Hugo von Hofmannsthal, 'The Incorruptible Servant'

Book excerpt: This is the first translation into English of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s acclaimed comedy Der Unbestechliche. The Incorruptible Servant is a true comedy of action, a well-constructed, fast moving stage play cast in a traditional mould. The action is controlled by a dominant central figure of a complex make-up, somewhat reminiscent of Tartuffe but closer in portraiture to Dostoevsky’s Foma Fomich in The Village of Stepanchikovo. Theodor is cast as the masterful servant in an aristocratic Austrian country estate in the year 1912. He acquires full control of the household and cunningly manipulates his philandering young master and his mistresses in a plot set out to restore order and morality. The comedy shows the mature Hofmannsthal at the height of his achievement as a dramatist.