The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1900-02-03
I1 Far forthIaDd
Tid-Dlts of News for scandina-s
vians.
"wHEN. WE DEAD AWAKEN"

Creates . Literary Sensation and
Commands Attention.
There are many indications that
fbsen's latest drama, when We Dead
Awaken" will create a stir, as it is
conceded to be his most powerful
work and is in many respects the
most daring of all his thrilling literary
undertakings. The relations of the
sculptor Arnold Rubek to the Irene.
! perfect in form and feature. would be
unnatural had not Rubek's fervid pas
sion for his art steeled himself against
his heart and killed the impulses of
love. The relations between these two
was the first feature to attract the
attention of the critics. Edward
Brandes in n recent critique says:
Unqnestionably, there will be many
objections made against this magnif-
cent drama because the high-soundins
! prose at times may seem vulnerable
to the attack of logical analysis. And
it is quite certain that the objections
will gather themselves into the per-
tinent question: Why did Henrik
Ibsen show Irene as insane. and why
does he let Rubek, who is not insane,
prefer the abnormal woman to the
beautiful and sensible Maja?
To this may he answered.: If, Ibsen
with such violence desired to empha-
size that life in its entirety. even the
most artistic, is to be counted rs
death, and that but the life of love is
real life, to both Irene and Maja, then
he was forced to employ the most
drastic pictures Of the kind of death
that life without love assuredly is.
VnCRf Ify without SD,~H>k- So I>1%I,
mental and physical death; though the
insane may exist, yet humanity does
not consider such existence life.
Had not Irene stood there so heart
broken, so ill in mind and evil. so de-
sirous and yet so afraid, with the
black shadow of cell and restraint in
her wake, the lesson of the play would
not be too plain: Without love-no
life.
1t is Irene, of course, who is the
star character in the play. 1t is far
from being the %undecisive Rubek, who
not until the hour Of his death UNDER
stood the love which Irene offered
him, which in Maja's case was con-
fined to the customs Of conventional
marriage.
That Henrik 1bsen stands untouched
by his weight of years, this drama will
ere long announce to the entire world.
1t is quite true that the structure of
the play cannot be analysed OH the
spur Of the moment. The construction
embodies a stage setting which will
enhance the worth Of the drama. AL
most with the identical progress which
Irene and Rubek make toward the
mountain top, the acts unfold them
selves lucidly and entirely comprehen-
sible. The more the sociological prob
lem is studied the better will it be
understood why Ibsen is called great.
"When We Dead Awaken" is a mas
ter's work and a masterpiece. Like
none others is Ibsen SO grand, so mys-
with the organic makeup Of human
ity. From the peak Of the mountain
he speaks to us, aged as to years,
youthful in deed and daring. There
is but one ruler, says Henrik Ibsen,
the great Eros, and the poet is his
prophet.
In New York, according to the dra-
matte critic of the Times, Ibsen sis
regarded only as a cross-grained old
curmudgeon who likes to think the
nastiest things Of his fellow beings
and impute the worst motives to all
their acts. The occasional incompe-
tent performances of his works serve
no other purpose than to increase the
hate which many entertain for Ibsen
because of his cherries pessimism,
his bitterness, his fondness for IN
clean subjects and the shadow they
think they detect on all his works of
the owlet' Of Atheism, sailing on OBJ
scene wings athwart the noon."