Ennustus and Other Novellas

Schnitzler, Arthur, 1862-1931Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 129K words
Chapters: 13

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Ennustus y.m. novelleja by Arthur SchnitzlerAuthor: Schnitzler, Arthur, 1862-1931,Language: Finnish, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Nov 28, 2018

Editor's review

This is the Finnish translation of a collection of short stories by Schnitzler, published by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook. Schnitzler was an Austrian writer known for fine psychological portraiture and for capturing the emotional undercurrents between urban men and women; his works often revolve around desire, chance, and moral boundaries. The title story, Ennustus, and the other stories collected here suit readers who want to approach German-language literature through a Finnish translation in short form, and also enthusiasts studying translation between Nordic languages. The electronic edition is easy to search and read alongside other texts, but it lacks a translator's preface and notes, so readers must establish the background of the stories themselves. Overall it is better as supplementary material for language learning or comparative literature than as an introductory guide. Read slowly and pay attention to the psychological turns in the dialogue.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate and advanced language learners with Finnish reading ability
Literary readers interested in Schnitzler's short stories
Comparative literature students studying Finnish translations of German literature
Readers who enjoy psychological portraiture and urban emotional themes

Not a good fit for

Readers with no Finnish at all and no parallel text
Readers expecting a long, continuous plot or a complete author's collection
First-time researchers who need translator's notes and a scholarly introduction

Reading tips

Read the title story, Ennustus, first, then choose other stories by interest rather than following the table of contents.
Finnish readers can read dialogue passages aloud to feel Schnitzler's psychological rhythm.
Find the German original or an English translation for comparison and compare shifts in tone in translation.
After each story, write two or three sentences summarizing the characters' psychology to help grasp the short-story structure.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What language is this edition in?

According to the Project Gutenberg page, the book is in Finnish; it is a Finnish translation of a collection of Schnitzler's short stories. The title Ennustus y.m. novelleja means "The Prophecy and Other Stories." A foundation in Finnish is needed before reading.

Can I read it without any Finnish?

Reading it directly would be very difficult. Consider finding a German or English translation of Schnitzler's works for comparison, or first learn the gist of each story and then try the original. If you are only interested in Schnitzler, choose a translation with an introduction rather than starting with this unannotated public-domain book.

What are Schnitzler's short stories like?

According to general knowledge of public-domain literature, Schnitzler often uses short stories and plays to capture the emotional and moral predicaments of the urban middle class, excelling at interior monologue and dialogue, with plots driven by psychological tension rather than strong conflict. Read with attention to the hesitation and suggestion in characters' speech.

Is this book suitable for translation practice?

It can serve as short-text practice material for translating Finnish into Chinese: the pieces are short and dialogue-heavy, making them easy to work through paragraph by paragraph. But the public-domain ebook has no translator's notes, so cultural background must be checked separately. Try translating one story first, then compare with other translations to check for misunderstandings.

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About the author

Schnitzler, Arthur, 1862-1931 Author

Arthur Schnitzler (1862–1931) was an Austrian playwright and novelist whose career spanned the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Twelve of his works are held in this collection, covering novels, novellas, and dialogue-driven drama; representative titles include Casanovas Heimfahrt, Reigen: Zehn Dialoge, The Road to the Open, and The Dead Are Silent. His writing is often set in Viennese society and focuses on love, death, identity, and moral dilemmas, with a cool, restrained tone and a gift for revealing psychological undercurrents through dialogue and interior monologue. The play Reigen links ten conversational encounters among men and women of different classes and once provoked controversy for its bold subject matter, while The Road to the Open portrays social life and individual predicaments at the turn of the century. Public information is limited, yet his influence on modern psychological fiction and European drama continues to receive scholarly attention.