dangers, though it rarely asserts itself to such an extent
that the enjoyment of his work is spoiled by it.

His self-irony reaches its climax in the one-act play which I have been
forced to name "The Greatest Show of All" because the original title
(_Zum grossen Wurstel_) becomes meaningless in English. There he
proceeds with reckless abandon to ridicule his own work as well as the
inflated importance of all imaginative creation. But to even up the
score, he includes the public, as representative of ordinary humanity,
among the objects of his sarcasms. And in the end all of us--poets,
players, and spectators--are exposed as mere puppets. The same thought
recurs to some extent in "The Gallant Cassian," which is otherwise a
piece of sheer fun--the slightest of Schnitzler's dramatic productions,
perhaps, but not without the accustomed Schnitzlerian sting.

When, after reading all the preceding plays, one reaches "The Lonely
Way" (_Der einsame Weg_), it is hard to escape an impression of
everything else having been nothing but a preparation. It is beyond
all doubt Schnitzler's greatest and most powerful creation so far,
representing a tremendous leap forward both in form and spirit. It has
less passion than "The Call of Life," less subtlety than "Intermezzo,"
less tolerance than "Countess Mizzie." Instead it combines in perfect
balance all the best qualities of those three plays--each dominant
feature reduced a little to give the others scope as well. It is a
wonderful specimen of what might be called the new realism--of that
realism which is paying more attention to spiritual than to material
actualities. Yet it is by no means lacking in the more superficial
verisimilitude either. Its character-drawing and its whole atmosphere
are startlingly faithful to life, even though the life portrayed may
represent a clearly defined and limited phase of universal human
existence.

The keynote of the play lies in _Sala's_ words to _Julian_ in the
closing scene of the fourth act: "The process of aging must needs be a
lonely one to our kind." That's the main theme--not a thesis to be
proved. This loneliness to which _Sala_ refers, is common to all
people, but it is more particularly the share of those who, like
himself and _Julian_, have treasured their "freedom" above everything
else and who, for that reason, have eschewed the human ties which to a
man like _Wegrath_ represent life's greatest good and deepest meaning.
Again we find