Going Home: The Everyday as a Space for (Dis-)Connection in Arthur Schnitzler's Liebelei

Abstract:Liebelei [Dalliance, 1895], Schnitzler's unprecedented success at the Vienna Burgtheater, has gone down in theatre history as the Volksstück that confronted Viennese society with its own frailties. However, the play had a much wider range of effects than is generally assumed, for example with respect to the naturalist movement headed by Otto Brahm, who established Schnitzler as an integral part of Berlin's theatre world. In this context, Liebelei can be viewed as part of an evolving theatrical modernism, which, according to Toril Moi, began with the works of Henrik Ibsen. The article deploys Moi's thesis and her concept of the everyday, as derived from Stanley Cavell's interpretation of Wittgenstein, for an analysis of the dramatic dynamics of Liebelei.