"Ich bin Jude, Osterreicher, Deutscher": Judentumin Arthur Schnitzlers Tagebuchern und Briefen.(Book Review)

Publication: The Modern Language Review

Publication Date: 01-JUL-04

Bookmark this article Print this article Link to this article Email this article Digg It! Add to del.icio.us RSS

COPYRIGHT 2004 Modern Humanities Research Association

'Ich bin Jude, Osterreicher, Deutscher': Judentum in Arthur Schnitzlers Tagebuchern und Briefen. By BETTINA RIEDMANN. (Conditio Judaica, 36) Tubingen: Niemeyer. 2002. vi+477pp, 82 [euro]. ISBN 3-484-65136-9 (pbk).

In this study, originally an Innsbruck dissertation written under the supervision of Sigurd Paul Scheichl, Bettina Riedmann addresses what is perhaps the most sensitive subject in Schnitzler research. Her awareness of this is reflected in her cautiously worded opening definition of her aim, 'sich ausgehend von Schnitzlers Bemerkungen in seinen nicht-fiktionalen Werken an sein Selbstversteindnis als Jude heranzutasten'. The length of the book is a consequence of how much of Schnitzler's writing she quotes: at times, passage after passage from the diaries, stretching over pages (e.g. pp. 83-87, 246-48). But this approach is, I think, fully justified by the result. She uses Schnitzler's diaries, letters, and occasional journalism not just as a mine of documentary information...

Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.