Rhapsody: A Dream Story

Summary

Stanley Kubrick, the great director, died only days after submitting the first cut of his film "Eyes Wide Shut" to Warner Brothers. The basis of his film is the novella Rhapsody: A Dream Novel, also known as Dream Story written in 1925 by the Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler. Interestingly, it was first published in installments in the magazine „Die Dame“ (English: The Lady), the first illustrated magazine in Germany to cater to the interests of modern women. Which says a bit about the targeted audience of the author…The story itself: The seemingly happy marriage of Albertine and Fridolin hides the unfulfilled erotic desires of the two partners, which discharge themselves in nightly escapades. Schnitzler's emotion at the instinctual nature of man has accompanied him since his early acquaintance with Sigmund Freud, whose teaching he reflects in his work in literature.

This narration is based on a new English translation of the original novel that Philip Knueppel created for Aureon Verlag GmbH in 2020.