Abstract:

Arthur Schnitzler, the significant Austrian literature writer, is also one of the well-known representatives of impressionist era. The novel Lieutenant Gustl (Leutnant Gustl) has taken its place in world literature history as being the first sample in which he applied the internal monologue (Der innere Monolog) technique for the first time in German Literature. Arthur Schnitzler took medical education and besides his medical practice as a doctor he closely dealt with literature and used the experiences he got from his psychoanalysis and psychology studies in his works of art prominently. He frequently used inner monologues for analysing moods of the novel characters he created and it is seen that he used this technique in most of his works of art. Besides of this, he dealt with the topics such as social statues, retrogression in bourgeois life and created extraordinary characters. In the present study, Gustl, a character from the novel Leutnant Gustl (Lieutenant Gustl) will be analysed as a dominant figure and social prototype in the frame of various examples.

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