SOURCE: Urbach, Reinhard. “Early Full-Length Plays.” In Arthur Schnitzler, pp. 35-71. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1973.

In the following excerpt, Urbach provides critical overviews of Anatol, The Fairy Tale, and Light-O'Love.

Anatol: a Sequence of Dialogues

A superficial man soon finds something profound.

—Johann Nestroy

The cycle of seven loosely connected scenes entitled Anatol concerns a young bachelor, Anatol, who in each act experiences a new love affair and discusses it with his friend Max.

Scene 1: Ask No Questions and You'll Hear No Stories (Die Frage an das Schicksal). Anatol possesses the power of hypnosis. He could ask his beloved Cora, who permitted him to hypnotize her, whether she is faithful to him. Yet, he does not ask the question, partly because he persuades himself that he does not want to know the truth, and partly because he is convinced that one cannot know the truth. He...