The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-28
"WHEN We DEAD AWAKE"
IBSENS NEWEST PLAY.
Richard lie Caffeine Reviews the Latest Work Of the Great
Norwegian Dramatst

bully OF a man, coarsely good looking. He
knows the Rubeks slightly, and languid
conversation springs up. OF course, Ru-
bek and he have no interest for each 9TH
er. With Maja, however, 1t Is different
His brutality fascinates her. and she glee-
fully goes on in his company to see the
hounds fed.
Rubek Is left alone. and presently pair
come by, a woman all in white. followed
by nurse all In black. with a cross on
her breast. They pass In silence. and dis
appear into a pavilion at some short dis
lance. Rubek had seen, or thought he
had seen, the game vision the night before,
and 1t had aroused old memories. Pres
emily the white lady comes out of the pa
vilion and sits near. Yes, It is Irene
The Wandering Lady, Is all that Ibsen
calls her in the list Of persons-and this
name Is no doubt meant to add the i'm
preston given by occasional phrases of
her talk, an impression little insisted up
on. that she IL mad as well as dead"
The two recognize each other and imme-
diately fall to talking of the past and the
interval between. They speak Of his fame,
of their Child" as they had always call
cd his great work. and she tells OF her
life between with creepy touches of fan
tastic phrase. The lutte strings in her
breast have been broken. all her children
are dead-she has killed them-she has
killed everyone who came into her life,
and now she is dead herself. Il am dead"
she says, but am not quite ice all
through. will not make you SILVER too
much" The act closes with this passage,
in whish she explains her meaning and
makes her woman's charge against the
artist in Rubek:
Irene. had given you something no one
Rubek~Yesi You gave me three or four yesn Of
Irene More-mo!e than that gave you. spend
RubeE-Yesl a spendthrift you wers-you gave me
your beauty in all its nakedness.
Irene-To-look at
Rubek-And to transhgure.
Irene-Yes-and thereby TO transnsurs ycurself.
Rubek- yourself. also, Irene
Irene-But you have forgotten the most precious
Rubek-The most precious, Which was thati
Irene-I gave you my young SOUL my living soul.
Then ! stood there with my empty body-my body
without a soul
fShe stares at him.
1t was then died.
The act closes with the dark nurse COM
ing in and reckoning her away-and Ru-
bek's sighed "Irene"
In their talk Irene had asked Rubek to
take her now at last to the mountains.
Maja to the mountains to see bear
hunt. So all meet again in a mountain
sanatorium, and the action resolves IT.
self into situations and q denouement so
simple as to. be almost naked symbolism.
Some Of the dialogue is very beautiful,
with beauty to which my Translator
tells me her necessarily hasty TRANSACTIONS
do but little justice. which is true, Of
course, of every great poet, but particu-
larly of poets like Ibsen, who SO carefully
chisel down their expression to the last
possible word. Here is fragment of talk
between Rubek and his wife:
Rubek (speaking Of his soul)-In here I have a
tiny casket which thief steal In that lie all
the dreams of my art. When she left me the lock
snapped to-; She alone had the key-she took it
Therefore all is lying unused in here The years
are going by-and it Is impossible for me to reach
Maia.-well. get her to unlock it.
Rubek-MajaI
Maja-why not. now she is here. and I suppose
1t is for that casket she has come.
Rubek-Oh no, she knows nothing OF all this.
Now this between Rubek and Irene:
Irene - You. the artist. who carelessly and
without thought took my body with its
the soul out of it--just to create masterpiece
Rubek-And you can say that You that lived in
my work with such passionate. such holy devotion
that work in which met every morning as at
prayer.
Irene.I had never loved your art before met
you, and have never loved 1t since.
Rubek-But the artist. Irenef
Irene--The artist hate.
Rubek-The artist in me alsoi
Irene-Most Of all in you
Irene. But woman also at that
to fulfill All that left to itself, threw it away.
to be your slave. 1t suicide. crime unto death
had committed against myself-thalf vhkperine,-
and for that crime have to pay dearly
Irene-I should have borne children into the world.
Many children. Real children. Not the kind one
hides away in art galleries The other should
have been fate / should never have served yosI
poet
I have only space now to Indicate the
denouement and quote the speech In which
the play closes as with a strain of spirit
music. The bear hunter is taking Maja.
now frankly decided to throw her life in
with him, up in the hills to see the SUM-
rise Irene and Rubek decide that they,
too, will go and see the sunrise. Midway
up the mountain side they meet the bear
hunter and Maja returning. A storm is
rising, and already 1t is sweeping mists
before 1t down the valleys. Ulfhejm is
taking Maja for safety down again into
the valley, but he can help no more than
one at time. Irene and Rubek must
stay where they are and he will send help.
This concluding passage tells how they
never waited for such help as Ulfhejm
could send them.
Irene-We see the irreparsble first when
Irene-When we dead awake
Ruhek-But what do we really sec then?
Irene-We see that we have never lived. sss
Rubek-Then let us two dead live life to the last
drop Just for once before We again 60 down into
our tombs
Irene-Arnold!
Rubek-But not here in this half darkness Not
here, where the ugly winding sheet OF the mist
futters about in the wind
Irene-No. Up in the light M in all the radiant
splendor-high up on the peak OF oblivion.
Rubek-There we viii hold our marriage feast.
Irene, my beloved.
Irene tproudlyl-The sun may look at us.
Rubek-And all the powers Of light may look at
us. and all the powers Of darkness, too. VIII you
then follow me? You angel Of grace.
Irene ttransfguredl1I follow willingly, and with
you-my lord and master.
Rubek dragging her with himl-Through the mists
must CO. Irene, and then
Irene-Yes through the mists And then-up To
the shining peak giittering in the sunrise.
Then a great avalanche comes and
sweeps them down into CULTS of snow. The