Creatures made of paper: the construction of two characters by Arthur Schnitzler

Abstract

This article analyzes the resources used by Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931) to write the book Fräulein Else (1924). The dialogues, the letters and the inner monologue tell (or show) the story of the beautiful young woman who has the fate of the family in her hands: Else is under pressure to accept the request of the unscrupulous Mr. von Dorsday to get the money that will prevent the arrest of her father. Based on Beth Brait’s (2006) character-building study and on the considerations on the flow of consciousness made by the French literary critic Michel Zéraffa (2010), for whom Schnitzler was one of the true precursors of Joyce and Faulkner, a comparison is made between Else and Lieutenant Wilhelm Kasda, the protagonist of the novel Night games (1926), written two years later by the same author.