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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It comes as no surprise that Freud recognized Arthur Schnitzler as his alter-ego. Indeed, Schnitzler and Freud were sons of their epoch, a time of questioning and finding new ways of understanding life and the universe, human beings as an object of study, as well as the mind. It is just that whereas Freud took more of an academic approach to the study of the mind, Schnitzler, who was also a doctor, took literature as his approach to the themes of psychoanalysis and psychiatry.
In his 1926 novella, Schnitzle apparently deals with dreams, and its title says precisely it: Traumnovelle, Dream Story, Breve romance de sonho. Yet, in Freudian theory of dreams, they allow insights into hidden desires and emotions. And here we are.
Our novella takes place in Wien at the beginning of the 20th century. On a certain night around the end of winter, Albertina tells her husband, Dr. Fridolin, a sexual fantasy she had the previous summer in their vacation in Denmark with a young Danish military officer. Feeling betrayed with her confession, Dr. Fridolin tells her a somehow revengeful sexual fantasy he also had with a girl at the beach in their vacation to Denmark. Before they could continue with their confession, Fridolin is called to attend the deathbed of an important patient. From this moment on we are thrown into a dreamlike series of three nights and days permeated by life and death where thoughts of vengeance and lust command.
It is as if we are presented to another Freudian theory we can also read about in his Civilization and Its Discontents , and other of his works, the somehow eternal waltz danced between Eros [love, search for harmony] and Thanatos [hate, aggressiveness, death], these gods-symbols that permeate and shape civilization. In this context, the secret high-society orgy ball seems like an escape from the rules society/state forces upon individuals to control instincts in order to behave properly. Such stories may take shape daily in all corners of the world. Where power and lust take place hand in hand, everything is possible. Pasolini’s Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma is an astonishing translation of it.
Another psychoanalytic item in the story seems to be the fact that people in the ball use masks, as a symbol of the personae (masks) we carry, using the mask that better fits each and every situation.
It is somehow the prevalence of Eros that seems to shape the conclusion of the novella.
Desire is maintained, but by order, not chaos, as it is. Thanatos does not seem strong enough to break in between the main couple. And, in fact, isn’t it throughout the expression of sexual desire and fantasies to our other better half that many times help shape relations? A mask on the pillow. The end.
In his 1926 novella, Schnitzle apparently deals with dreams, and its title says precisely it: Traumnovelle, Dream Story, Breve romance de sonho. Yet, in Freudian theory of dreams, they allow insights into hidden desires and emotions. And here we are.
Our novella takes place in Wien at the beginning of the 20th century. On a certain night around the end of winter, Albertina tells her husband, Dr. Fridolin, a sexual fantasy she had the previous summer in their vacation in Denmark with a young Danish military officer. Feeling betrayed with her confession, Dr. Fridolin tells her a somehow revengeful sexual fantasy he also had with a girl at the beach in their vacation to Denmark. Before they could continue with their confession, Fridolin is called to attend the deathbed of an important patient. From this moment on we are thrown into a dreamlike series of three nights and days permeated by life and death where thoughts of vengeance and lust command.
It is as if we are presented to another Freudian theory we can also read about in his Civilization and Its Discontents , and other of his works, the somehow eternal waltz danced between Eros [love, search for harmony] and Thanatos [hate, aggressiveness, death], these gods-symbols that permeate and shape civilization. In this context, the secret high-society orgy ball seems like an escape from the rules society/state forces upon individuals to control instincts in order to behave properly. Such stories may take shape daily in all corners of the world. Where power and lust take place hand in hand, everything is possible. Pasolini’s Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma is an astonishing translation of it.
Another psychoanalytic item in the story seems to be the fact that people in the ball use masks, as a symbol of the personae (masks) we carry, using the mask that better fits each and every situation.
It is somehow the prevalence of Eros that seems to shape the conclusion of the novella.
Desire is maintained, but by order, not chaos, as it is. Thanatos does not seem strong enough to break in between the main couple. And, in fact, isn’t it throughout the expression of sexual desire and fantasies to our other better half that many times help shape relations? A mask on the pillow. The end.
"Se juró no descansar hasta haber encontrado a la hermosa mujer cuya desnudez deslumbrante lo había embriagado. Y solo entonces pensó en Albertine... pero como si tuviera también que conquistarla antes, como si ella no pudiera, no debiera ser suya hasta que él la hubiera engañado con todas las otras de aquella noche, con la mujer desnuda, con Pierrette, con Marianne, con la pequeña prostituta de la estrecha callejuela. ¿No debería esforzarse también por encontrar al insolente estudiante que lo había empujado, para desafiarlo a sable, mejor aún a pistola? ¿Qué le importaba la vida de otro, qué su propia vida? ¡¿Había que jugársela siempre solo por deber, por espíritu de sacrificio, y nunca por capricho, por pasión o, simplemente, para medirse con el Destino?!"
Una novela corta incluso más impactante que la película que la adaptó, Eyes Wide Shut.
Una novela corta incluso más impactante que la película que la adaptó, Eyes Wide Shut.
A shockingly little good surrealist piece from the turn of the 20th century.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
challenging
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated