Arthur Schnitzler - Critical Edition (Early Works) III

Due to the rather sorrowful state of most reading editions of the works of Arthur Schnitzler (1862 1931) a critical edition has been long overdue. Reasons for this lack of scientific consideration lie within the history of the bequest as such: in 1938, shortly after the so-called Anschluss, Schnitzlers archive was transferred to the Cambridge University Library, where the estate of works has been preserved ever since. The personal bequest (letters and diary) was brought back to Vienna by Schnitzlers son Heinrich; this part was entrusted to the German Literature Archive Marbach in 1982. Further parts of the literary remains are currently stored in Vienna, Exeter, Geneva and Jerusalem amongst others. Furthermore, Schnitzlers handwriting he used Old German Script (Kurrent) until 1917, aprox. is considered to be nearly illegible. Thus, the edition of his diary, the biggest bequest project to date, took two decades (19812000) to be completed. In the course of the FWF-projects Arthur Schnitzler Critical Edition (The Early Works) I + II (P 22195-G20, 20102014 and P 27138-G23, 20142018), the first critical editions of Lieutenant Gustl (2011), Anatol, Sterben (both 2012), Liebelei (2014), Frau Bertha Garlan (2015), Die Frau des Weisen, Die Toten schweigen and Ein Abschied (all 2016) were published, Ein Ehrentag and Blumen are in print and Reigen is in preparation for printing. The overall edition consists of the facsimiles of the manuscripts together with their transcriptions, a print of the published texts with a display of all textual variants up to the authors last revised edition and an appendix of commentary and documents. All volumes are available as e-books as well. The third project aims to combine the print volumes with a digital presentation, making available additional material, e.g. facsimiles of relevant prints. According to open access standards, the data will be presented on a web-based platform as well as provided machine-readable and linked to the AHRC- project Digital Critical Edition of Middle-Period Works (19051913) at the University of Cambridge under the direction of Dr. Andrew Webber. Apart from the edition of the one-act plays Paracelsus, Der grüne Kakadu and Die Gefährtin, it is planned to publish the drama Der einsame Weg, which shares its origin with Professor Bernhardi, one of Schnitzlers middle-period works. Thus, for the first time a work-transcending genesis of texts can be presented, which provides a solid foundation for further research on shiftings in Schnitzlers critique of morality and society. The project will cooperate with the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities (ACDH) as well as with the Cambridge University Library.

Due to the rather sorrowful state of most reading editions of the wor ks of Arthur Schnitzler (18621931) a critical edition has been long overdue. Reasons for this lack of scientific consideration lie within the history of the bequest as such: in 1938, shortly after the so -called Anschluss, Schnitzlers archive was transferred to the Cambridge University Library, where the estate of works has been preserved ever since. Letters and the diary were later entrusted to the German Literature Archive Marbach; further parts of the literary remains are currently stored in Exeter, Geneva, and Jerusalem amongst others. Furthermore, Schnitzlers handwriting he used Old German Script (Kurrent) until 1917, aprox. is considered to be nearly illegible. In the course of two previous FWF-projects (P 22195-G20, 20102014 and P 27138-G23, 20142018), the first critical editions of Lieutenant Gustl (2011), Anatol, Sterben (both 2012), Liebelei (2014), Frau Bertha Garlan (2015), Die Frau des Weisen, Die Toten schweigen and Ein Abschied (all 2016), Ein Ehrentag (2017) and Blumen (2018) were published. Each volume consists of the facsimiles of the manuscripts together with their transcriptions, a print of the published texts with a display of all textual variants up to the authors last revised edition, an introduction to the genesis and printing history of the text as well as an appendix of commentary and documents. All editions are available as e -books as well. According to this scheme, during the recently terminated third project (P 30513, 2018- 2021) three dramatic texts have been edited: Reigen (2019), Der grüne Kakadu (2020) and Paracelsus (2021). Work on another play, Der einsame Weg, could be begun. The genesis of this play is specifically complex, since it shares common roots with Professor Bernhardi, a more recent play which will be edited under the direction of Dr Andrew Webber at the University of Cambridge, with whom scientific exchange has been established. Der einsame Weg and the one-act play Die Gefährtin will be published soon. Furthermore, the th ird project aimed to make the data generally available. Therefore, already during the second project data encoding was switched to TEI standards. The acquisition of further funding by the FWF allowed to publish the most recent volumes as open access e-books. The digital presentation of the edition of Blumen has been further developed as well. To accomplish this and strengthen the digital aspects of the historical-critical edition for the future a cooperation with the now so - called Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage within the Austrian Academy of Sciences has been established. The forth project to edit Schnitzlers early works (P 34018), started in June 2021, is completely situated at this institution.