I (Schnitzler)

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Ich is a short novel by Arthur Schnitzler , which the author conceived on May 13, 1917 and wrote down within two weeks in October 1927 under the working title "Park". With S. Fischer the text appeared posthumously in the "Almanach 1968" as "Novellette". The short story has been known since 1977 under the title "I" given by Reinhard Urbach .

content

When Ms. Huber - mother of an eight-year-old school boy and six-year-old preschooler Marie - calls the doctor into her apartment at Andreasgasse 14 and he then walks in, the sick person - the family man, Mr. Huber - wears a note on his chest. It says I. How could it come to this? Well, initially everything went normally in the small family. The father joked a little with his little daughter Marie and then went about his work. Mr. Huber was a department head in a medium-sized department store on Währingerstrasse . Occasionally, in his free time, he allowed himself a detour into the countryside on foot. It was on such an occasion that the unheard-of incident occurred . The entrance to the meadow surrounded by groups of trees was signposted with a park . Everyone knows what it is, thought Huber, shaking his head, but after a while he made friends with the good idea. Over time, this degenerated so far that he wanted to attach a suitable note to the coffeehouse cashier, Miss Magdalene. And the end of Mr. Huber's mania was mentioned at the beginning.

reception

  • "Huber's endeavor to ensure security and order in the world by attaching an unmistakable word to everything" is, according to Scheffel's observations, for Schnitzler almost on a par with the linguistic efforts of a Lord Chandos at Hofmannsthal .
  • According to Scheffel, “the story of Mr. Huber's loss of normalcy” materializes as a sudden “linguistic delusion”. Huber had one hand to the dynamics of changes in the then modern After war - Vienna overwhelmed. In this context, Scheffel quotes Hermann Bahr's words about the “unsaved self”. On the other hand, after some deliberation, the good Mr. Huber feels called to “spread linguistic 'symbols' in a missionary way”. As a result, Schnitzler dealt with Fritz Mauthner's criticism of language - perhaps with mock seriousness. At least it is clear that Schnitzler by no means followed the language philosopher Mauthner in his exaggerated criticism of language. Because - as the word artist Schnitzler speaks: “Every word has flowing borders; Using this fact to create an aesthetic effect is the secret of the style. ”Despite its simple static, the“ humorous novella ”opens up a glimpse of Schnitzler's psychological literature in the sense: At the top of the article, the“ ambiguity of words ”and the insurmountable“ difference between words and reality ”- as the honest man Mr. Huber states, half confused, in the world of objects surrounding him, not addressed. According to Schnitzler, however, words are urgently needed because we have nothing else and because before them “the inexpressible becomes clear in the first place”.

literature

expenditure
  • I. Novellette. S. 304–311 in: Arthur Schnitzler: Traumnovelle and other stories. With an afterword by Michael Scheffel. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-10-073563-3 (edition used)
Secondary literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhard Urbach (ed.): Arthur Schnitzler: Designed and rejected. From the estate. S. Fischer, 1977
  2. ↑ Scheffel anno 2015, p. 125, 16. Zvu to p. 126 16. Zvu
  3. ^ Andreasgasse in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
  4. ↑ Scheffel anno 2006 in the afterword of the edition used, p. 393, 4th Zvo
  5. ↑ Scheffel anno 2015, p. 128, 9. Zvo
  6. ↑ Scheffel anno 2015, p. 128, 21. Zvo
  7. ↑ Scheffel anno 2015, p. 128, 12th Zvu
  8. ↑ Scheffel anno 2015, p. 129, 16. Zvo
  9. ↑ Schnitzler, quoted in Scheffel anno 2015, p. 130, 10. Zvo
  10. ↑ Schnitzler, quoted in Scheffel anno 2015, p. 130, 8. Zvo