The Awakening of Spring Part 33

MORITZ.

Don't blame me for seeking to kill you, Melchior. It was old attachment. All my life I shall only be able to complain and lament that I cannot accompany you once more.

THE MASKED MAN.

At the end everyone has his part----You the consoling consciousness of having nothing----you an enervating doubt of everything.-- Farewell.

MELCHIOR.

Farewell, Moritz. Take my heartfelt thanks for appearing before me again. How many former bright days have we lived together during the fourteen years! I promise you, Moritz, come what may, whether during the coming years I become ten times another, whether I prosper or fail, I shall never forget you----

MORITZ.

Thanks, thanks, dear friend.

MELCHIOR.

----and when at last I am an old man with gray hair, then, perhaps, you will again stand closer to me than all those living about me.

MORITZ.

I thank you. Good luck to your journey, gentlemen. Do not delay any longer.

THE MASKED MAN.

Come, child! (_He lays his arm upon that of Melchior and disappears with him over the graves._)

MORITZ.

(_Alone._)

Now I sit here with my head under my arm.----The moon covers her face, unveils herself again and seems not a hair the cleverer.----I will go back to my place, right my cross, which that madcap trampled down so inconsiderately, and when everything is in order I will lie down on my back again, warm myself in the corruption and smile.

FROM A LENGTHY ESSAY IN "THE FRANKFURTER ZEITUNG."

Wedekind's dramas are reminiscent of the pre-Shakespearian stage. But often enough one may recall Shakespeare himself.----But we do not wish to fall into the error of that unstable enthusiasm which always makes comparison with the very greatest when only something remarkable is in question. The aim of these lines is not to hail Wedekind as the Messiah of the drama, nor as the John of a coming Messiah. For all I care, he might be the devil himself. Only one thing is certain: he is a power without his like among us, and where such a power has worked once it produces after results. Power releases power. With this drink in their bodies the public will not long continue to support either lyrical lemonade on the stage nor the dregs of dramatic penury.

This poet, this artist is at the same time a knower of life. One cannot be mistaken! This is no joke. Behind all this swarm of jumping, dancing, tumbling, contending, inflamed, agitated discourse; behind all this pus.h.i.+ng, roaring, foaming, gargling, flood of action, stands intuition of the world, stands the sense of life, as made manifest in the thoughts of Wedekind. It is no tearer, no eradicator, no falterer, who in this frightfully beautiful bustle of pa.s.sion and inevitableness has given a picture of his own dissoluteness. He is a poet-animal trainer, who knows and rules his beasts. A man--if you please.

LIST IN BELLES-LETTRES

_Published by_ BROWN BROTHERS LAFAYETTE BUILDING, PHILADELPHIA

THE AWAKENING OF SPRING. By Frank Wedekind. A tragedy of childhood, dealing with the s.e.x question in its relations.h.i.+p to the education of children. A new edition just out. Cloth, gilt top, deckle edge, $1.25 net. By mail, $1.35. "Here is a play which on its production caused a sensation in Germany, and can without exaggeration be described as remarkable. These studies of adolescence are as impressive as they are unique."--_The Athenaeum, London._

THE CREDITOR. By August Strindberg. Translated from the Swedish by Francis J. Ziegler. A psychological study of the divorce question by the greatest living Scandinavian dramatist. Cloth, $1.00 net; postage, 8 cents. "Fordringsagare" was produced for the first time in 1889, when it was given at Copenhagen as a subst.i.tute for "Froken Julie," the performance of which was forbidden by the censor. Four years later Berlin audiences made its acquaintance, since when it has remained the most popular of Strindberg's plays in Germany.

A DILEMMA. By Leonidas Andreiyeff. Translated from the Russian by John Cournos. Cloth, 75 cents net; postage, 7 cents. A remarkable a.n.a.lysis of mental subtleties as experienced by a man who is uncertain as to whether or not he is insane. A story that is Poe-like in its intensity and full of grim humor. "One of the most interesting literary studies of crime since Dostoieffsky's Crime and Punishment."--_Chicago Evening Post._

DISCORDS. A volume of poems by Donald Evans. With the publication of this volume must end the oft-repeated complaint that real English poetry is no longer being written. These poems have no sermon to preach, no evils to arraign, no new scheme of things to propound.

They are poems written in the sincere joy of artistic creation, and they possess a compelling music and an abiding beauty. This poet, who is singing only for the pleasure of singing, in his sixty or more poems that make up the volume, offers vivid glimpses of the stress and strain of modern life. He thinks frankly, and his utterances are full of free sweep and a pa.s.sionate intensity. Dark green boards, $1.00 net; postage, 8 cents.

SWANWHITE. By August Strindberg. A Fairy Drama, translated by Francis J. Ziegler. Printed on deckle edge paper and attractively bound in cloth, $1.00 net; postage, 8 cents. "A poetic idyl, which is charming in its sweet purity, delightful in its optimism, elusive in its complete symbolism, but wholesome in its message that pure love can conquer evil. So out of the cold North, out of the mouth of the world's most terrible misogynist, comes a strange message--one which is as sweet as it is unexpected. And August Strindberg, the enemy of love, sings that pure love is all powerful and all-conquering."-- _Springfield, Ma.s.s., Republican._

THE WOMAN AND THE FIDDLER. A play in three acts by Arne Norrevang.

Translated from the Norwegian by Mrs. Herman Sandby. Cloth, uncut edges, $1.00 net. By mail, $1.08. This play is based upon one of the legends of the fiddlers who used to go about from valley to valley, playing for the peasants at their festivities.

FOR A NIGHT. A novelette by Emile Zola. Translated from the French by Alison M. Lederer. $1.00 net. Postage, 10 cents. The imaginative realism, the poetic psychology, of this story of the abnormal Therese who kills her lover; of the simple minded Julien who becomes an accessory after the fact for love of her, and finally "let himself fall" into the river, having first dropped the body of Colombel over, are gripping and intense. The masochism at the basis of the love of Therese and Colombel, resulting in the murder, is depicted with wonderful art and yet without any coa.r.s.eness. The author does not moralize, but with relentless pen delineates that madness of Therese sown in her soul from birth--a madness which her convent training rather enhances than abrogates. The book contains two other typical Zola stories: "The Maid of the Dawber" and "Complements"--two delightful, crisp bits of literature.

FRoKEN JULIE (COUNTESS JULIA). A Naturalistic Tragedy, by August Strindberg. Cloth, $1.00 net; by mail, $1.08. _Says Mr. James Huneker_; It is an emotional bombsh.e.l.l. The social world seems topsy-turvied after a first reading. After a second, while the gripping power does not relax, one realizes the writers deep, almost abysmal knowledge of human nature.... Pa.s.sion there is, and a horrible atmosphere of reality. Everything is brought about naturally, inevitably. Be it understood, Strindberg is never p.o.r.nographic, nor does he show a naked soul merely to afford a charming diversion, which is the practice of some French dramatists.

That kitchen--fancy a kitchen as a battlefield of souls!--with its good-hearted and pious cook, the impudent scoundrel of a valet eager for revenge on his superiors, and the hallucinated girl from above stairs--it is a tiny epic of hatred, of cla.s.s against ma.s.s.

THE LIVING CORPSE (ZHIVOI TRUP). A Drama in six Acts and twelve Tableaux, by Count Leo N. Tolstoi. Cloth, $1.00 net; by mail, $1.08.

There is no question as to the tremendous power and simple impressiveness of this posthumous work, which is the literary sensation of the day not alone in Russia, but throughout Europe. As a protest against certain marriage and divorce laws, the absurdity of which is portrayed with a satiric pen, "The Living Corpse" is a most effective doc.u.ment.

SUCH IS LIFE. A Play in five Acts, by Frank Wedekind, Author of "The Awakening of Spring," etc. Cloth, gilt top, raw edge, Net, $1.25, by Mail, $1.34. Whatever Wedekind's theme may be, it is always sure to be treated in a strikingly original fas.h.i.+on. In "_Such is Life_" it is _Regality and Kings.h.i.+p_. Though the _locale_ is mediaeval Italy, the scene might as well have been laid at the present day, but this was, perhaps, too dangerous. While satire runs as an undercurrent throughout, the play is primarily one of tense dramatic situations and a clearly outlined plot, full of color and action. Portions of the play are written in verse--verse that runs with almost Elizabethan fire and impetuosity.

MODERN AUTHORS' SERIES:

Under this t.i.tle appear from time to time short stories and dramas, chiefly translations from the works of modern European authors, each containing from 32 to 64 pages. Printed in large, clear type and tastefully bound in gray boards with paper label. Each, 25 cents net; by mail, 29 cents. Now ready:

SILENCE. From the Russian of Leonidas Andreiyeff. Second edition. An unusual short story that reads like a poem in prose by the leading exponent of the new Russian school of novelists.

MOTHERLOVE. From the Swedish of August Strindberg. An example of Strindberg's power as a.n.a.lyst of human nature.

A RED FLOWER. By Vsevolod Gars.h.i.+n. A powerful short story by one of Russia's popular authors, unknown as yet to the English-speaking public.

THE GRISLEY SUITOR. From the German of Frank Wedekind. An excellent story of the De-Maupa.s.sant type.

RABBI EZRA AND THE VICTIM. By Frank Wedekind. Two sketches characteristic of the pen of this noted German author.

FOOTNOTES