Arthur Schnitzler - Critical Edition (Early Works)

To this day there exists no Critical Edition of the works of Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931). Reading editions of the Austrian modern classic unfortunately show an increasingly worn state of text; the drafts and unpublished versions have, for the greater part, never been edited. The reasons for this scholarly shortcoming are, on the one hand, based in the situation of Schnitzler`s legacy itself: In 1938, Schnitzler`s archive was rescued from being confiscated by Gestapo, and was given to Cambridge University Library, where his literary remains are kept until today. His private papers (letters and diary), however, were taken to Vienna by Schnitzler`s son Heinrich when he returned to Vienna from his emigration; this part of Schnitzler`s legacy was left to Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach in 1982. Further parts of Schnitzler`s papers are located in Vienna, Exeter, Geneva, Jerusalem et al. On the other hand, Schnitzler`s handwriting is generally considered to be extremely difficult to decipher; accordingly, the greatest edition project of his manuscripts completed to date, the edition of his diary, took two decades to finish (1981-2000). In a planned cooperation with Dr. Andrew Webber (Cambridge), the project aims to edit Schnitzler`s early work. While in later phases of his work, typescripts were made from dictation, his early work predominantly exists in autograph drafts and versions. As a preparation for the "Wiener Projekt" ("Vienna Project"), Schnitzler`s papers have been sifted through and classified from the first existent manuscripts dating from the 1880s until 1904. As a pilot, a faksimile edition of Schnitzlers "Meisternovelle" Lieutenant Gustl (1900) has already been prepared for print. The project concentrates on deciphering, transcribing and commenting on representative works (Anatol, 1893; Liebelei, 1895; Sterben 1895, Frau Bertha Garlan, 1901) of this first period of Schnitzler`s creativity. A prerequisite for this will be to digitalise the autograph materials at Cambridge University Library. The aim of the project is to develop corresponding typographic models of transcription for each individual manuscript, considering the particular problem of slurred graphs. Since the late documents relevant to the works cited comprise about 1100 pages, it should be feasible to present an edited volume (Anatol), as well as to prepare printer`s copies for the three remaining ones, during the period of the project.

For decades, a historical-critical edition of Arthur Schnitzlers works has been a major desideratum, especially since available reading editions entail text passages that are partially corrupt. Among the difficulties facing such an edition are Schnitzlers hardly legible handwriting and the complex literary estate: while the work manuscripts are located in Cambridge University Library, the so-called Privatnachlass (diary, letters, etc.) is to be found in the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach. The main project goal consisted in editing the handwritten manuscripts of his early work (18801904). The edition is the first well-documented account tracing the text genesis up to the printing, leaving aside the wide-ranging history of reception. The texts chosen from Schnitzlers early work were the one-act play cycle Anatol (1893), the play Liebelei (1895), and stories published during his lifetime in single volumes: Sterben (1895), Lieutenant Gustl (1900), and Frau Bertha Garlan (1901). The representation of handwritten text stages proceeded by juxtaposing facsimiles and corresponding transcriptions in order to render traceable both the deciphering and transcription results. This side-by-side presentation is complemented by a reading text (based on the most reliable first prints), followed by a critical apparatus (equally considering the final editions during his lifetime), a commentary as well as the documentation of material relating to the contexts of production and printing. The edition is being published by de Gruyter both in print and in e-book version.After preparing the editorial guidelines, which essentially follow the concepts of genetic editing (critique génétique), the corpus of extant manuscripts was meticulously recorded, deciphered, and transcribed, in the course of which intensive genetic analysis also enabled the chronological ordering of undated text stages. In cooperation with the publishing company, the project team successfully developed a set of procedures for technically complicated transcriptions. The constitution of the edited text was based on due consideration of all the printed versions up to the Gesammelte Werke from 1912 and 1922. The commentary required extensive bio-bibliographical and culturehistorical-research. ch. During the project duration, the following texts appeared in print: Lieutenant Gustl (June 2010), Anatol (May 2012), Sterben (Nov. 2012), and Liebelei (May 2014). Frau Bertha Garlan is currently being prepared for printing (Jan. 2015). With the new edition at hand, Schnitzler scholarship can finally take recourse to solid philological grounds for the first time. In addition, the project offers hitherto unknown texts such as the poem Der Elephant (from adjacent Anatol-material) as well as text stages such as the prompt book for the premiere of Liebelei, a book that genetically oscillates between manuscript and printed text. A follow-up project that has started on Sept.1, 2014, investigates the narratives from the collection Die Frau des Weisen (1898), the one-act play cycle Reigen (1903), and the one-act plays Der grüne Kakadu, Paracelsus, and Die Gefährtin (1898/99).