The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-01

or = fear. DO its You who may peFkapa
fear all else In the world canno feat that
I, who fear all things upon earth. have no
fear Of dying for my art. And ~ ! have
the liberty to choose the form whicn that
death shall take. I will choose The most
painful. the most long drawn out; the daily
death, living but lighting every inch OF the
way and not giving Ia ono-hundredth part
OF an inch until the last breath OF me shall
be consumed: neither compromising when
alone In my room nor oompromising before
others: but deliberately undermining and
destroying ugliness while constructing
b~eauty-the most dangerous and dihicuIt
Of all tasks.
Oh. how right you arel re 10 not drums
that hey play. but pieces for the sA@''rs
How right 10 this statement Of youTsi
Make il more right by the deed. CaaSe TO
play pieces for the theatre" You have
said. too. II haze tried. I haze fetted. I ana
condemned 10 play SardOw and Ptnero.
Some dog another iCOBsdn Tin come, young.
beautiful. a being oil fire und haTse. and
wiH do What ! hGve dreamed; pes. I am sure
Of IL. 10 aOfl come; out I an tired. At Hlya0s
I cannot begin 0ver again"
You have not tried II you have failsds
but you ave not failed becanse you have
only just begun: IL Ia not a matter OF be-
ginning over again--you are now 10 COM
mence for the First Time. Another woman
would not be able TO do what you dreamed
because Of her youth or her beauty, butt
only because Of her Intelligence. and herr
intelligence will only be equal to the task
when she 10 your age.
For IL does not need youth and beauty
to die for the art. and II does not need youth
and beauty 10 cease playing pieces for
the theatre" Both Of these things need
intelligence, sternest. gayest. youngest
intelligence. which is the stron0est resnedyF,
VictOrvi" cries Nletzsche. How true this Is.
Victory the Remedy. |
Besides-and I am going to be bitterly
critical-it is not you who have dreamed
and II is not another woman who will come
and do. Others haVe reamed for YOU
poets. painters, musicians. You shall not
take it as your crownt that you a dreamed
this. Your crown you shall only win by
doing, and when perfect enjoyment lies In
the doing. what should hinder the deedf
Others have acted. others have Eailed
others have wearied. But you. the youngest
daughter Of the Muse, shall justify her.
your mother. Is not this a proud Passion
W1iCn OOnltllN uANlhtc AhhA AANN Wv ~ Is
Joy? A Passion seemingly created only for
the supreme intelligence.
No one in our art dares TO welcome such
a Joy. Are we not all Of us towards in the
theatrc2 II We are actors We suffer jeal-
ousies, disappointments; we see our work
spoiled; wc find ourselves only able to
portray a certain round OF emotions; We
suffer because We are obliged to play his
OF that stupid play, saying that the better
plays do not make money,
We sreak Of the pains which come from
being unable at times to do our work; We
suffer a little In having TO- work under UNI
pleasant circumstances. All this we call
pain. Ia it not rather irritation, and does
IL not all spring from one ~source-compro-
mise?
Pain is so great a joy that few OF us have
the courage to face it. Some poets have
EMBODIED pain TO their hearts. and from
the embrace came forth joy unspeakably
clear that they at last have n This
matter of the death and rebirth OF our art
is not a matter TO shirk or whisper about
It is a matter for the courageous nature
to close with.
u. IL IL TO be spoken about aloud and with
truth. We must not begin 10 be sensitive
AT bhlb NuHS VI uNg' AuAb huo wv AWAv ~
the schoOlroom. We must speak OF this
awakening as ono speaks Of the awakening
OF some fierce thing which shall either be-
come a horror or a beauty.
You nave said the theatre must be de-
strOyed. You are right. ! say that the
Independence Of the Art must he recognized
and the poets swept out Of the theatre. Am
l right? II is they who poison the air, IL is
they who make our art impossible; they IL is
who have driven the actOrstO thisl low level
Of unintelligence; they it is who uncon-
sciously, under the most subtle guise Of the
patron and the friend. ave reduced the
theatre to a mere placard, a reclam for
themselves and for their works-and we,
their slaves. always manage unconsciously
to destroy Il. WHAT q tragedy
To-day without the poet it is held that
the theatre cannot open its doors, he who
Possesses an art independent of thet theatre.
the Art of Literature. Robbed Of the poet
the actor is unable to conceive the idea Of
a theatre, for he leans on the poet. he draws
his banal inspiration. every breath Of it,
from the mechanism Of the poet, and he
makes his money through the folly OF the
poet. We nave lost our freedom. This
10 shame-our shame. Am l right? And
| believe you will be the first to take the
most daring step which leads TO our Free
dom. Am l right again? GORDON CRAIG.
FlrenSe, 1907.