Faksimile

Text

Neie Ed tion oj the Classte Poets—Uhe Best Thut 1927
Can Do—Obscurities and Vacnities—Songs of a
1
Miner—Amende t0 Martin Luwrence
AM pained with Messrs. Rontledge.
tien which one finds in thie work of ihe great
When some years ago they took to print¬
Renaissance geldsmiths, such as Cellini, à sort
ing their bocks really well, they did it
of polished brilliance amounting almost to in¬
∆ with a will, and Lthere is more joy over
solence.ria da Capo“ is oue ofthe most
one sinnner,? etc. But now ther send mie Pro¬
perfect things of its kind iht 1 have rend.
fessor Robertson’s interesting little beck onl
Frem Mies Millag's poctic dramn I pass hy
Gocthe (6s. net), with äll the pages jumbled up
nateral transition to some of the new pectry
and those bearing on“ Faust' and “ Hermann
fhich is ihe dietinctive sign, not, as traditien
und Dorothea'’ completely missing. Oh, Ront¬
wonld have it, of Spring, but of Autumn, when
ledge, Routledge, you of all peeple! Gocthe
publishers publish and poets do not draw
royalties.
combined in himself the best qualities of the
classic and the romantie type ol mind. lieicck
the embryo German literature and imposed upon
it an acute sense of form, and that in itscl was
a worthy contribution. As a poet-dramatist he
will never rank as high as ihe Shakespenre
whom he so loved and revered. As a phiiloso¬
pher, he is beaten by many of his own fellow¬
countrymen; but taking him all round he consti¬
tutes a very signilicant ßgure, not only in Ger¬
man but in world literature. Professor Robert¬
son's book cannot do otherwise than make bis
signilicance clearer to English readers.
*
Gocthe, as poct-dramatist, natur¬
Three ally turns my theughis to poetry
New Plays and drama. This weck has
scen the publication of new
plays by ihrec of the most important modern
dramatists, namely,“ Professor Bernhardi,?’ by
BURRANTS Paess CurTines,
Arthur Schnitzier (Faber and Gwyer, 6s.),
* The. Macropulos Secret,? b Kare! Cupek
St. Andrew’s House, 32 to 34 Holborn Viaduct,
(Robert Holden, 5s.), and Marco Millions, “
by Eugene O’Neill (Cape, 5s.). Each of them
and 3 St. Andrew Street, Holborn Circus, E.C.1.
approaches perfection in the technicalities of
TELEPHONE: CITV 4963.
the dramatist’s craft, although their treatment
is widely different. And ench of them gives one
furiously to think.
Catholic Times
Schnitzler’s play deals with pre-war Austria.
8 Bouverie Street, E.C.4.
Dr. Bernbardi, the principal of a hospital and
medical school, declines to admit a priest to the
bedside of a dring patient, who, owing to the
Cutting from issue dated.192
condition known to medieine as Euphoria, ferls
perfectly well and conlidently anticipates getting
up and going home in a few hours. The fact
that he is a Jew causes the Clerical Party in
Parliament to get up on its hind legs, and his
Ibsen has been called“ Tlit, Schnitzler of
case becomes a matter of political discussion.
the North,'’ perhaps in a somewhat deroga¬
We#are shown the reactions of his colleagucs
tory spirit. But the association is in a sense
and friends, and we are asked to put to our¬
a tribute to one of the most subtle psycho¬
selves tiie question: Was he riglut? That is
logists and onc of the greatest stylists writ¬
all.
ing in the German language to-day. To a
Capek handles the same theme as Bernard
merciless gift of analysing character, of prob¬
Shaw in" Back to Methusslah,? but in a dif¬
ing painfully into the most delicate thoughts
ferent manner and from an altegether dilferent
and emotions, Schnitzler allies a temper that
point of view.The Macropulos Seeret'' is
is full of tenderness and pity for human
that of the “elixir of life,? and Elina Macropu¬
frailty and suffering, and a philosophy of
los, to whom it ges administered in 1537, still
life which is curiously akin in some respects
survives in 1927. In the threc centuries that
to that of Shaw. In the present comedy,
intervened she has had many lovers and many
which has been played all over the Continent,
adrentures, and she lins found out thatrevery¬
under severe censorship restrictions, under¬
thing abeut lite is most profoundly and utterly
standably enough, in Germany and Austria,
boring, and that one of the reasons whr we
some of his qualities are seen almost at their
tind life so amusing and interesting is that our
best. Essentially it is a political and re¬
ration of it is so small. A depressing play, but
ligious satire, but it introduces a subtie philo¬
a brilliant piecc of work.
sophical thesis which is pursued through the
O’Neill shors us Marco Polo, the Venetian
minds of a variety of characters with remark¬
explorer, as an American Babbitt, in no wise
able effect. Throughout the play is provoca¬
Impressed by the wonders of Cathay but think¬
tive both of thought and amusement, and it
ing oniy how he can turn them to account for
may be hoped that it will soon receive itsg#
the benefit of bis bank balance. A very bril¬
üirst production on the British stage.
liant performance and very amusing—in fact,
one ofthe finest pieces of satire that it has been
iny good fortune to read for many moons.
*
I pass now to a book which forms
Poetry and tiie connecting link beiween the
Drama two main parts of my article this
weck. Those ol us who have fol¬
lowed the Sacco-Vanzetti affair will be familiar
with the uame ei Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Three plays by her have just been published in
England by Messrs. Jonathan Cape, at 58. 1 find
it very difficult adequatehe to express mny ad¬
miration for them. There is about them that.
completeness and balance of form und proper¬