Professor Bernhardi (1912) – a play written by Viennese dramatist Arthurt Schnitzler, about practicing medicine, personal beliefs and truth.
Place where the object is located
The Museum of History of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy „Gr. T. Popa”, Iași
Story of the object
“Professor Bernhardi, completed in 1912, confounded expectations. The play has no love interest, one female character (in a minor role) and only one moment of dramatic action. At the end of Act I, the title figure, a Jewish doctor, denies a Catholic priest access to a patient who is dying of sepsis following a botched abortion; the following four acts explore the political and institutional fallout of that action. The play not only explores what it means to be an Austrian and a Jew but also asks whether medicine can be the basis of a rational, humanist world-view within which biography is irrelevant, and answers by depicting an institution torn apart by racial and religious difference, by anti-Semitism, careerism and political intrigue.” (Judith Beniston)
Unit of the Educational Material connected (6 - 2)
Label
Author: Arthur Schnitzler
Title: Professor Bernhardi
Genre: comedy play, in 4 acts, 9 characters
Published: 1912
Banned until 1918
The play was reimagined as The Doctor by Robert Icke and performed at London's Almeida Theatre and the Adelaide Festival in 2020
Title: Professor Bernhardi
Genre: comedy play, in 4 acts, 9 characters
Published: 1912
Banned until 1918
The play was reimagined as The Doctor by Robert Icke and performed at London's Almeida Theatre and the Adelaide Festival in 2020
