[May 7, 1921.
THE NATION & THE ATHENEUM
220
Germany, so poor in goed comedlies. But the play is not
Fforeign Titerature.
superficial, no more superticial than one of Congreve's. It
has its roots in the fundamental weakness of humanity, and
the character-drawing by which that weakness is portrayed
SCHNITZLER, SUDERMANN, AND HALBE.
is of enduring value. The plot is a simple one. At Spa there
Flink und Fliederbusch. Von Aurnen Schsirzten. (Ber¬
are two friends, called the sisters, Anina and Flaminia.
Iin Pischer:)
Casanova, violently enamored of the second, bestows his love
Die Schwestern, oder Casanova in Spa. Von Aurnen
on the first by mistake. The unravelling of this farcical
SCHNifsben-(Berlin: Fischer.)
entanglement, the quarrels of the rivals when they discover
Die entgötterte Welt. Von HERMANN SUDERMANN. (Stute¬
the facts, the intervention of their respective hasbands, until
gart: Cotta’sche Buchhandlung Nachfolger.)
Casanova is borne off suddenly br his Neapolitan mistress,
Die Raschoffs. Von HERMANN SUDERMANN. (Stuttgart:
and the knot is cut—all this is but the background for
Cotta'sche Buchhandlung Nrchfolger.)
sparkling dialogue and for one or two delicately contrasting
Hortense Ruland. Von MAx HAunE. (Munich: Langen.)
studies in character. The result is one of the most remark¬
TlEnE have been many changes in the German stage sinco
ab'e comedies of manners in modern German literature.
August, 1914. The theatre, it is true, has not ceased to be
Sudermann's letest plays, too, are comedies of manners.
what it alwayvs was¬the predominant and most characteristie
But their period is the present or the recent past, not the
medium of literary self-expression the Germans possess.
eighteenth centurv.“ Die entgötterte Welt“' is a volume
But new men have arisen, a whole array of playwrights, most
containing three plays, of which two,“ Das höhere Leben“
of whom were unknown before the war—these are holding
and“ Die Freun lin,“ have in the past few months been given
the serions German stage as far as the present taste for the
with Tremendous success on the Berlin stage. The“ godless
foreign drama, especially Wilde and Shaw, and the demand
worlf“ is that of before the war. In Sudermann’'s eyes it
for certain of the old favorites, will allow. Inevitably, 100,
had scarcely a redeeming feature. Germany was decaying
these“ new men?’ have introduced what at least seems like
morally, her decadence represented by the false“ friend“
à new tendency, even though we realize, on reflection and
of the first play, Juliane, whose intrigues ruin three lives
analysis, that it is most often nothing more than an
before her headlong career is cut short. Public morality
emphasis of an old one.
was also fast disappearing; in the second play the fheme is
Whatever new writers and new tendencies there
of backstairs scheming in connection with the Berlin muni¬
may be, however, we shall find, on a survey of the German
cipality’s project for a new municipal theatre. In“ Das
stage and of German dramatie literature of the past two
höhere Leben'’—an ironical title, of course—the subject is
Fears, a number of landmarks, a number of dramatists whose
again moral decadence, fashionable love-intrigue. In“ Die
most recent work shows no change of character from that by
Raschoffs“ father is pitted against son in a struggle for the
which they brought themselves into their present established
guilty love of an actress, the older man committing suicide
position. As you read the latest plays of this group of well¬
in desperation in the final scene. If we cared to analyze all
known writers, or see them performed, yon will recapture
four plays from the point of view of Sudermann’s intellectual
the same atmosphere as that in which von studied them
development, we should probably find a change. He has
before the war; yon will in part be able to realize the
become, in comparison with the rebellions Sudermann of
astonishingly small changes the passage of such terrible
Die Ehre“ and“ Die Heimat, old-fashioned,“ correct,
yvears has brought about in literary genius which, so to speak,
evidently disapproving of the unconventionalism he formerl.
has"set.“ Most prominent among the writers we have in
championed. Artistically, however, it is the same
mind are Gerhart Hanptmann, Arthur Sehnitzler, Hermann
Sudermann, as“ romantie-realist“ as ever, reconciling all
Sudermann, and Max Halbe. Of these it will not be
the psychological improbabilities in which his plays abound
necessary to discuss the first beyond saying, as was argued
by the same extraordinary gift for situation, for exciting
at length in the article,“ The Later Hauptmann, which
dialogue, just respectably short of vulgar melodrama, the
appeared in Tur ArHENzus for July 2nd last, that those
same unparalleled sense of the theatre—in short, the same
works of his which have been published during or subsequent
sure dramatie craftsmanship and flair for“ what the public
tothe war are an intensification of that trend in the direction
wants.“
of mysticism and poetry which certain of his writings
In Hortense Ruland,“ as in Halbe’s earlier plays, the
before August, 1914, already sufficiently indicated. But the
romantic and the melodramatie predominate. Hortense is
other three, showing, if possible, even less change, less
a passionate, mysterious creature, married to a man, an
development, are equally worth studying. Any consideration
archivist and historian, with no eyes for anything beyond
of the German stage to-day would of necessity begin—or end,
his books. He, therefore, is completely blind to his wife's
according to one's bias—with a discussion of their most
various intrigues, in the course of which she betrays herseif
recently written or most recently produced plays, the titles
into the magic power of a sinister figure, the Judge Sirius.
of which are given at the head of this review.
From this she can finally escape only by means of the poison
The English reader or theatre-goer knows of Arthur
given her by the wise man Nüchterlin. The mingling of
Schnitzler—of Schnitzler the dramatist, that is—chiefly as
realism, even comie realism, as in the characterization of the
the writer of" Anatol,“ admirably adapted by Mr. Granville
ridiculous pedant, Ruland, with the terror and wonder
Barker, or of“ Liebelei,?' widely known, at least to the
associated with most of the remaining characters, is dis¬
American publie, under the title of“ Playing with Love.“
concerting when one considers the play as a whole. But the
And, of course, both works are entirely representative. They
purely“ magical’ scenes have a reinärkably uncanny atmos¬
do not know so well that Schnitzler with a taste for“ local'
phere about them, the vague suggestion of supernatural evi!
satire, the writer of“ Professor Bernhardi.'' The comedy
is well convered. Max Halbe, not quite so definitely and
or, more strietig, farce of Viennese newspaper life." Flink
confidently as Sudermann and Schnitzler, but still quite
und Fliederbusch,’ will therefore seem less familiar. It
may be also less comprehensible, for the finer points of this
unmistakably, pursues the path along which his earlier
play, which was written during the war, will be perceived
successes were achieved.
only by him who has some acquaintance with the peculiar
conditions of journalism in Vienna before the November
Revolution. The foundation of the plot is the writing of one
man ior two rival political journals, and the complications
Books in Brief.
which ensue. At this date, apart from the brilliance of its
dialogue, it might almost be called a historical document.
The Pageant of Parliament. By MicuaEf. MacDoyacn.
But as long as remembrance of political intrigue and news¬
Two vols. (Unwin. 368. net.)
paper rivalry—here thinly disgnised—remains fresh, so lonz
Ma. MacDovaen’s thirty-five years’ experience of Parlia¬
will this play be read or seen with appreciation.
ment has not wearied or disillusioned him. He is the
There is more permanence in Schnitzler’s second play.
constant one who finds in his beloved all the virtues he
The farcical material of“ Flink und Fliederbusch“ is very
desires to be there. Parliamentary govermment is not a
eleverly handled, but the interest is liable to evaporate in
means to an end; it is the magnificent end itself. No matter
the course of time. Casanova in Spa,'' on the other hand,
what social system may replace the present one, Mr.
is just as elever; there is a brilliant handling of situation:
MacDonagh cannot vision one in which our Parliamentary
the blank verse is a model of lightness—at least for