Arthur Schnitzler's Late Plays

Widely recognized as the leading German-language dramatist of his time, Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931) has long been held to have somehow sunk into obsolescence after the premiere of his Professor Bernhardi in 1912, an oddly self-perpetuating opinion among many scholars and critics. It is the purpose of this study to examine Schnitzler's post-Bernhardi dramatic opus, beginning with the 1915 Komödie der Worte, and thereby establish the enduring relevance of his themes and concerns.