The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-11-06

p 1ady of my acquaintance once made after
x having read q book OF considerable pre-
tentions 10 profundity lone OF the new
breed OF absgruse maunderings upon
commonplace theme that have harried
plain msn and women these latter years.
My said my elderly friend, " don't he
dig deepl" The remark, and the honest
look Of entire mystihcation that accom-
panied il, often recur 20 my memory, and
the homely but expressive phrase some
how springs TO my lips often and often
as l read the strained attempts
1t very, very deep writing we are
t plagued with nowadays. lbsen, for ex-
ample, never could a-bear, nor under
stand--if there isany such thing as under
standing him. l suspect am not OF the
very advanced fin do steele breed hat
probe ana search and yearn for that which
cannot be grasped but only appreciated
\ by prctense and the violent exercise OF
Imagination. Out OF Ibsenism has sprung
group of impressioniss dramatists--so
their friends call them. Oscar Wide as
one OF them, the most prominent a.
vet. Among them is the new SYM
bolist, Maeterlinck, whose latest
drama has been brought out
IN this country by T. Y. Crowell Co.,
translated by EgviDg Winslow, in most
daintiiy printed and bound volume. IL -
"Pelleas and Melisande,' drama in hVe
acts Its literary merits are of that order
Of exquisiteness that almost leads one to
overlook the essential lack OF that which
only Justly gives literary merit iustihca-
tion. A prince following a boar into the
forest loses bis way and comes upon
glade where there is ga young girl weep
ing by the spring."
DO mot fear :. will oh, how eautifu
vou are
eump into the waterl
But she did not jump into the
water; she married the prince,
after misty interval, aud went home
with him to the castle where his grand
father was living, and where his
mother and brother were. The brother
made the troHble-he fell in love with the
beauteous one who had hesitated between
the d0pths OF the spring in the glade and
the prince, and had chosen the prince.
The beauteous one also loved the brother.
The dainty drama pictures it all-the
gradual approach, the gazing over the
precipice, the dizzy swaying on
the edge, the reused prince, the
furious vengeance, the weak regret, the
Imagine unless TO emphasize anew The ex-
treme sinfunoss of sin. 1t is weird, fine
o. to execution, the work OF genius. 1t
lmpresses the healthy mind, which is not
concerned to analyze a very subtle express
sion of a very subtle literary cult, some
what es n naturalist's fine exposition OF
the delicate system of repulsive reptile
lmpresses one who has no elthusi iasm FOR
she structure but a shudderi ng repug-
nance for the Shiny touch. One ought, TO
be sure, to be able TO regard work
Of this sort through the atmos-
phcre OF symbolism. Such as can
concern themselves with literary
methods, moods, expressions, rather than
with literature may thus look upon 1t.
4 am not able to, and am conscious that
many will consider such disability in the
Iight OF distinct deprivation. Litera-
ture has never appealed 10 me except in
y tho light of its performance. However
fine i'm form a knife, for example, may
be - however elegantly fashioned and
highly polished-if it be not OF tempered
steel and able to cut its way / see 10 use
for it. Maeterlinck Is, however, vogue
1t present--a thin pale vogue, but yet
vogue. Some have ventursd TO COM
pare him with Shakespeare. and
Of estimating and placing him with an
evident desire to probe and expose him,
with gravity scarcely equaled by his own
estimate of his theory and practice OF
symbolism. MIR. Winslow allows the
Belgian poet to say his own say, in the
\ Introduction, regarding his own work:
By a closer illustration images are like the
growing strata OF "A coral formation upon
which the island Of symbolism grows-up. An
lmace may draw thought away from its chan
nel. IL this image Is true and endowed
with organic life 1t obeys the laws
Of the universe better than my
Thought, and Therefore / am convinced
thas 1t win almost always right rather than my
abstract ideas. III listen, the universe and
She eternal order OF things take up my theme,
and without vDlition am drawn out Of my
pell: IL resist, II MIGHT almost be said am
6ghting against God"