Flee into the darkness

Author: Schnitzler
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: This series collects renowned literary works from German-speaking countries, accompanied by Chinese translations. Each piece is accompanied by an introduction to the work and its author. We hope this series can become a garden for Chinese enthusiasts of German to read original German texts, guiding them into the beautiful world of literature. The authors of these masterpieces are all world-class literary figures, representing both classical, modern, and contemporary literature, all holding significant positions in literary history. The selected works are written in standard language, with moderate difficulty, diverse themes, and strong readability.
Robert, a long-term counselor, has been plagued by obsessive thoughts. To prevent himself from eventually developing a mental illness, losing the ability to end his own life according to his will, and causing pain to his family, he wrote a letter to his brother, asking him to "immediately use the swift and painless methods that doctors always possess" if he noticed any signs of his mental illness. Robert's initial obsessive thoughts gradually evolved into severe delusions, which in turn became various forms of paranoia. These paranoid delusions gradually led Robert into an inescapable mental. He began to worry that he would be mistaken for mentally ill by his brother, and the letter he had written to him would become the legal justification for his brother to kill him. This paranoia gradually developed into the delusion of being tracked. Driven by this delusion, he fled from his place of residence. After shooting and killing his brother, who had come to help him and wanted to take him home, he continued to run endlessly in the wilderness until he "was lost in darkness."
As a former doctor, Schnitzler uses precise literary language to document a typical case of a mentally disturbed individual, allowing readers to enter the inner world of this marginalized group and fostering understanding and empathy for them.