The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-12
VIEW BOOKS.
D'AnnunziO's Fransesca ,

Is published by the Frederick A. Stokes
Company. II il dedicated to the divine
Eleonora Duse." and contains two por-
traits Of that gifted actress and one Of the
author. We have read somewhere that
Signor d'Annunzio is thought by many
Italian ladies TO bc Possessed OF an almost
supernatural beauty. Be that as IL may,
VIC have come upon his portrait here, in
serted at the end of the first act, with some
thing very like a shock His picture has
not left us without more or less tumutuois
Impressions
There Is more in this drama than the
story Of Francesca and Paolo. II Is a
poem as well as drama. 1t reflects the
high colors Of the Italian thirteenth CEN
fury, especially the sanguinary colors.
For some twenty pages the scene Is filed
with -Francesca's women" There are
six OF them, with melodious names, Bian-
cofore. Adonella. Alticbiara and NO on,
and they lean in the loggia, and sweep
| along the marble stairs. and stand about
the sarcophagls In which crimson rose
bush grows. They converse and sing and
make merry with jester. The Jester is
not always nice in his speeches and his gam
bols. but no doubt he fts his century. AT
one point, according to the stage explana-
/ tons, the women turn their backs, looking
! down into the OF her court. They seem to be
| on the watch. The twi-horned headdresses
| and the tall CffStafs of different colors
shine In the sun. and now and then there
| Is whispering and rustling OF lips and
| garments In the clear sunlight" Plenty
OF setting for this tragical story. For a
considerable part Of the long first chapter
two of the characters discourse Of Guelph
and Ghibeline history. The PROF er names
are so numerous that for considerable
stretches the translation SILL remains
Italian. II is not until page 10 that we
see Francesca. She is described, however,
by her brother Ostasio. nine pages earlier.
Recalling her in his mind. he says:
Ah' Is she
No, worth a kingdom' How beautiful She Isl
There never was sword that went so straight
As her eyes go II they but look at you.
Yesterday she was saying: who Is Il
You give me to-" When she walks. and her hair
Falls all about her to her waist and down
To her strong knees She Is strong though very pale,
And her head sways little, she gives forth Joy,
Like days that wave In the wind
When one sets forth against a mighty city
In polished armOr
The second act has action. though not
all OF II bears very directly upon the main
theme of the story Here. on tower,
the soldiers are preparing Greek fire, and
Francesca appears and insists on playing
with the dangerous stuff. All this is inter
esting reading and should make a stirring
stage show. The enemy attack the tower and
are slain in great numbers and repulsed.
Francesca throws open the portculis for
Paolo, who sends a crossbow bolt In at the
open mouth and clean through and ~,
at the back of the head of the jeering Ugo-
limo: and Malatestino. Francesca brother
in law, loses an eye. II he had met with
the thorough fate of Ugolino il would have
been more nearly what he came to deserve,
for it was his jealousy and general malevo-
lence. according to this version, that be-
trayed Francesca and Paolo and brought
about the final disaster. Dante, who went
further than this drama goes. showed us the
extra punishment OF PaolO and Francesca;
here our sentiment is differently directed, |
and it is the brutal and numerous rather |
than the loving pair that we should be |
willing to see in the Inferno.
The third act, again, moves slowly, but
it is full of colors and impressions OF the
time. and II develops at once delicately and |
effectively the sentiment existing hstween
Francesca and Paolo The merchant here
is conspicuous figure with his store OF
Light ,aretas
Highly embroidered clrclet upon crcet,
Sarcenet. SANTA and damask
Grogran and bonlbazlnc
Cane; barracGn, fustan.
Serge Ncopoli,an douDle,s
Slcillan tunicS,
watcred silk high or low. watered with gold,
And silver thread, and waved
Linen OF Lucca, Osta. Dondlscarte--
AID a vast variety besides, in patterns
toothed and fashioned, and including vel
vets one-piled and wo-piled and three
piled. The fourth act develops some of
the choice brutalities Of the time, and the
plot is here concocted whereby the lovers
are to be betrayed In the fifth act the
tragedy comes swiftly enough. Francesca
says in part:
Kiss me upon my eyes. upon my brow.
Upon my cheeks, my throat,
so so |
stay. and my wrists, my nngers
So, so And take my soul and
pour II out.
Because the breath OF the night
Turns back my soul again
To things OF long ago.
And Paola says in part:
From what
Vineyard OF earth were these grapes gathered in,
lneS nav" tHt sHltH
OF drunkenness and honey.
They are like veins. they are swollen with delight.
Fruits OF the night The flaming feet OF Love
Shall tread them In the winepress Give me your
mouth
Again, Again,
And at this the lame husband thunders
at the door and the tragedy is swiftly ac-
he'd. When the act is done the
= Lancaster" painfully breaks his sword
across his knee We have shown how the
blank verse runs and how the story. The
play makes 220 pages,
American Merchant Ships.
II ia a curious coincidence that sub iect
so long neglected as the American merchant
service should he taken up by two authors
at the same time and that their books pub.
ished by different publishers should come
to us at the same time. There In little TO
choose between them. and neither il wholly
Mr.. Winthrop Lppitt Marvin
writes popular narrative in The Arneri-
can Merchant Marine: Its History and
Romance from 1920 to 1902" Charles Scrib-
ners sons. He very properly quotes from
be stories of old merchant skippers uhar |