Lieutenant Gustl

This article deals with the amendment; for the television film by John Olden (1963) see Leutnant Gustl (film) .

Cover of the first edition, 1901

Leutnant Gustl (in the original: Lieutenant Gustl ) is a novella by Arthur Schnitzler . It was during the Christmas supplement of the Vienna 1900 Neue Freie Presse published for the first time and appeared in 1901 with illustrations by Moritz Coschell in S. Fischer Verlag (Berlin).

The text is almost entirely designed as an internal monologue , which is recognized as a novelty in German-language literary history ; it depicts the fears, obsessions and neuroses of a young lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army from the inside perspective of the protagonist .

content

After an evening concert, which he watched bored, Gustl got into an argument with the baker Habetswallner, who he knew, in the cloakroom of the concert hall. Gustl wants to pull his saber, but is prevented from doing so by his physically superior opponent and insulted as a "stupid boy". Gustl is unable to get over the shame of having been insulted by a socially inferior master baker. Arrested under the military code of honor , he decides to commit suicide the next morning at seven o'clock, regardless of whether the master baker will publicize the incident or not.

On his way home, Gustl crosses the Vienna Prater . The scent of the first spring flowers makes him waver in his decision to commit suicide. The awareness of having to say goodbye to all these beautiful things kindles a new zest for life in him. The memory of his family, especially his mother and sister, as well as various current and past lovers puts him in a deep sadness, which he tries in vain to stun by stating that as an Austrian officer he is obliged to commit suicide .

He falls asleep on a park bench and only wakes up early in the morning. Before returning home, where he intends to turn his revolver against himself, he visits his regular coffee house . The waiter Rudolf who worked there told him that his offender, the baker Habetswallner, died unexpectedly of a stroke that night. Relieved beyond measure, Gustl happily refrains from his suicide plans and contemplates upcoming activities. So he will duel in the afternoon of the same day - the text ends with the thought of his opponent:

"I'll beat you to horseradish meat !"

interpretation

Lieutenant Gustl is a prime example of the narrative technique of the uninterrupted inner monologue . The scene of the action is exclusively Gustl's thinking. Therefore, the narrator does not put the accent on certain aspects of the plot, but the reader has to evaluate Gustl's thoughts himself.

Gustl gets his self-esteem solely from the fact that he is wearing a uniform . He regrets not having seen a war and despises the non-military, as you can see from his rough treatment of the baker. When this authority is shaken, Gustl seems to consistently stand by his terms of honor . But as soon as he learns of Habetswallner's death, he immediately forgets his resolution. In this way, the Kuk military's concept of honor is exposed as hollow and self-righteous. The crumbling facade of the military self-image shows that some bourgeois civilians have long been able to safely lose respect for a young cheeky lieutenant.

Many of Gustl's thoughts revolve around women with whom he had affairs. He is convinced that he was extremely attractive to these women, but has always refused long-term relationships because these girls ("people") were not socially acceptable. At the same time, the lieutenant represents a rude anti-Semitism that is directed against Jews in civil and military life alike. The Dreyfus Affair , which was taking place in France at the same time, is a point of reference .

At the turn of the century, the military in Austria-Hungary maintained a code of honor that had peculiarities typical of the time: Until 1911, every officer was obliged to comply with a duel demand. Schnitzler hit the weak point of this code of honor with his novella, because only aristocrats, the military and academics were “ capable of satisfactory ”, that is, to be held accountable with the weapon. Gustl, who feels threatened by a simple master baker, cannot defend or regain his honor by means of a duel, which is why he believes that he can only restore his lost dignity through a suicide.

Emergence

In On the Physiology of Creation , Schnitzler presented the development in a systematic way:

“An idea was there, the figure is added, which serves to illustrate the idea, and the idea recedes behind the figure in the course of the reflection, possibly only in the course of the work. ("Lieutenant Gustl") "

- Arthur Schnitzler : On the physiology of creation

He names this idea in another text, Leutnant Gustl - Äussere Schicksale , published from the estate:

“Written in the summer of 1900. Reichenau, Kurhaus. Partly based on a story that actually happened that happened to a friend of Felix Salten's , Mr. Lasky (?), In the foyer of the Musikvereinssaal. "

- Arthur Schnitzler : Lieutenant Gustl - External destinies

The writing process can be traced in the diary:

"27/5 [1900] S. - With S. and M. - Puchberg - Baumgartnerhaus - Lieutenant Gesch outlined up there - to Payerbach. Vienna.-"

“17/7 [...] Work: Nile sources, Lieuten. Gustl.– "

"19/7 [...] PM" Ltn. Gustl "perfected, feeling that it was a masterpiece."

- Arthur Schnitzler : Diary

effect

As an open accusation of militarism and the image of society from the imperial officer, the story received harsh criticism shortly after its publication, especially from the military. It was understood as an attack on the inviolable honor of the imperial and royal armies and thus on one of the foundations of the dual monarchy. Because of the person of the author and the publisher, it also indirectly added fuel to the fire of anti-Semitic agitation. The Jewish author and the “Judenpresse”, led by Moriz Benedikt , head of the Neue Freie Presse , were identified and branded as enemies of the state. Schnitzler, himself a senior physician and lieutenant in the reserve, was considered to be a polluter and as a result was removed from the officer's rank by a court of honor; from then on he was only considered an ordinary soldier. The Neue Freie Presse practiced damage limitation and praised the “excellent qualities of the Austrian officer corps” in an editorial. Schnitzler wrote a short parodic version of the text at a time that could not be precisely determined - Leutnant Gustl. Parody - in which he satirically targeting the anti-Semitism of the critics.

Significance in literary history

In his Schnitzler monograph , Hartmut Scheible justifies the literary-historical peculiarity and achievement of the narrative with the critical representation of the unity of soul and social life made possible by the narrative expansion of the inner monologue : Schnitzler, who introduced this technique into German-language literature, increases it in the Lieutenant Gustl on a peak of her productivity: "Three dozen pages are enough to create an astonishingly complete picture of the Austrian Republic [...]".

Edits

Schnitzler's novella in 1962 with Peter Weck in the lead role, Hans Moser as a master baker Johann Habetswallner and Christiane Hörbiger filmed .

expenditure

• Arthur Schnitzler: Lieutenant Gustl. Text and commentary , edited and commented by Ursula Renner (= Suhrkamp BasisBibliothek , Volume 33), 2nd, improved edition, Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-518-18833-0 .
• Arthur Schnitzler: Lieutenant Gustl. Dream novel . Text, commentary and materials, edited by Wolfgang Pütz. Oldenbourg, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-637-01299-8 .
• Arthur Schnitzler: Lieutenant Gustl , historical-critical edition; Facsimile edition. Edited by Konstanze Fliedl . de Gruyter, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-022758-1 .
• Arthur Schnitzler: Lieutenant Gustl. Novella . Edited by Konstanze Fliedl. Reclam, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-15-018156-0 .

literature

• Markus Schwahl: Arthur Schnitzler, Lieutenant Gustl / Dream Novel. Oldenbourg text navigator for students - table of contents, analysis of the text and preparation for high school graduation. Oldenbourg, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-637-01300-1 .
• Horst Grobe: Arthur Schnitzler: Lieutenant Gustl . König's Explanations: Text Analysis and Interpretation (Volume 463). C. Bange Verlag, Hollfeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-8044-1944-5 .
• Ursula Renner: Can thoughts be expressed? Mimesis of inner speech in Arthur Schnitzler's 'Lieutenant Gustl'. In: Sabine Schneider (Ed.): The limits of what can be said in the literature of the 20th century. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-8260-4084-9 , pp. 31-52.
• Ursula Renner: Documentation of a scandal. Arthur Schnitzler's "Lieutenant Gustl". In: Hofmannsthal Yearbook on European Modernism 15/2007, pp. 33–216. (Supplement under the title “Lieutenant Gustl trembles before the consequences”. An addendum. In: Hofmannsthal-Jahrbuch zur Europäische Moderne 18, 2010, pp. 139–142).

Web links

Wikisource: Leutnant Gustl  - Sources and full texts

• First printed in the Neue Freie Presse , December 25, 1900
• Lieutenant Gustl in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Later this obligation only applied to adultery and a few other exceptions.
2. ↑ Schnitzler, Arthur: To the physiology of creating. The creation of the 'veil of Beatrice'. In: Neue Freie Presse, December 25, 1931, pp. 38–39. On-line
3. ^ German literature archive Marbach, A: Schnitzler, 85.1.70. Printed as: The truth about ›Leutnant Gustl‹ in the Neue Freie Presse, December 25, 1959, p. 9 u. ö., including: Arthur Schnitzler: Lieutenant Gustl. Text and comment. Ed. And come. v. Ursula Renner. Frankfurt / Main: Suhrkamp 2007, p. 57 and Irène Lindgren: "You see, getting famous is not that easy!" Peter Lang 2002, p. 253.
4. ↑ Schnitzler, Arthur: Diary 1879–1931. Published by the commission for literary forms of use of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, chairman: Werner Welzig . Vienna: Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1981–2000.
5. ↑ cf. Ursula Renner, documentation of a scandal. Arthur Schnitzler's "Lieutenant Gustl". In: Hofmannsthal Yearbook on European Modernism 15/2007, pp. 33–216
6. ↑ Werner Mück (Ed.): Austria: that was our century. Kremayr & Scheriau, 1999, p. 152
7. ↑ Arthur Schnitzler: Lieutenant Gustl. Parody. Printed in the edition by Ursula Renner: Documentation of a scandal. Pp. 50-53. For the dating and text history cf. P. 76f.
8. ↑ Hartmut Scheible: Arthur Schnitzler. with self-testimonials and Image documents shown. by Hartmut Scheible . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-499-50235-6 , p. 79 f .