Schnitzler Collection · Censored Classics
The explosive work that scandalized an empire, sparked riots, and was banned across Europe for decades. An unflinching examination of desire that still feels urgently contemporary.
About the Book
The Round Dance (Reigen, La Ronde) stands as one of the most daring and psychologically penetrating works ever written — a masterpiece so controversial it sparked riots, legal battles, and was banned across Europe for decades. This groundbreaking cycle of ten interconnected dialogues exposes the hidden desires and hypocrisies of fin-de-siècle Vienna through an unflinching examination of human sexuality that transcends class, status, and social pretension.
From prostitute to soldier, parlour maid to aristocrat, each encounter reveals the universal dance of desire that connects us all. Written in 1897 but deemed too dangerous for public performance until 1920, Reigen earned Schnitzler both literary immortality and death threats. Critics called it pornographic; scholars hailed it as revolutionary.
Freud considered Schnitzler a kindred spirit who understood the human psyche with clinical precision. Max Ophüls adapted it into the acclaimed 1950 film La Ronde, nominated for two Academy Awards. Why does this 125-year-old work still feel urgently contemporary? Because Schnitzler's psychological insights into power, authenticity, and the gap between public facades and private truths remain as relevant today as when they first scandalized Habsburg society.
Written in 1897. Banned until 1920. Still dangerous today.
Ovid Publishing Group Edition
Ovid Publishing Group Edition
About the Author
Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist and one of the most prominent figures of the Vienna Modernism movement. Born in Vienna to a distinguished Jewish family, Schnitzler trained as a physician — a background that profoundly shaped his literary preoccupations with the inner life, desire, and moral complexity.
His works were consistently controversial for their time, offering frank depictions of sexuality, the unconscious, and the human psyche that challenged the rigid social norms of fin-de-siècle Austria. Schnitzler pioneered the use of the interior monologue in German-language literature, influencing writers across Europe and earning the deep admiration of Sigmund Freud, who called him a "colleague" in psychological insight.
His plays and novellas — including Reigen, Traumnovelle, and Leutnant Gustl — provoked censorship, riots, and official condemnation. They also secured his legacy as one of the most important European writers of the early 20th century. His works remain widely read and adapted today.
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