Eight Plays – Performance Texts

The plays of Arthur Schnitzler have in recent years come to be recognized as masterpieces of modernism. This collection presents the most accurate translations available of Schnitzler's works, passing up opportunities to paraphrase and instead flushing out vivid detail and psychological insight by combining a sensitive interpretation of the playwright's sometimes ironic, sometimes farcical, temperament with a faithful re-creation of dialogue.

The volume includes Schnitzler's popular Roundelay (La Ronde) and Anatol, as well as rarely translated works like Professor Bernhardi and Hour of Realizing. There are also additional scenes and an alternate ending to Anatol that are seldom found in translation or even in German versions of the play. With conscientious attention to the rhythms of speech and respect for the completeness of the works, these translations offer new possibilities for bringing Schnitzler's works to the contemporary stage and new insights for anyone interested in drama, literature, or history.

ARTHUR SCHNITZLER (1862–1931) is one of the best-known Austrian playwrights and novelists. Performances of his play Roundelay (La Ronde) provoked riots and led to the author's being tried on obscenity charges. He was acquitted, but he banned the play from being performed in his lifetime. His works include Night Games: And Other Stories and Novellas (Ivan R. Dee, 2001), The Lonely Way (Lightning Source, 2001), The Road to the Open (Northwestern, 1991), and Dream Story (Penguin U.K., 1999), the basis of the film Eyes Wide Shut.

WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM is a professor of German in the Classical and Modern Languages Department at the University of Louisville. He is also the author of Martin Opitz: Poems of Consolation in Adversities of War (Bouvier, 1974).

DAVID PALMER was a professor in the Theatre Arts Department at the University of Louisville.