Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1899-06-09
JEAN RACINE.

have been left by the tide OF time
standing as landmarks in the history
Of art, as objects Of veneration and
enjoyment but serving no longer as
working models except at their mod
ern imitator's own risk OF producing
works which, however admirable as
purely literary performances. must fall
to exhibit any Of the vital signs of ma
tive and necessary impulse. And this
is a risk such as only dramatic genius
of the highest kind could afford to dis
regard. Our own dramatic develop
ment is so abundantly rich that We
could afford to recognize more warm
ly than we do the merits of form
whose very raison d'etre would al
most seem to be to unconsciously sup
plement our own by setting in CHIEF
prominence those dramatic constlt'
uents which, in view of our own ideal,
it was our business to practically dis
regard.
1t was the privilege Of Greek art
alone Except in "far between" and
isolated instances) to strike the unerr'
ing balance between form and matter.
In this connection it will not be out
OF place to refer to one of the pro-
foundest and most original Of modern
writers on Greek tragedy, Friedrich
Nietzsche namely, who from his ma |
tionality will not be suspected Of any
undue Partially for the French muse
in general, or in particular for 70 no.
tably un-German a tragic type ~ that
Of which Racines productions are the
highest embodiment. 1t is In one OF
his earlier books, "Menschliches, All
zumenschliches" QS7S), that Nietzsch
speaks of the strict restraint which
the French dramatists imposed upoI
themselves with respect to the unities
of action, place and time, to style, to-
form of verse and build of sentence,
to choice of words and thoughts. as be-
ing no less important schooling than
that of counterpart and fugue in the
development OF modern music. He
recommends US only to read from time
to time Voltaire's "Mahomet" in Or
der to become perfectly clear5as to the
loss inflicted once for all upon Euro
pean culture by the break with the ira.
ditions of French tragedy.
Voltaire was the last Of the great
dramatists who, with all his many
sdedness and all his capacity for pow
erful tragic feeling, subjected himself
to the influence of Greek moderation.
In this book Nietzsche seems to me
to have clearly indicated one Of the
most significant aspects Of French
tragedy, as we'll as Voltaire's position
in the development Of it. Coming
after Corneille and Racine. Voltaire
in most constructive essentials can,
hardly be counted inferior to either, 4
though, if Judged on purely poetic 1
grounds, his inequality with them is
manifest. Still, if his verse lacks the
heroic and ethic fullness Of the for
mer's and the combined solidity and
mollesse of the latter's, it has qualities
Of its own which make it a perfectly,
adequate vehicle for the expression Of
those genuinely tragic passions which,
in his best efforts, he is able to set in
motion and conduct to their denoue-
ment with master hand.
I am the more inclined to lay .
stress upon this estimate Of Voltaire's (
tragic productions inasmuch as. On this /
side of the channel, their claims are I;
scarcely held to be serious noted re- !.
Gently in one of our most widely read 1
and most frequently noted histories /
Of French literature, for instance, that,
such masterpiece of severe form and I
pregnant passion as VOltaire's#
"Merope" Is dismissed in single
phrase as being nothing more than 81
prodigy Of ingenuity" The author or
this same book, at the conclusion Of
his comparison between Shakespeare
and Racine. tells us that no one can:
doubt that. if Shakespeare had chosen:
to adopt the style and had accepted
the censorship Of a Boileau, he could
easily have written "Phedre"-a state
ment only degree less misleading,
than If he had attributed to Shakes,
peare the easy ability, at choice. 70
have written the Sophoclean "Oedipus
Tyrannus." M. Emile Deschanel, In
his elaborate and suggestive study II
Racine, leads his comparison Of the
two dramatists to sounder and more
fruitful conclusion: Contemporary
truth, historic truth, human truth, are
the three degrees of profundity in the
work of Racine. as in the work Of
Shakespeare. For the accompanying
portrait Of Racine my thanks are due
to the courtesy of the authorities at
the South kensington museum.
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