The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-05

his path, he has bad no desire for the
companionship of hove, and his reward
for purity has beeIn this fearful perver-
sion. He says:
ST ate the fruits upon which was the
mark Of ner teeth and | drank the water
from the hollow OF her hand. Alone. al
ways alone, in plales full of light Now,
imagine one who Inconsciously drinks a
poison philter, Something impure, which
poisons bis blood land communicates his
soul all Of a sudden, when his mind is
at peace Imagine such an incredible mis-
fortune. Take an fordinary hour of your
existence, an hour Aimilar to many others:
| 1t is a wfntry daY lucid and clear as a
| diamond; everything is light, everything
| is visible from far land near You return
from your work; YOUR mind relaxeS you
| discover nothing stIange in yourself nor in
| things; your breatn is calm, your soul is
| at peace. your life passes IL did yester-
| day, in it's continuity from the past toward
| the future. You sreturn to your home
| filled with light ard quiet as Ii was the
| day before; you Open a door, you enter
| a room ami you see her
| her, your innocenti companion, asleep be-
| fore the fire, tingd1 with the rosy hame,
her small. naked feet exposed TO the heat.
| You look at her and smile. And while
you smile a sudden and involuntary
| thought flashes ACROSS your mind; UNI
| clean thought. against which your whole
being rebels with trembling. In vain. In
vain! The thought persists. grows in
strength becomes monstrous, dominates
YOU Ah,: is this possible? 1t enslaves you.
permeateS your blobd and invades all your
| senses. You are its prey, its miserable,
trembling prey; Nour whole soul, your
| pure soul, is Infected, and everything In
YOU is stained with contamination.
All, is it credble?I
Further, Alessandro is in love with Leon
ardo's sister, and the blind Anna, with
her gift of divinatibn, has learned il. She
I gives the information to Leonardo, doubling
his load She does not know of leonardo S
| unnatural desire fos his sister. The torture
/ of these minds apiearS on the surface in
| finely constructed, GLOWING, flowing prose
poetry The fountain is the place of ulti-
| nation Each of the companions loves
| it and feels its mystic charm. Anna and
| blanca talk of il bne evening. after they
| have sat listening Ito the FLASHING of the
| water, ard Anna slys:
| Your voice, nowIi is as fresh as a spring
/ really hear the wSter run over your Dody,
| as over the statue of fountain. Do you
not think Blanca Maria, that the statues
/ at the fountains must be happy? Through
| their imnlovable and lasting beauty circu-
| Iates an snimated life that continually re-
news itself They en1ey ,d az one ana sn1,t ane
| gardens ;hey look sometimes as If they
were in exile, but they are not because
their liquid souls never cease to eommuni-
| they came, still asleep and enclosed III
/ blocks of shapeless marble. They listen
astounded to the words which arise from
| their lips out of the depths of the earth
| hut they are not deaf 10 the conversations
of the poets and sages who like to rest
/ as in calm retreat, In the musical shade
/ where the marble immortalizes classic re-
| pose Do they not seem happy TO YOU
/ / should like well TO be one of them, be-
cause I have blindness in common with
| them"
/ his sister Blanca, and when she stoops &c
drink he forces her under the water and
| holds her there until she is dead. Alessan
| dro and then Anna come upon the mar
| and the body there and Anna cries, i see
| The luxuriance of DAnnunzio's mind is
| marvellous His spirit swims in the mysti
cism of the long view back TO the ancient
| civilizations and in the infinitesimal anC
| innumerable ways of morbid emotionalism
| he seizes upon the Affections that the hui
| man animal is heir TO and molds them int
/ terrible. fascinating images. His power OF
| Imagery is wonderful. These wretched com
| nanions of Mycenae are in an advanced
| state of eroticism. but D'Annunzio make:
| them appear normal persons, the victims OF
| an ill-humored love Tnis love is super
| natural force lurking in the soil of ole
| Mycenae and fastening as a fever on so
| iourners there a malign influence destroy
| ING the human race. Eros, unconquerec
| in strife (Sophocles) that Is The theme OF
| the nlay 1t goes without saying thai
| Eleanora Duse Is Anna herselI The ac
| tress and the dramatist are or one inten
4 ton. -
| nhanomena of this nature, for sensuality
| IN one or another of its forms, Is the i'm
| nulse in every action; feared and despised
| # DESTROYS; elevated and purified. IL en-
| mobiles. In the work of DAnnunzio Ii de
| strovs and pantingly broods over the wreck
In All of the finely poetic. freely analytic
| generously posed work OF this author there
| n no sien that he has In him the saving
] salt Of bitter enmity for hypocrisy. deceit