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Race, Sex and Character in Schnitzler’s Fräulein Else
Author(s) -
Barker Andrew
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
german life and letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1468-0483
pISSN - 0016-8777
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0483.00185
Subject(s) - character (mathematics) , judaism , literature , context (archaeology) , human sexuality , history , hatred , jewish question , politics , pride , religious studies , philosophy , art , sociology , gender studies , theology , political science , law , geometry , mathematics , archaeology
Initially tracing possible real‐life Jewish models for the character of Else, and contex‐tualising the story’s genesis within the anti‐Semitic Reigen scandal of 1922, the article then locates Else’s characterisation within a carefully defined socio‐political context which is often overlooked, perhaps because of the overwhelming impact which Schnitzler’s presentation of his heroine achieves. However, given the story’s provenance, and its frequent references to Jews and Jewishness at a time of growing racial hatred in both Weimar Germany and Republican Austria, the ‘Jewish question’ in Fra¨ ulein Else is clearly important, especially as, more than in any other work of Schnitzler’s, the story’s milieu is a Jewish one. Though asserting pride in her Jewishness, Else also reveals evidence of Jewish anti‐Semitism, and as Else’s sexuality is a notable feature of her characterisation, the article then examines the linkage between Jewishness and heightened sexuality in the context of Otto Weininger’s contentious tract Geschlecht und Charakter (1903). By emphasising facets of her character more favourable to Viennese Jewry, Schnitzler somewhat redresses the balance, and the article concludes by relating the text to the well‐known letter from Freud to Schnitzler written in 1922.