New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-07-19
TWO DROMIOS.
THE BELGIAN OF 1T AND THE AMERI
CAN OF IT

THE Massacre Or THE INNo r,, 81 and n,
Edith Wingate Kinder Octave. PIP. Ali. 292. Chi
cago: Stone d. kimball.
THE PUPPET- BOOTH TWELVE PLAYS; Ply
Henry Is. Fuller. Octave, PIP. ~ New ork
The Century Company
The conversation is easily imaginabl" that might
take place between the author OF the Pippct-
Booth and any of the writer's from Maeter-
linck Hubert Krains. in ""rhc Massacre OF tho
Innocents and Other Tales Suppose they were
to meet before the Literary Tribunal Would it not
run follows?
IL sir am Dromo. command him away"
II. sir. am Dromio; pray let ne stay.
Well IL is not plain that either Syracuse or
Ephcsus should stay. that either Chicago or Bel
GUM should be accepted ut its own valuation We
would he glad to some merit If We could on
either side; but with the best will In he world TIE
dccadent Dromio is only be regarded Dro-
mio only as a person attempting by jugg.ery OF
words to make an effect that ne could not. to save
him make through the movement of sheer intel
lectual force.
There is 10 intellectual power I'm the little vel
ume which Miss Kinder has translated. Incre is,
instead that sort of picturcsqueness wn IN can be
achieved by any skilful thrower Of ink who Gets
before him Il sheet OF blotting paper. and. by frt-
ing the pen here and there secures cert1in num-
Der Of fantastic heads and shadows. The spots and
curves the odd lines swell whilc you watch the
bloting paper the ink is absorbed into the soft
fibre it spreads mysticay, and, like the smoke
that rises from the fire. it makes often stronse hs-
ures. One has only to use little fancy to Fl dow
these ink bIots with forms and even ideas his Is
what II seems to Miss Rinder's BelyIn have
been doing This is also what Mr.. Fuller / as been
doing in The Puppet- Booth" lie has rangnt the
trick from NJ Maeterlinck That solemn jester has
used Il to the confusion of many people on both
sides of the Atlantic Ocean and there are proh IDLY
ho Mr
thought about him, without the satire But be-
cause NJ Maeterlinck is taken seriously. bee ldse
Mr.. Fuller has taken him seriously. does not seem
to us any reason why we should take either OF
them in the same vein. Yet stay We are forget
ting the attitudes of the Dromios. 1t Is unlikely
that Mr. Fuller would admit that he had borrowed
anything from NJ. Maeterinck or from any other
Belgian.
a. sir. am Dromio: command him away
Il, sir am Dromio; pray let me stay
Miss Kinder informs US IN preface to her vol
ume of TRANSACTIONS that the titular story by NJ.
Maeterinck The Massacre of the Innocents, Is so
little known that even the most enthusiastic adj
mirers of the author need not be surprised that
they have never heard of it," Our own surprise is
that should have heard of 1t at all, for
why II should have been printed-si more, why It
should ever have been wITuen-s one OF those
mysteries which not the most careful student
OF decadent literature can dream of solving The
story has point nor has II any of that fan
tastical atmosphere which has sometimes served TO
family excuse the production of NJ. Maeterlincks
invariably pointless fables. Throughout this col
lection the same judgment il invited. Miss Rinder
has a profound respect. apparently. for men like
Georges Eekhoud like Lemonnier and Eugene De-
molder but there Is nothing in their work. as here
presented which can explain her enthusiasm. The
trouble with these writer's is that they have moth
Ing of interest TO tell and they beat their
brains to devise some picture or situation which
r.ictfr
esqueness OF color and form. 1t is a trick and
nothing more Maeterlinck at his best is not
writer whose effects spring from deep imaginative
power He fabricates them. and then iatters him
self that he impose upon the reader by that
fantastical atmosphere to which We have referred.
His most familiar productions. "LAveugle' and
"L'Intruse" around which there has ragged con-
siderable battle between the people who like OBJ
SECURITY and pretence and the people who don't,
arc TO the latter students. when they can keep
their temper scarcely worth speaking about. 1t Is
not so much the touch Of morbid feeling in Maeter-
linck that ofrends them It Is his chdishness.
his utter failure TO say thing which can touch
the Imagination. He nmbles on from one &c
centric situation TO another through dialogue that
scarcely deserves the name, and. then If he can
only bring up against corpse or crime, he
thinks that the reader Will surely feel the chill
breath Of tragedy At the OF the matter
Maeterlinck has about as much tragedy In him
Lewis Carroll Messrs. Gilbert and Sullivan.
This man. and the whole Belgian clique. would
seem to have been at the bottom OF Mr.. Fullers
ambition to write a volume of spasmodic stories.
THE Cure of Souls" the first play in his book.
begins In the approved Maeterlinckan fashion; "A
pool the heart of the primeval forest; close be-
side II a human habitation. half lodge. half
chapel The pool IL fed by a small stream. which.
rising high above forms Il waterfall over a ledge OF
rock and Is emptied by means of a larger stream
living many feet below Close to the edge OF the
nool n flock Of lambs are grazing and two or three
swans" Behold. there are the swans. the newt
able swans OF the decadent. IL seems great pity
that Mr. Fuller could not have avoided this expedi-
en, Could he find naught else in the West.
and above al in Chicago where the Stock va
Rut tbis is a trIfe Let go OF Mr..
Fullers paren,hescs. They all nice but per-
haps the best Is this: "tPas de Deux.-Through the
floor rise Ruination and Damnation "a man among
women) deckcd I'm desperate convouions or red.
blacl, and yellow and swirl and swing and swoon
before IA shifting array OF irnps and devils. \
fierce light beats upon their gyrations, but the
throne behind them still remains In shadow
There is "A sinner In the cast OF this play, and the
sinner asks referring to the object upon which the
eerce light does not beat: who sits upon that
throney' The sinner Is answered by "A certain
woman worldly Wise" who says: You shall
know I'm good time" 1t Is interesting to learn that
aome one will know something In good time. II Is
comforting to know that Mr. Fuller Will illuminate
b,s reader for II requires courage TO continue.
inter the swirling and swinging and swooning OF
HIS beautiful Runaton and Damnation, going
about I'm desperate convolutions OF red and black
and yellow Mr. Fuller's convolutions are very red
and black and yellow. ana very very desperate
Why In the world he over INDUCED IN them Is pe-
yond comprehension. We surmise that u was ho'h-
ing more nor less than some such feeling as arose
between Syracuse and Ephesus In the old days:
II, sir. am Dronao; command him away"
Il or. an Drondo; pray ist me stay.