The San Francisco call., 1895-11-17
HERR NORDAU'S new BOOK.

DR.. Max Nordau, whose amazing book,
Degeneration, gave us such nine days
catching of the breath in the early part OF
this year, has recently put forth a drama
which, under the title of 1.-THE Right to
Love-" is published in this country, in
translation, by F. Tennyson Neely. In
place of preface DR.. Nordau has a dedi-
catory letter to Her Excellency Madame
Won Nordau of Moscow" in which he has
this characteristic fling at the critics, be-
fore whom he habitually poses: The
Right to Love-" lie tells her, ,"has met with
favorable reception on every German
stage upon which it has been produced.
Prominent and weighty period
leals have praised it with little reservation
and without stint. Yet a few contempt
ible mortals who (by their own confession)
wished to avenge themselves on the author
of Degeneration, have made the greatest
efforts to stif1e it under falsehoods, cal
umny and vulgarity. l know that a sem
sible man ought to have nothing to do
with such persons. Yet l was on the
eve of succumbing to the temptation OF
dealing with these worthless folks in a
preface to the edition of my drama in
book form.
''The thought that the play is to be dedi-
Gated to you came to the aid of my reason,
and strengthened 1t for the conquest of
temper.
"For the sake of your name l have ex-
ercised self-control and avoided rashness
in which / should have surrendered too
much of my dignity"
Nothing could be more naively Nordau-
esque than this frank lash at his critics
over the fair shoulders of Her Excellency
Madame Nordau of Moscow" One cannot
congratulate the worthy doctor too warmly
upon the gallant recovery of his imperiled
dignity, but a suggestion will intrude
itself as to what the lady of his dedication
possibly thought of his agile performance
in thus lashlng the foe over her shoulders.
This notion of conspiracy of the critics
against him is a favorite one of Nordau's
In Degeneration" he anticipates it with
a prom ptness which would almost lay him
under the suspicion of being himself a
degenerate, when he speaks of 'critics
who have tried, to intimidate him into
speechlessness." 1t is fortunate for the
large class of readers who are able to take
the worthy doctors famous diatribe with
a philosophy which he failed to instill into
it, that this fell design of the critics was
frustrated. Else we had missed a dose
which was in the main wholesome, al
though by no means iustifying It's authors
claim for it. that it was scientific"
line hlSQC 10 Love Is urdInd III IOur
acts. Nine. Bertha Wahrmund is the
wife of German merchant, to whom she
was married as mere child by a widowed
mother with small income, and only
too glad to have her daughter provided
for. The pair had been married eight
years and have two children. Nine. Ber-
tina is touched" with the new ideas of
greater freedom for women. A Nine.
Burkhard, an artist, is introduced, who
f1aunts her lover openly in the eyes of the
world, and discourses eloquently on the
right of the human heart to love-i. e.. the
right of the human heart to follow its own
even when they take it into
forbidden paths. This is a dangerous
doctrine to preach to restless woman
who does not love her husband. A friend
of the family, Herr Otto Bordenholm, is in
love with Madame and wins her heart. She
long against the wiles of the
tempter. Although she does not love
her husband, she loves truth and
detests falsehood, and she will not
deceive Wahrmund. But the husband
is dogmatic and prosaic, somewhat
stern and critical. The lover is ever pres
ent and importunate, and at last she yields
and becomes the victim of remorse and