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Arthur Schnitzler's Outsider-Insiders in Fin de Siècle Vienna

Hurst, Jordan Dwayne
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1372092281

Abstract Details

2013, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, German.
This thesis explores the role of outsiders in fin de siècle Viennese society and how these roles are portrayed in the works of Arthur Schnitzler. The focus is specifically on those characters in Schnitzler's texts who can be considered outsider-insiders, that is, characters who have elements in common with both members of the reference group as well as those individuals who fall somewhere outside of the group they are attempting to integrate with. In this study I primarily examine the characters of Gustl and Else from Schnitzler's novellas Leutnant Gustl and Fräulein Else, respectively, as well as that of Fridolin, the protagonist of Traumnovelle. I make use of Sander Gilman's explanation of the phenomenon of self-hatred and the double bind, and examine where it applies to Jewish characters, such as Else and Felix von Dorsday, as well as gentile characters such as Gustl. I also investigate how both social and economic status, as well as gender and ethnicity, can affect a character's role as an outsider-insider. In the case of Gustl, one finds a character who is able to take advantage of the upward social mobility offered by the Austro-Hungarian army, but still suffers from his lower class origins and a bleak economic reality, and must face the double bind placed upon him by the traditional honor code of the Austro-Hungarian officer corps. Else faces the double bind of a middle-class Jewish daughter who is expected to follow the wishes of her parents, but to do so would require her to do something that no good bourgeois daughter would do, namely, expose her body to Felix von Dorsday in order to save her father from financial ruin. By taking an interdisciplinary approach to Schnitzler's texts, utilizing both literary analysis and socio-historical methodologies, this work examines the difficulties faced by these characters who find themselves in double binds based on their social, economic, and cultural status, and the experience of self-hatred that accompanies their attempts to engage with fin de siècle Austrian society.
Geoffrey Howes (Advisor)
Theodore Rippey (Committee Member)
55 p.
European Studies; Foreign Language; Germanic Literature; Language; Literature; Minority and Ethnic Groups
German; Austrian; Austria; Vienna; Arthur Schnitzler; Gustl; Else; Fridolin; Albertine; Schnitzler; Fin de Siecle; Outsider-Insider; Outsider; Insider; Jewish; Austrian Army; Leutnant Gustl; Fraulein Else; Traumnovelle; Self-Hatred; Double Bind

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hurst, J. D. (2013). Arthur Schnitzler's Outsider-Insiders in Fin de Siècle Vienna [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1372092281

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hurst, Jordan. Arthur Schnitzler's Outsider-Insiders in Fin de Siècle Vienna. 2013. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1372092281.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hurst, Jordan. "Arthur Schnitzler's Outsider-Insiders in Fin de Siècle Vienna." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1372092281

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.