The times., 1898-11-27
.Cyrnno de Bcrgerac.-

Edmond Rostand, has achieved the dis
tinction of having written the most bril-
liant play which Paris has seen in the
last generation. a translation of the
drama by Miss Gertrude Hall has lately
been published for circulation in this
country.
The natural query OF the American pub
lie. ON discovering that "Cyrano' is the
play most talked about in New York this
season. is, "Why?" Some plays have
succeeded because they suited the star:
some because they suited the com
pany; some because they caught the fan
cy of the public at the time of their first
presentation; and some because they had
an angel who was willing TO fisk an
unlimited amount of money on their pro-
duction But to the thoughtful reader
after perusal of ''Cyrano de Bergerac." 1t
is very evident that the popularity of NJ
Rostand's play is due al leas: in part to
the fact that it is great in itse,f.
The delicacy and daintiness of the work
cannot be appreciated by those scoffers
who have affected TO see in the hero only
a braeeart with a huge nose. From be-
neculiar def,ness and finish of the French
school al its best ii is alive with human
nature, and it is dramatic as only human
nature can he when presented by the
hand of a master NJ. Rostand has Sc
Iected. with an uEerring instinct, those
euisodes in his hero's life which were
suited 10 presentation on the stage, anu
the reader feels throughout that 1t Is only
a selection-that the author knows the
,l,, of q :
as he does those scenes and traits wnich
he has chosen 10 present
That is what gives the play its literary
quality drama may be ehectNe-m
fact is sometimes more effectiVe-h the
characters are not complex: if the villain
stands only for vilainy, the heroine Tor
virtue, the comic character for one par
ticuIar type of comicality. The novel, on
tie contrary. must be wrought out with
O certain subt.ety. Human nature Is never
all bad or all good; all comic or all grave.
II is the convention OF the novelist to rec
oGnize this fact; oi the dramatist 10
ignore it, That is why the psychological
drama is generally failure, and the
theatrical novel wins only ephemeral
fame. That is why some of the best
novels cannot be dramatiZed, and some
of the best plays are most dull reading.
In considerable Of this it Is all the more
remarkable that while 'Cyrano de Ber-
gerac" is excellent from "a literary point
of view it never for one instant loses its
dramatic quality. The reader Is actually
made to understand the characters. not
through their speeches so much as
through the business in Heated for the
various parts. II would be impossible to
translate "Cyrano de Be-gerac" success
fully into the form OF a novel. The reader
must continually fancy that he is in the
I'll later. and that Mansfield or some other
actor is giving the character Of Cyrano a
magnetic md sympathetic portrayal II
he does this the play is seen TO be perfect.
But il would be nearly impossible to por-
tray Cyrano in the terms Of the writer
Of fiction. and were the attempt TO be
made In nine cases out of ten the reader
would lind MN despicab.e or uninterest-
ina whereas II. Rostands hero proves
Fascinating, witty noble. and iovable.
Cyraro is. it must be said. a creation
pecu larry suited TO the genius of Mans
field. No other part since Beau Brum-
mel has afforded this actor such Oppor-
tuui;y. When one has said that one has
given Il fair idea OF the character Of the
hero. Cyrano is a whimsical poet, brave
10 fooihardiness. generous to the last de-
gree. chiyalrous in ways more suited TO
The fantastic chronicles of Arthur's time
than to any later period. He is bOmblstic.
but he does not take his bOmbast serious
ly One feels throughout the play that he
amuses himself with making eXtrava2ant
statements and watching their effect on
the less acute persons by whom he Is
surrounded He is a Gascon soldier des-
tined TO immortal comradeship with Por-
thos. AthOs, and DArtagnan. He is not a
mere braGgart. for he always makes good
his threats. He detests hypocrisy and
shams. Condemning the selfishness of the
average man. he is himself unselfish to
an unheard-of degree. He is Don Quixote
with all his wits about him-a chlvalrous
fool. If you will. but never ridiculous.
The plot of the play has been said to
turn on somewhat unusual feature
nose. 1t has been remarked that this is
a case In which an inch ON the end Of
n mans nose emphatically made a diff
ference. All this is true. Cyrano, morbid
ly sensitive about what he considers his
disfiguring feature, does not believe II
possible that he should win the love oi
his cousin, Roxane, and hence, In a spirit
of extreme generosity he assists anoth
er man, whom he believes to be hel
choice. to win her. Subsequently. he dis
covers. having written letters for the 9th
er man during n considerable period, tina
the writer of these letters. not her lover
has really won Roxane's heart He Is jus
on the point of throwing friendship to th'
winds and declaring himself, when hi
friend is killed, and in a somewhat QufN
otic spirit he decides not TO reveal tn
secret This. while it would be impossib''
to the average man. is thoroughly II
keeping with the oddity and morbid sensi
bility of Cyrano. and IL creates. in tn
last scene where the poet discloses tn
secret with his dying breath, dramati
situation unsurpassed In pathos and beau
~. II is such scene as only the Frencl
imagination could picture, and
thoroughly comprehensive to the cOun
trymen of BalZac, OF Dumas, and of sar
dou With all this, there is so much hu
man nature in both scene and characte
that the less subtle Saxon mind feels an
IS touched by the sadness of n fate whicl
he would not on any account suffer him
self
The translation which Miss Hail ha
made is one which can hardly be praise
too highly. Those who read it will ge
very nearly all that is In the origina
French 1t is sympathetic, spirited an
finished. "Cyrano de Bergerac" in thi
form is one of the very few modern play
which it is worth while to read and Owl
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