Verlag:
Aisthesis Verlag, Bielefeld
;
Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt am Main
In the 1924 novella "Fräulein Else" by Arthur Schnitzler, intermediality influences narrative empathy. Written in the stream of consciousness technique, the text presents an examination of the nineteen-year-old protagonist's inner struggle and its...
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In the 1924 novella "Fräulein Else" by Arthur Schnitzler, intermediality influences narrative empathy. Written in the stream of consciousness technique, the text presents an examination of the nineteen-year-old protagonist's inner struggle and its sexual implications (to save her father from jail, Else must approach an elderly acquaintance to borrow money from him), arousing the reader's empathy. The image of Else is supported, even overlapped by hidden art references - examples of how women have been portrayed and represented in art and cultural history. In the most famous moment of the novella - Else undresses herself during a public concert - the stream of consciousness is interrupted by musical excerpts. Mostly considered as an emotional catalyst, at this point the musical quotation is blocking narrative empathy. Else's thoughts as well as her naked body become unreadable, because the notation is indifferent towards the reader's desires. Paradoxically, the narrative turning point is represented by an intermedial censorship.