The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-05-20
NIGHTLY INTERESTING BOOKS.
What May lie Called Novelties That
May Not BE Overlooked IL You WonId
Keep la the swim Of Up-to-Date
Literature

| Literature.
II Henrik Ibsen's new play, John
| Gabriel Borkman, " (Stono * kimball,
| publishers, for sale by Preston * Rounds,
| price 81. 80 )weres sactually pat on the stage
| and for an American audience we are IN =
| clined 10 believe that the audience wonla
! esteem II an intOlerable bore fer three acts
! ana would he moved 90 mifthfulness by
/ one act--that's the third. Here II a cal
! low young man beloved Of his aunt by
| his mother and by fascinating widow,
each after her RESPECTIVE fnshion-the
aunt because he - the child Of her old
! lover, John Gabriel Borkman, who Tilted
/ her and married her twin sister because
/ there was more Gin IL, for him In u
worldly way; the mother beat her hus-
/ hand IL bankrupted ia name and money
| and she looks To the boy to try to retrieve
the family fortune; and by the widow
because size has made the boy fall IN lONo
with her ana she likes II. About the only
situation for actual playing purposes Is
in act III where the three women com
pete for the love and possession OF the
youth-and, Of course. he, alter the mis-
guided manner OF the average young man
of his aCc. Is ready 10 abandon the aunt
who has reared him tenderly, To throw his
mothers ideas of his mission in lie
hnck into her face and To run OFT with tho
widow and be coddled. This is all so
true 10 nature as 10 be fine comedy,
though the lines are pathetic enough. as
indeed the situation II, of course, and not
"a bit of u laughing matter in real llfe-no
more than Is the falling oil house
which eXciteS Ouo'S risibility when the
knock-ahOut comedian does 10 before our
eyes. John Gabriel BorGinan, tine title
part, IS also 50 true 10 the commonplace
SERIOUSNESS Of life as 90 strike us hunOr-
ously rather than otherwise. He has col
lapsed. prior 20 tho opening OF the play,
In the midst of tremendous financial
schemes, but i'm all the years that follow
his fall To the hour Uf his death does it
occur 20 him that ne is not some day 20
make goDd his failure and astOnish the
world with his brilliant achievements. This
is strictly human nature. Few failures.
however complete and irrevOCeble, ever
realize that their grip Is lost. That's the
pathos Of it, and that too, Is the comedy
of IT, or such, the genius Of the com
mOnplace, is this newest poetic play Of the
Ibsen. Designed to he read rather tnan
acted, "a we should suppose, 10 Ia sug
gestive and convincing ln It's ideas ana
truths. Perhaps the most impressive lines
both from poetic aud dramatic point
of view ore found In act III, where his first
loye-and, ns appears, the enduring object
Of his affection-tells John Gabriel Bork
man that I'm failing TO follow his heart
and abandoning her ho was murderer,
he committed the objectionable sin when
he struck down the lovo-lifo In n human
soul This encounter between the two is
virile and impressive, considered either
as the work II post or playwright. lt Is
a fine passage For the rest, ns we have
hintcd at. general impression from
reading this altogether quaint work, may
bo found expressed in the language of the
faithful clerk who has hung 10 Bork-
man through fortune and into misfortune
as he puts his masters case:
con, it's "A terrible tragcdy-
HOokman laughing puietly) -" But
looked mt from another point Of view, it's
really sort of comedy as we'll"
And so il everything Cn this planet
which Is why lbsen strikes such good
blows for Immortality.
The new play is published i'm the stone
& Klmball Green Tree Library of which
there are now : volumes representing
what may bc'called the new movement in
literature, writings of various countries
done in English and consistently brought
together for the first time.
When man and "a woman are in love
with each other and undertake Ia pro-
cecd with their love-making despite moral
and legal circumstances that deny them
the right and privilege, there can be but
one result and that Is expressed by tho
word trouble. There are authors OF fiction
dertakcn To solve the problem thus pre-.
sentcd without admitting the troublesome
result but while these attract "a curious
interest they probably convince nobody
and to act on their teachings in con-
crete case simply results in the inevitable
trouble just the same. Mrs. Flora Annie
Steele. who ever writes with much charm,
startles the reader of the newest book "ln
the Tideway" 10y disclosing i'm its open
ing chapter an apparent purpose to deal
with the prOblom, but rs matter OF
subsequent discovery she doesn't deal
with IL at all. she simply tells a story
ana apparently is convinced along with
the majority of folk that the problem has
been long ago settled beyond the power
of any new influence to change the answer
convincinply To society as at present
maintained throughout the civilized
world. She Is not therefore tempted To
rake over the old argument but only
pleads with reason that there IL material
for "A now story in the actual experiences
of every day knowledge though these
have been already so often handled and
i'm so very different ways,
OF course with EustaCe Gordon and
Lady Maud Wilson both married, but still
possessed of the sentiment called love as
with regard tn one another and not as
TO their respective mates, the pursuit of
their mutual desire could only result In "a
very prosaic situation through the medium
OF the divorce court But because you
know that no Author of fiction would ever
dare TO undertake To reconcile the reader TO
nm ending so offensive To sentiment, though
not 20 sense. we are sure that the relations
that develop between Lady Maud and
EustaCe must somehow be brought mp
with "a round turn before tho climax, the
Inevitable trouble, Is more than verged
on-unless indeed, we are TO be treated TO
a problem story which proves rs we have
already hintod not 10 bo tho case. just
what happens, tho book reveals. We
would not rob the other readers OF the
curiosity and interest awakened as to that
by our own ropding. We are told that
Eustnce and Lady Maud are unhappily
married for reasons other than because Of
their mutual sentiment each TO each. But
this explanation is not offered as an
apology tor the faithlcssncss of the pair
ana. of course, only TO the most superficial
of social philosophers could IL be advanced
90 serve as an explanation. We are not Inn
pressod with any feeling that Mrs Steele
even ventures To Indicate that the way or
such transgrcssors must he hard. even
though the commonplace trouble, that out.
side a book is the most likely ending, can.
gb.