The San Francisco call., 1897-02-07


recent Though he was born in 1857 he did
not begin writing until his mind had been
matnred by years OF study, well as by the
oisclpllne OF life. HIS parents were poor ana
his school days were interrupted by the ne
cessity for earning money. Like Henrik losen,
he was apprenuced to chemist and passed
some weary and heartsick years in an uncon-
genial employment. 1t would be interesting
TO know how much of the strong bent both
these men have toward "indiyidualism" was
the result of having had TO conform TO some
thing so utterly distasteful and protitess, and
the realization both must have that only after
they broke away from this and followed the
lead of their own temperaments did success
come to them.
Sudermann, after few years, went to Ber-
lin and gained position as tutor. and this en-
sa bled him TO carry on his own studies. We
LIre informed that after six years spent study
x ing "history, literature, philosophy and the
n modern languages" he turned his attention to
journalism. What en- equipment for pro-
fession, whose members more often, like Topsy,
''iust growed.' 1t recalls Eugene Fields re-
ply to q question asked him just after his re-
turn from abroad as to what he had found TO
be the greatest difference between writers in
the Old World and the New. Mr.. Field said
that what struck him particularly was the
amount of training men had over there. A thor
ough knowledge OF the classics and the mod
ern literature of all countries gave them the
perfection of form, the mastery of style which
our writers so often lack. Yet, on the other
hand, our men were apt to have greater fresh
ness and originality of expression. We may
stretch this consola ton further by recollect-
ing that part of Pierre Lofts marvellous charm
and vividness is ascribed to his having been
such small reader. He takes his impressions
of life and nature at first hand, and the result
is singularly unhackneyed.
Sudermann, however, has not only pro-
found insight, but also a mastery over mere
technique which nothing but years OF train
ing will give. He is & free lance and holds
with particular school; part of his work is
romantic and part harshly realistic in treat
.ment. For examples, contrast his Dame
Care" with 'The WISH The former is an ex-
quisitely written story. The atmosphere of
the book is the mystic haze of romance rather
than the sharp light OF realism. The picture
OF the hero, Paul, through the care-burdened
years OF his childhood, boyhood, young man
hood; OF his love for his mother and his de-
sire to shield her from the effects of the selfish
ness and incompetence of the domineering
father, is drawn with so tender and sympa-
thetic touch that one iancies it memory
out of Sudermann's own life. We see his hero
followed always by that gray, shadowy figure
of Dame Care" who had presided at his
birth. In spite of his toll, his selt-denial, his
faithfulness, we see his desires frustrated, his
hopes brought to naught until the final re-
lease comes in the love of the beautiful girl
toward whom, N his hopelessness, he had so
long C iosed his heart and who at last brings
into his LIE the light of JOY before which all
shadows vanish. The whole is an idyl, sort
OF prose poem.
"The WISH" on the other hand, is a terribly
realistic study of the influence upon character
of q single evil wish unuttered and Enacted
upon. The treatment is psychological. The
story opens with the closing act OF the tragedy,
and later the author goes back and traces all
the influences which led TO the final catastro-
phe. Considering the theme the story is re-
narkably free from morbidness. In fact Sud-
ermann never, like the French realists, dwells
overmuch upon sickening detail. Neither is
he like that traditional Frenchman who had
little to say, but said that little long. He is
essentially dramatic. The turn OF phrase
indicates a character, an exclamation shows
Us situation. So that it is a dramatist that
Sudermapn is al his best, and in the ethics of
his dramatic work il is easy to trace the infiu-
ence of Ibsen.
II was during Sudermann's boyhood that the
Norwegian playwright left his native land !;
and shook, as he said, the dust of that coun-
try forever from his feet. A voluntary exile
he took refuge first in Italy, where he wrote
his three great poetical dramas-"Brand,"
peer Gynt" and Emperor and Galilean,"
y
ever since remained. There, by means of his
. pure dramas, he has carried on an unfaltering
crusade against social and political evils. All
young Germany became fred with the re-
dictionary spirit. ''The divine right OF indi-
viduahty,' the freedom of personality" were
the warcries. The conflict was between the
older generation and the younger. The older
stood fer the established order. the respect for
tradition, the enforcem ent of parental author
ity. The younger contended for liberty, for
the right OF self-expression. 1t is this con-
hict which Sudermann has portrayed in This
"Heimat," and which has been rendered into
English under the name of "Magda."
1t seems singular that the German title,
which is so significant, was not retained
This, however, was not Sudermann's first
dramatic work. His f'Honor," published q
few years earlier, made him a famous man.
He was as much talked about as Ibsen him
self, and his work became the bject of many
discussions. 1t is scathfng satire on the false
estsndards of the day, on the istocratic sense
OF honor, which the author contrasts with the
plebeisn sense of duty. This work still re-
mains Sudermann's greatest success, but It is
less familiar to American audiences than his
"Magda," which has frequently been given in
this country. The latter is a favorite part
with Modjeska. with Bernhard and with the
Italian, Duse. Honor was followed by 1.-The
Destruction of Sodom," another satirical
drama, still more pronounced in tone. 1t was
SO plain-spoken that 1t was expurgated by the
Berlin censorship, and has never to my knowl.
edge, been staged for an English-speaking
audience. In this Sudermann lashes the fol-
lies and vices of fashionable life
The strength of "Magda" seems to me to lie
in i IS moderation. We are shown both sides
of the question. Our sympathy is not all for
Magda even in her first triumphant assertion
of her own individuality; nor all for the
father in his honest clinging to the old ways.
We feel poignantly that he and the ideas he
represents are not all in the wrong; nor is
Magda and this new gospel of freedom wholly
IN the right. A strong appeal is made on both
sides. Our sympathy shifts from one to the
other of these terrible contending forces As
we watch the individuals we are conscious, SO
great is the drama, of mighty questions al
'stake-not merely of one passionate daughter
and one domineering father, but of the un-
ending struggle between the old and the new.
The opening act, with its picture of sitting
provincial atmosphere, all commonplace mar:
rowness ana cant, induces our sympathy for
Magdas rebellion.
4 II is probably only in reading the drama
that we realize how great is Sudermann's skill
4 in portraying with so few touches the envi
ronment which Magda has broken away from
Good acting makes any situation expressive
but in dispassionate reading we discover the
strength or the weakness of the dramatist, and
this test SudeTmann stands triumphanty
Msgda's father, the old colonel, speaks of the
"good old patria rchal order" He scor ms mod