n pessimistic bias. Brought
up and practising in a city like Vienna, he cannot escape the cynicism
which belongs alike to the man of the world as to the doctor before
whom all veils and pretenses are discarded. It is difficult, indeed, to
banish the idea that the consultation-room of Arthur Schnitzler, Dr.
med., is the confessional which furnishes material to Arthur
Schnitzler, author. For the modern physician is not concerned with his
patient's body only, but also with his soul. He must be a psychologist
as well, and the success of his diagnosis depends upon his skill to
unravel the intricate interrelations between both. That Schnitzler is
such a physician admits of no doubt. His perspicacity as diagnostician
lends subtlety to his analysis and portrayal of characters. While his
professional bias may in a manner limit the range of his vision, his
professional knowledge and experience are strong assets of the
dramatist Schnitzler.

The world that he knows best is the modern society of Vienna. His
heroes are mostly men engaged in a quest for the joys of life, but
never attaining whole-hearted enjoyment, because of their innate streak
of world-weariness. When the hero of his _Anatol_ (1893) calls himself
"light-hearted pessimist," Schnitzler creates a term which fits as well
his Fedor in _Maerchen_ (1894), his Fritz in _Liebelei_ (1895), and
other specimens of a type related to the heroes of Musset and other
Frenchmen. His women, too, have a streak of French blood, both his
"sweet girls" and his married heroines; but unmistakably Austrian and
Viennese is their willingness to resign rather than to resist. Frau
Gabriele give Anatol flowers to take to his sweetheart and bids him
tell her: "These flowers, my ... sweet girl ... a woman sends you, who
can perhaps love as well as you, but had not the courage ..." The
playlets collectively called _Anatol_ are only scenes and dialogues
between two men or a man and a woman exchanging confidences. Limited as
he seems in his choice of themes and types, both by temperament and
association, it is amazing with what virtuosity Schnitzler varies
almost identical situations and characters until they are
differentiated from one another by some striking individual touch and
when presented on the stage act with a new and potent charm.

For that just balance of contents and form which makes for perfection,
Schnitzler's renaissance drama _The Veil of Beatrice_ is the most
noteworthy specimen.