About the work
Comedy of Seduction is a three-act play by Arthur Schnitzler. Schnitzler first sketched the material in the 1880s and reworked it from 1904 onward as a novella titled "Verführung"; he only completed the final version of the third act in October 1923. It premiered on 11 October 1924 at Vienna's Burgtheater, directed by Hans Brahm, and was published the same year by S. Fischer in Berlin.
Plot
Between May and August 1914, Max, who lives off his father's inheritance, carries on affairs with three very different women: the already-engaged Countess Aurelie von Merkenstein, the self-assured singer Judith Asrael, who demands a single night of love from him, and the aspiring violinist Seraphine, who only reveals her pregnancy to him on the day war is declared. While Viennese society hails the approaching war as a "fountain of youth," jealousy, class pride and an old duel drive the characters toward a tragic outcome.
Cultural significance
As a period piece exposing Viennese society's obliviousness on the eve of the First World War, it counts among Schnitzler's most extensive plays; reviewing the 1924 premiere, Robert Musil nonetheless criticised the play's persistent indirectness of form and language.