The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-12

with his ancestors, who conceived life as
something that vas primitive, ara ana
brutal. He sees murder, hears OF deceived
husbands and wives instead OF being SHOWN
some act Of life traced back 70 Its sources
! and to its mystery by connecting Inks.
He yeaTns for one OF the strange moments
Of a higher life that fit unperceived through
his dreariest hours. Otheilo does not APP
pear to live the august daily life OF Hdm!ef
who has the time to live, inasmuch as he
does not act. Otheilo Is admirably jealous
But Is 1t not perhaps an ancient error 10
imagine that II Is at the moment when
this passion, or Others Of equal violence,
Possesses US that we live our truest hvesf
l have grown to believe that an old man,
seato d In his arm chair, waiting pate ntly
with his lamp be side him; giving uncon-
scious car to all the eternal laws that n ign
about the house. interpre ting. without
comprehending, the sile nce OF doors and
windows and the quivering voice OF light.
submitting with bent he ad to the prcsenoo
of his soul and his deI .iny-an old man,
who conoeives not that all the powers OF
this world. like no many heedful servants,
are mingling and kcs ping vigil in his room,
who susp6 cts not that the very sun IL sup
porting in space the little table against
which he L ans or that every star in b. av'
and every fibre of the soul arc din city
concerned In the movemf mt OF an eyt lid
that closos, or a thought that springs TO
birth-1 have grown to b, III We that he,
motionlcss as he In. docs " live In r atty
a decp"r, more human and more univt rsal
life than the lover who strangles his mis-
tress, the captain who conqu ~ in battle.
or the husband who ave ng his honor
This excerpt (translat by Alfr Sutro)
shows the n A Maet rlinck, the man whose
mind is Enbwd by the strang' NJ 81 OF
the star In the grain Of VIII at. The philos,,
ophy ID akin to @ rtain passages ex' cut d
In tno ale goric pictures OF Albrecht Durer
, or William Blake.
Each century. he argues, has it's own
sally forth in search OF our sorrows-the
value Of ourselves Is but the value Of our
melancholy and disquiets. The tragic
masterpieces OF the past are inferior in the
SORROWS OF to-day. To-day 1t is fatality
that we challenge: and this IL perhaps the
distinguishing note Of the new theatre. 1t
is no longer the effects Of disaster that
arrest our attention.; II is disaster Itself
it's laws. 1t is the rallying point
Of the most recent dramas, the centre OF
Night with strange flames cleaning, about
which revolve the souls Of women and
men. And Q step has been taken toward
looked in the face. Between past and flu
, ture man t-What Is man but God who
Ia afraidf'I stands trembling on the tiny
/, oasis Of the present. 1t Is the disaster OF
our existence that we fear our soul; did we
but allow It to smile frankly In its silence
and It's radiance we should be already living
! an eternal life. Obi for those reservoirs
OF certitudes" on the other side OF night.
whittier the silent herd Of souls flock every
morning to slake their thirst.
that pass his heart like great white birds;
Then Is recalled Browning and his simil-
itude Of the meanest soul that lives yet
has It's better side to show its love. In
life there Is no creature 30 degraded but
knows full well which is the noble and
beautiful thing he must do A life per-
ceived Is q life transformed. To love one
self Is to love thy neighbor in myself!
Maeterlinck's attitude toward Woman
the true touchstone Of philosopher, poet.
priest and artists beautiful Il have
never met q single woman who did not bring
to me something that was great,
The spiritual renascence is at hand. It
IN the theatre that last feels its approach
Poetry. painting, sculpture lRodinl music.
all have met 1t half way; only the stage
cheap illusions must be swept away into
the limbo OF things used up. Atmosphere.
the atmosphere Of unuttered emotions.
arrested attitudes. ideas Of the spiritual SUBJ
formulas Of to-day. The ideal is music
music. the archetype OF the arts. Walter
Pater preached this platonic doctrine.
1T Is only the words that at first sight
seem useless that really count in work.
BUT to realize. to exteriorize the mystery,
strange and symbolic web must be woven
by the poet-dramatist! He must break
with the conventions of the past and create
something that Is not quite painting. not
quite drama, something that is more than
poetry, less than music-full Of ecstasies.
silent joys. luminous pauses and the burn
ing fever Of the soul that sometimes Stays.
II Is very beautiful. very ideal-bard,
poet, mystic, moralist, and playwright
practised before he preached-unlike most
men; and he had the slow fortitude Of the
brave We know now that artistically he
springs from the loins OF Poe and Hof-
mann; that villiere del'1sle Adam was his
godfather-that Villiers, who in his .Axel'
that by the Belgian's artful scale Of words
he evoked images in our mind which recall
the harmonies OF unheard music; that the
union Of mysticism and freedom Of think
ing lends to his Work peculiar lar, el;Sauence
a medievd insa-iptien borrowed from
an old doorway In Bruges. He il more
revolutionary than 1bsen in the matter OF
technique-Ibsen, who is more concerned
with his matter than his manner: who
modelled after Dumas fills. Augier, de isle
Adam. until he found a new form in THE
Master Builder Maeterlinck writes
play about an open door, a closed window.
or the vague and disheartening twilights
Of cloudy gardens. He has added, like
Baudelaire, a new thrill to literature. That
he In quite sane in his early work we do not
assert-since when shall art and sanity be
driven in easy harness?
In giving bare abstract OF Maeterlinck's
theories. spiritual and Rsthetic, their beauty
and nobility, we but clear the way for a
better, because wider, appreciation Of the
plays Let US consider them all from
THE Intruder to 'Monna Wanna
JAMES HUNEKKR.