SOURCE: Roe, Ian F. “The Comedy of Schnitzler's Reigen.” Modern Language Review 89, no. 3 (July 1994): 674-88.

In the following essay, Roe examines comic elements in Reigen, noting that critical analysis of and audience reaction to the play have historically neglected these elements.

It is now a decade since the ban on the performance of Schnitzler's Reigen came to an end, and the productions that have been mounted during that time have only added to the controversies surrounding what is arguably the most famous and certainly the most infamous of Schnitzler's works. Surprisingly, however, there has been no marked shift of emphasis in the critical appreciation of the play in recent years. On the whole, two major themes still dominate critical analysis: the extent to which the play is a mirror of the Viennese society of Schnitzler's day, and the play's depiction of human sexuality as a repetitive and seemingly...