner played the role of Else.
  • Carlos Hugo Christensen: El Angel desnudo (Argentina 1946). Direction and screenplay: Carlos Hugo Christensen.
  • Yvonne Lex: Miss Else (Belgium 1970). Director: Yvonne Lex. Production: Belgische Radio en Televisie (BRT). Actors: Magda Goossens (= Miss Else), Yvonne Lex (= voice of Else), John Mertens (Herr von Dorsday), Alex Cassiers (= Paul), Iréne Frenzi (= Marchesa), Joanna Geldof (= Aunt Emma), Katrien Hermans (= Fritzi), Jan Moonen (= porter), Ann Petersen (= Ms. Winawer), Jeanine Schevernels (= Cissy), Kris Smet (= nanny).
  • In 1974 the material was filmed for Austrian television under the direction of Ernst Haeusserman . The actors included Marianne Nentwich (Else), Miguel Herz-Kestranek (Paul), Curd Jürgens (Dorsday) and Susi Nicoletti .
  • Hans-Jürgen Syberberg: Miss Else (Germany 1987). Format / length: U-Matic video, color. Director: Hans-Jürgen Syberberg. Production: Syberberg Filmproduktion Munich, ORF Vienna. Actress: Edith Clever (= Miss Else).
  • A film adaptation was released in 2002, directed by Pierre Boutron and starring Julie Delarme. The film bears the same title as the novella, but the material has been modified. For example, Else's father and a public prosecutor friend appear in a framework transaction and Else is deliberately sent to the spa hotel by her father to contact Dorsday.
  • On August 23, 2013, a new film adaptation, directed by the director Anna Martinetz, premiered at the World Film Festival in Montreal . Anna Martinetz moved the story to the present day and to a hotel for wealthy guests in the mountains of northern India. Martinetz integrated scenes from real Indian life, had scenes shot on the open street and thus relocated Schnitzler's story into today's reality of an emerging industrial nation with a conservative socialization.

Sound settings, comics and adaptations

Settings, radio plays and audio books

  • Karl Peter Blitz: Miss Else (SWF 1946). Director: Karl Peter Blitz. Speakers: Gerd Ribatis, Irmgard Weyrather (= Miss Else), Anette Roland (= Mrs. Winawar), Ernst Sladeck (= Herr von Dorsday), Ludwig Baschang (= Porter / Doctor Fiala), Ursula Zache (The Marchesa / Mother), Lieselotte Bellert (= Cissy Mohr and 2nd voice), Günther Vulpius (= cousin Paul), Hans Goguel (= father), Eva Fiebig (aunt), Horst Uhse (= 1st voice), Karl Kempf (= 3rd voice), Lothar Hartmann (= announcement and rejection). Originally broadcast on September 3, 1946. Playing time: 47 minutes.
  • Heinz-Günter Stamm : Miss Else (BR 1949), spokeswoman: Elisabeth Bergner . As a podcast / download in the BR radio play pool.
  • Wilhelm Semmelroth: Miss Else (NWDR Cologne 1951). Direction and adaptation: Wilhelm Semmelroth. Speaker: Käthe Gold (= Miss Else), Werner Hessenland (= Mr. von Dorsday), Magda Hennings (= Sissi Mohr), Walter Fürst (= Paul). Playing time: 66 minutes.
  • Michael Verhoeven: Fräulein Else (Production: Kein & Aber Records 2002). Speaker: Senta Berger (= Miss Else). Playing time: 86 minutes.
  • Beat Furrer: Fama. Audio theater for large ensemble, eight voices, actress and sound building (KAIROS Production 2006). Speaker (= Isabelle Menke). World premiere: October 14, 2005 in Donaueschingen. Musical director: Beat Furrer. Scenic set-up: Christoph Marthaler. Architecture: LIMIT architects, Wolfgang Bürgler. Acoustics: Winfried Ritsch. Playing time: 67 minutes.
  • Natalie Eva Ofenböck, Nino Ernst Mandl: Fräulein Gustl or I have to look at the clock (2012). Text editing and parts: Natalie Eva Ofenböck (= Lieutenant Gustl), Nno Ernst Mandl (= Fräulein Else), composition and recording: Lukas Lauermann (= cello), Raphael Sas (= guitar), Stefan Sterzinger (= accordion). Layout and illustration of the audio book: Natalie Eva Ofenböck. Musical graphics: Lukas Lauermann. Idea, cast and shepherd dog: Stefan Sterzinger. The audio CD and the (audio) book were published by Edition Meerauge (Klagenfurt 2012).

Artistic projects or website

  • Norbert Pfaffenbichler: notes on film 01 else (Austria 2002), short film: 6 ½ minutes, 35 mm. Director: Norbert Pfaffenbichler. Camera: Martin Putz. Music: Wolfgang Frisch. Actors: Eva Jantschitsch (= Miss Else or Elisabeth Bergner as Miss Else). Distribution: sixpackfilm.
  • Katharina Moebus: Miss Else. Monologues of a Torn Lady (2005). A nonlinear internet project at: http://pro.unibz.it/projects/interaktion/doku/nonlinearlesen/katarina/Else/Index.html

Comic adaptation

  • Manuele Fior: Miss Else based on the novella by Arthur Schnitzler . Text and drawings: Manuele Fior. Translation, text editing: Maximilian Lenz. Lettering: Tinet Emgren, editor: Johann Ulrich. Avant Verlag, Berlin 2010. Previously published in 2009 by the French publisher Guy Delcourt Productions.

literature

  • Bühler, Arnim-Thomas: Arthur Schnitzler's Miss Else. Approaches to a Psychoanalytic Interpretation. Kletsmeier, Wetzlar 1995, ISBN 3-930494-10-8 .
  • Lindken, Hans Ulrich: Explanations to Arthur Schnitzler, Lieutenant Gustl, Miss Else. 2nd, revised edition. König's Explanations and Materials Volume 374.Bange, Hollfeld 1999, ISBN 3-8044-1661-6 .
  • Polt-Heinzl, Evelyne: Arthur Schnitzler: Miss Else. Explanations and documents. Universal Library Volume 16023. Reclam, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-15-016023-5 .
  • Lisa Holzberg: Explanations on Arthur Schnitzler Miss Else. König's Explanations and Materials Volume 428.Bange, Hollfeld 2005, ISBN 3-8044-1806-6 .
  • Tacke, Alexandra: Schnitzler's> Fräulein Else <and the naked truth. Novella, film adaptations and adaptations. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-412-22497-4 .

Web links

Wikisource: Miss Else  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schnitzler - List of films and audio games (University of Freiburg i.Br.) (PDF; 430 kB)
  2. ↑ List of TV and film roles by Herz-Kestranek
  3. ↑ Fräulein Else - description of the film by the production company "SK-Film", Vienna
  4. ^ Website of the film Fräulein Else , directed by Anna Martinetz
  5. ^ BR radio play pool - Schnitzler, Miss Else