iebelei
5
box 13/8
HLLS S A
31924—
ienna Letternd bro
LU
By PIERRE LOVING
ched with brief mediaval tale of the mwunger Iseult whose
g threat of in- pale white hand was worshipped and
il, inhuman, and chronicled far and wide by the Knights of
rian art and lit¬
the Round Table. The style of this book
very real one,
is so lyrical, so bardesque that it fairly
onduces to wild
brims over into the most limpid poetry.
as, for instance,
Fredegund“ (Rikola Verlag) is another
rigin is capable
ancient tale, but of Nordic erigin, treated in
yto the eternal
a somewhat similar vein; the gestes are
and folk-ways
more uncouth and barbaric, far more ele¬
Il. That this is
mental, although the lyrical vein of the
xtended proof;
narrative remains unabated. Lucka has just
also used this
completed a study of Dostoievsky which
total deflance of
shows the Russian novelist in an entirely
Werfel any num
new lighit, that is, as a super-modernist;
uld be cited to
perhaps the greatest spirit of our times in
ization. On the
that he fought valorously against the
esire for a sure
idolatry of intellect and the apotheosis of
unchanging and
natural science. Lucka is busily at work
Hermann Bahr
upon a, new bock which will deal with
ns of the Cath¬
primitive myths and their quaint disguises
t autobiography
in ceremonials, customs, and daily habits
Catholic always
of thought and speech. The tentative
ie strayed from
title of this work, which gives just enough
le law has com¬
of its theme and drift, is Der Ur-Gut der
Menscheit.“
cous pomp and
sciplined faith;
Apropos of the far-flung pessimism
which has re¬
which prevails with regard to European
sweetness and
civilization, Jacob Wassermann, who has
e land.
just published a new book of stories, enti¬
n literature the
tled Der Geist des Pilgers'’ (the scene of
to portray the
one of them is laid in Mexico!), writes in
ie city is fully
the Neue Ereie Presse-that Europe has, in
Heimatsdichter,
his opinion, becôme jaded and overcultured.
familiar soil.
He relates how, after an address which
o be sure, write
ehe had delivered at a Swedish University
is of secondary
on the subject of humanity, a student came
the cornlands
up to him, his eyes overflowing with tears,
make of then.
and asked wistfully:" Do you really believe
hief among these
that people can be changed for the better ?“
r, who is known
This question, Wassermann records, not
his Children's
only stunned him, but cut deeply into his
est but certäinly
soul.
A far better
*2
eure is Erde.“
icant is Glaube
In my last letter I mentioned, in pass¬
is so deeplz
ing, Franz Werfel’s Spiegelmensch, one
fe of the Tyrol
of the greatest dramatic poems in contem¬
translator, how¬
porary German literäture. Whien I first
over into intelli¬
read Spiegelmensch, in 102o, I was not a
words might be
little puzzled by its dense symbolism. Parts
and atmosphere
I could just make out; others, quite frank¬
Hote and foreign.
ly, were the sheerest kind of abracadabra.
ready guessed, a
The comment which has appeared since in
fe, and we have
the literary reviews has been, I am afraid,
othe Austrian
not very helpful or enlightening. But the
rtrays an aspect
difficult symbolism of“ Spiegelmensch' was
exemplified by
recently clarified for me by the author him¬
Austrian Alps;
self. He was good enough to give me a
peasants sullenly
copy of his Dramaturgie' (Kurt Wolff),
of their fathers
of which no copies were sold and only ten
ughts of invad¬
were printed for private use. The“ Drama¬
turgie“ makes the symbolism of Spiegel¬
e und Heimat'
mensch“ perfectly clear; the language is
s problem play.
terse and to the point. I have only space
has used the
here to point out that the three worlds
arting point, but
limned in the magic trilogy correspond to
bove everything
the three phases of man’s mind. The clois¬
uman faith and
ter, says the author, represents the world
of Logos (philosophy); the monk stands
for inexorable consequence. (I do not take
this to signify Fate in the Greck sense, but
plumbed to the
the moral Nemesis which pursues all our
t’s soul; and his
thoughts and acts in everyday life.) The
elling, so beauti¬
second part of the trilogy symbolizes the
that the effect of
Living World: father, friend, wife, child,
put into words.
priest, and people—in other words, the
rde' is closer to
world of Eros, which is the plane on which
unwritten poem
Wordsworth or
radoxical as it
" P orer —1 1824.
temporal man of necessity dwells. The
third part depicts the world of the alter
ego, Spiegelemensch, who is Mephistoph¬
eles to Thamal’s Faust. This is the do¬
main of reflected valucs (Spiegelwerte). In
this realm the ignoble desires come troop¬
ing forth: desire of victory, the submerged
self and fear of death; in one word, as
Werfel puts it, the world of uncontrolled
sex impulse.
The“ Collected Poems“ of Stefan Zweig
have ar last been published, he is one of
the most exquisite poets of the older group
in Austria; he is classic and refined in
manner and his appeal is to all who admire
serene quietude and a high degree of liter¬
ary craftsmanship. Arnold Bronnen, onc of
the most significant of the younger
Austrian dramatists and author of the
notorious Vatermord' (Fischer), has
just finished his new play“ Verrat' (Be¬
trayal), which I was privileged to examine
pressionistic in manner, of a theme treated
with great beauty by Frederich Hebbel in
Gieges and His Ring.“ Bronnen belongs
*to that class of German writers, mostly
Jounger men, who have definitely broken
with traditional form; they are trying to
discover a more direct, less rhetorical form
of expression. The most successful mem¬
ber of this group is, of course, George
Kaiser, who is now in Vienna in connec¬
tion with the rehearsals of his new play,
Nebeneinander.“
Anew play by Raoul Auernheimer, entitled
# Casanova in Wien, has just been pro¬
duced with Moissi in the title röle and will
shortly be published by Rikola. Casancva
is made out to be far more idealistic than
he was in the living flesh. He is set off in
contrast with his brother, the painter.
Auernheimer is concerned with the eternal
conflict between the acquisitive, material¬
istic man and the creative spirit; Casanova,
of course, is the materialist, while his
brother is the idealist. Let no one quarrel
with this free rewriting of the immortal
memoirs. All history and the whole field
of fiction are fair game for the dramatist
if he can suggestively rework his original
material; and this, let it be added, Auern¬
heimer has done; the result is a play writ¬
ten in delicate half dreamy blank verse, with
one or two fine moments.
An interesting play, dealing witl post¬
war problems in Austria, is Paul Wert¬
heimer’s Menschen von Heute“ (People
of Today), put out by Rikola. It deals
with the temptations which confront medi¬
cal men in modern Vienna; its theme, in
a broader sense, is the danger of total sub¬
mergence which stares the whole middle
class in the face. The theme is deftly
handled and the action moves forward in¬
cxorably, so that we feel at moments that
we are witnessing a tragedy based on the
little stringent inevitabilities of everyday
life. There are, however, few Austrian
dramatists who can portray the life of Aus¬
trie, and especially that of Vienna, with,
greater pathos, truth and tenderness than
Schnitzler has done. A revival of Lie¬
belei“ recently proved that the old magic
the incisive charm, was still present in this
characteristic piece, written at least fifteen
years ago. This opinion was confirmed only
a few days ago by Hermann Sudermann,
who observed, in the course of an inter¬
view, that for him Schnitzler was and stilf
is the most charactéristic painter of Aus¬
trian and Viennese life 1
Jean Rostand’s new novel, Deux An¬
goisses, recently issued from the press of
Fasquelle in Paris, has met with widely
divergent comment from French critics. Se
eminent a man as Fernand Vandrem has 1
pronounced it one of the most forceful
studies of jealousyrthat have ever appeared.
Never, anywnere' (shades of Shake¬
speare!), says M. Vanderem, “has any one
written so profoundly, so variously, so
movingly, or so bitingly of jealousy.“ On
the other hand, René Crevel holds that
M. Rostand has produced a wearisome
book, one in which his instincts as an
essayist have got the better of his ro¬#
mantic sense, and produced a work in
which maxims, thoughts, and counsels are #.
blended into a nondescript banality. Any
955
niediocre novel,' concludes M. Crevel,“ is
better than this fricassée.
8
5
box 13/8
HLLS S A
31924—
ienna Letternd bro
LU
By PIERRE LOVING
ched with brief mediaval tale of the mwunger Iseult whose
g threat of in- pale white hand was worshipped and
il, inhuman, and chronicled far and wide by the Knights of
rian art and lit¬
the Round Table. The style of this book
very real one,
is so lyrical, so bardesque that it fairly
onduces to wild
brims over into the most limpid poetry.
as, for instance,
Fredegund“ (Rikola Verlag) is another
rigin is capable
ancient tale, but of Nordic erigin, treated in
yto the eternal
a somewhat similar vein; the gestes are
and folk-ways
more uncouth and barbaric, far more ele¬
Il. That this is
mental, although the lyrical vein of the
xtended proof;
narrative remains unabated. Lucka has just
also used this
completed a study of Dostoievsky which
total deflance of
shows the Russian novelist in an entirely
Werfel any num
new lighit, that is, as a super-modernist;
uld be cited to
perhaps the greatest spirit of our times in
ization. On the
that he fought valorously against the
esire for a sure
idolatry of intellect and the apotheosis of
unchanging and
natural science. Lucka is busily at work
Hermann Bahr
upon a, new bock which will deal with
ns of the Cath¬
primitive myths and their quaint disguises
t autobiography
in ceremonials, customs, and daily habits
Catholic always
of thought and speech. The tentative
ie strayed from
title of this work, which gives just enough
le law has com¬
of its theme and drift, is Der Ur-Gut der
Menscheit.“
cous pomp and
sciplined faith;
Apropos of the far-flung pessimism
which has re¬
which prevails with regard to European
sweetness and
civilization, Jacob Wassermann, who has
e land.
just published a new book of stories, enti¬
n literature the
tled Der Geist des Pilgers'’ (the scene of
to portray the
one of them is laid in Mexico!), writes in
ie city is fully
the Neue Ereie Presse-that Europe has, in
Heimatsdichter,
his opinion, becôme jaded and overcultured.
familiar soil.
He relates how, after an address which
o be sure, write
ehe had delivered at a Swedish University
is of secondary
on the subject of humanity, a student came
the cornlands
up to him, his eyes overflowing with tears,
make of then.
and asked wistfully:" Do you really believe
hief among these
that people can be changed for the better ?“
r, who is known
This question, Wassermann records, not
his Children's
only stunned him, but cut deeply into his
est but certäinly
soul.
A far better
*2
eure is Erde.“
icant is Glaube
In my last letter I mentioned, in pass¬
is so deeplz
ing, Franz Werfel’s Spiegelmensch, one
fe of the Tyrol
of the greatest dramatic poems in contem¬
translator, how¬
porary German literäture. Whien I first
over into intelli¬
read Spiegelmensch, in 102o, I was not a
words might be
little puzzled by its dense symbolism. Parts
and atmosphere
I could just make out; others, quite frank¬
Hote and foreign.
ly, were the sheerest kind of abracadabra.
ready guessed, a
The comment which has appeared since in
fe, and we have
the literary reviews has been, I am afraid,
othe Austrian
not very helpful or enlightening. But the
rtrays an aspect
difficult symbolism of“ Spiegelmensch' was
exemplified by
recently clarified for me by the author him¬
Austrian Alps;
self. He was good enough to give me a
peasants sullenly
copy of his Dramaturgie' (Kurt Wolff),
of their fathers
of which no copies were sold and only ten
ughts of invad¬
were printed for private use. The“ Drama¬
turgie“ makes the symbolism of Spiegel¬
e und Heimat'
mensch“ perfectly clear; the language is
s problem play.
terse and to the point. I have only space
has used the
here to point out that the three worlds
arting point, but
limned in the magic trilogy correspond to
bove everything
the three phases of man’s mind. The clois¬
uman faith and
ter, says the author, represents the world
of Logos (philosophy); the monk stands
for inexorable consequence. (I do not take
this to signify Fate in the Greck sense, but
plumbed to the
the moral Nemesis which pursues all our
t’s soul; and his
thoughts and acts in everyday life.) The
elling, so beauti¬
second part of the trilogy symbolizes the
that the effect of
Living World: father, friend, wife, child,
put into words.
priest, and people—in other words, the
rde' is closer to
world of Eros, which is the plane on which
unwritten poem
Wordsworth or
radoxical as it
" P orer —1 1824.
temporal man of necessity dwells. The
third part depicts the world of the alter
ego, Spiegelemensch, who is Mephistoph¬
eles to Thamal’s Faust. This is the do¬
main of reflected valucs (Spiegelwerte). In
this realm the ignoble desires come troop¬
ing forth: desire of victory, the submerged
self and fear of death; in one word, as
Werfel puts it, the world of uncontrolled
sex impulse.
The“ Collected Poems“ of Stefan Zweig
have ar last been published, he is one of
the most exquisite poets of the older group
in Austria; he is classic and refined in
manner and his appeal is to all who admire
serene quietude and a high degree of liter¬
ary craftsmanship. Arnold Bronnen, onc of
the most significant of the younger
Austrian dramatists and author of the
notorious Vatermord' (Fischer), has
just finished his new play“ Verrat' (Be¬
trayal), which I was privileged to examine
pressionistic in manner, of a theme treated
with great beauty by Frederich Hebbel in
Gieges and His Ring.“ Bronnen belongs
*to that class of German writers, mostly
Jounger men, who have definitely broken
with traditional form; they are trying to
discover a more direct, less rhetorical form
of expression. The most successful mem¬
ber of this group is, of course, George
Kaiser, who is now in Vienna in connec¬
tion with the rehearsals of his new play,
Nebeneinander.“
Anew play by Raoul Auernheimer, entitled
# Casanova in Wien, has just been pro¬
duced with Moissi in the title röle and will
shortly be published by Rikola. Casancva
is made out to be far more idealistic than
he was in the living flesh. He is set off in
contrast with his brother, the painter.
Auernheimer is concerned with the eternal
conflict between the acquisitive, material¬
istic man and the creative spirit; Casanova,
of course, is the materialist, while his
brother is the idealist. Let no one quarrel
with this free rewriting of the immortal
memoirs. All history and the whole field
of fiction are fair game for the dramatist
if he can suggestively rework his original
material; and this, let it be added, Auern¬
heimer has done; the result is a play writ¬
ten in delicate half dreamy blank verse, with
one or two fine moments.
An interesting play, dealing witl post¬
war problems in Austria, is Paul Wert¬
heimer’s Menschen von Heute“ (People
of Today), put out by Rikola. It deals
with the temptations which confront medi¬
cal men in modern Vienna; its theme, in
a broader sense, is the danger of total sub¬
mergence which stares the whole middle
class in the face. The theme is deftly
handled and the action moves forward in¬
cxorably, so that we feel at moments that
we are witnessing a tragedy based on the
little stringent inevitabilities of everyday
life. There are, however, few Austrian
dramatists who can portray the life of Aus¬
trie, and especially that of Vienna, with,
greater pathos, truth and tenderness than
Schnitzler has done. A revival of Lie¬
belei“ recently proved that the old magic
the incisive charm, was still present in this
characteristic piece, written at least fifteen
years ago. This opinion was confirmed only
a few days ago by Hermann Sudermann,
who observed, in the course of an inter¬
view, that for him Schnitzler was and stilf
is the most charactéristic painter of Aus¬
trian and Viennese life 1
Jean Rostand’s new novel, Deux An¬
goisses, recently issued from the press of
Fasquelle in Paris, has met with widely
divergent comment from French critics. Se
eminent a man as Fernand Vandrem has 1
pronounced it one of the most forceful
studies of jealousyrthat have ever appeared.
Never, anywnere' (shades of Shake¬
speare!), says M. Vanderem, “has any one
written so profoundly, so variously, so
movingly, or so bitingly of jealousy.“ On
the other hand, René Crevel holds that
M. Rostand has produced a wearisome
book, one in which his instincts as an
essayist have got the better of his ro¬#
mantic sense, and produced a work in
which maxims, thoughts, and counsels are #.
blended into a nondescript banality. Any
955
niediocre novel,' concludes M. Crevel,“ is
better than this fricassée.
8