Paracelsus (Schnitzler)

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Title page of the first edition
Data
Title: Paracelsus
Genus: Verse game in one act
Original language: German
Author: Arthur Schnitzler
Publishing year: 1898
Premiere: March 1, 1899
Place of premiere: Burgtheater , Vienna
Place and time of the action: Basel, at the beginning of the 16th century, on a beautiful June morning, in the house of Cyprian
people
  • Cyprian , an armorer
  • Justina , his wife
  • Cecilia , his sister
  • Doctor Copus , medical officer
  • Anselm , his junker
  • Theophrastus Bombastus Hohenheim, called Paracelsus

Paracelsus is a play of verses in one act by Arthur Schnitzler that was published in the international magazine Cosmopolis in 1898 . The premiere took place on March 1st of the same year in the Burgtheater . The first book edition appeared together with The Green Cockatoo and The Companion at S. Fischer in Berlin from 1899.

Schnitzler creates an episode from the life of the doctor and mystic Paracelsus .

time and place

The piece takes place on a June morning in Basel in 1517.

content

The armorer Cyprian is on the market in his hometown of Basel and listens to the swindler. By swindler, the other respectable citizens in the vicinity of the armorer mean the man who loudly mocks Avicenna , who scorns Galen : Paracelsus. Having returned to Basel after a 13-year absence, his old friend Cyprian brings the popular speaker home with him after his appearance. The armorer invites the doctor to stay. Paracelsus is supposed to heal a family member. The newcomer, however, puts Justina, the wife of the host, to sleep in broad daylight. When Justina remembers the old days before their marriage in the "bad dream" - as Cyprian says -, the gunsmith's fun is over. He too is now scolding his old friend as a "damn juggler" and wants to chase him out of the house. The doctor, who has traveled half of Europe for years, despises the sedentary and wants to leave. Before that, he should free Justina from the trance .

Paracelsus confesses that he once loved Justina but couldn't get her. The beautiful girl was “thrown away” to a “ gauch ” like the blacksmith. The mystic justifies his hypnosis and he wants to take the wife from Cyprian but not give it to anyone. The blacksmith threatens to take steps against the man who ran along. But Paracelsus holds against it. He won't do anything and Justina's dream will last forever. So he says, “I am a magician” and hopes he has shaken the truth in Justina's heart. He did. When Cyprian ponders and realizes that Paracelsus, the friend, “brought truth to this house of lies”, the guest makes Justina wake up. The woman admits that she “really loved” Paracelsus. But Justina is happy that Paracelsus left Basel at the time and wants to stay with Cyprian.

reception

  • Freud : "Recently I was amazed in Schnitzler's Paracelsus how much of things such a poet knows."
  • The type of outsider: Paracelsus is one of those adventurers who can also be found in some other works by Schnitzler (for example Casanova ).
  • Scheible points to the destructive and constructive component of the psychologizing text structure.
  • Schnitzler is referring to a dispute between the University of Basel and Paracelsus.
  • Arnold gives further leading works: Helga Schiffer (Amsterdam 1984) and GJ Weinberger (1993).

Radio plays

The verse was edited for radio and broadcast on

Web links

literature

source

  • Arthur Schnitzler: Paracelsus. Versspiel in one act. Pp. 219-258 in Heinz Ludwig Arnold (ed.): Arthur Schnitzler: Reigen. The one-act. With an afterword by Hermann Korte . S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1961 (edition 2000). 602 pages, ISBN 3-10-073557-9

First printing

  • Arthur Schnitzler: Paracelsus. Versspiel in one act. Cosmopolis, Vol. 3, Vol. 12, Issue 35, November 1898, pp. 489-527.

First edition

Secondary literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nickl, H. Schnitzler, p. 368, entry from 1899
  2. ↑ Playbill for the premiere. March 1, 1899, Retrieved January 10, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Trithemius died in the previous year (source, p. 226, 6. Zvo)
  4. ↑ Sigmund Freud, quoted in Farese, p. 83, 20. Zvo
  5. ↑ Perlmann, p. 45, 14. Zvo
  6. ↑ Scheible, p. 73, 13. Zvo
  7. ↑ Le Rider, p. 58, 11. Zvu
  8. ^ Arnold (1998), p. 162, left column, chap. 3.5.16
  9. ↑ Entries ( Memento from December 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) 68 to 70