Schnitzler's Das Schicksal Des Freiherrn Von Leisenbohg

I became interested in Schnitzler's story long before I started my analytic career. Later I made the acquaintance of Freud's remark that the "taboo of virginity" formed the core of Das Schicksal des Freiherrn von Leisenbohg. I also took note of Sachs's and Reik's futile attempts to throw light on this story. Driven perhaps by an urge to clarify the feelings aroused in me when I read this story for the first time, I wrote an analysis of it in 1944. Recently I produced a new version of this analysis.

A friend of mine criticized this new version, claiming I had treated Schnitzler's personages as if they possessed a well-developed human mind, a supposition which, according to my friend, was not valid. My critic friend added that, as a result of my viewpoint, Schnitzler acquired the status of a great writer, a status which he did not deserve. Schnitzler, it is true, could have made better use of his unconscious in building up the dramatic situation which he examined, namely, the influence of a dying man's curse. This curse led to a chain of events consisting of the interactions of the various dramatis personae of the