Dealing with 'Difficulty' in Comedies of Love: Arthur Schnitzler's Komödie der Verführung and Hugo von Hofmannsthal's Der Schwierige

Abstract:The early 1920s saw the publication of two new — and significant — late plays by Schnitzler and Hofmannsthal respectively. Using a problematic ('difficult') male character, they stage a conflict of love and marriage that is also situated in the historical context of the First World War. The two plays may appear to be very different on the surface — an optimistic outcome with a successful marriage in the case of Hofmannsthal, a pessimistic outcome with a deadly end in Schnitzler — but closer analysis shows that they represent two complementary variants of a solution within the overarching epochal problem of setting limits to unleashed individuality and instinctual nature. In Schnitzler's case, the article also takes a look at a fascinating textual genesis that extends over thirty years.