New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-03-16

But differences in taste DO not condemn the
handbook. On the contrary. Mr.. Luces intel
Iectuaiism makes him the proper author OF sueh
volume His book is complete without heinE
painfully exhaustive: systematic but not stiH'
scientifically precise Zen the whole)' and yer
literary in the best sense. The volume includes
the poets autobiography a chronology OF his
works and their first editions. an Introduction :"
each work. two essays on the poets philosophy
and art good photography and metrica! notes
In brief, a true handbook. There is so much III
1t that commentary is almost impossible. clever
anG profound interpretations and asides ABOUND
yet other criticisms the verge OF senti-
meutalisTn and s',rer-renneInent. We protest
for instance. against the notion that the secret
Of Shakespeare Is bound UP IN tho lire; There's
nothing we can call our own bat love But
then, It is this intorminging OF briliancy an"
bosh that gives the work individuality
Mr. Luce's intelcctualism is en- exaggerated
form OF Mr.. Sidney Lees But where it Is
vice with the former II becomes q virtue WITH
the latter In his Shakespeare and the Modern
Stage" (Charles Scribne~'s SOns) Mr.. Lee de-
votes the first Of eleven essays 10 championinS
a return to the simple staging Of Sha1espeariaa
plays, This brings IN the old ghost: is scenic
realism opposed to dramatic art? We refuse TO
take sides in me question; first because both
sides are equally right and wrong and again be-
leading. Tho world is cluster CT clans, each or
which shows a peculiar responsiveness to cer-
tain types of art. Some good people would rot
surrender the HlpDodrone baliets, with their
Overwhelming color and motion schemes, for a
dozen Hamlcts. Others distracted by stage
effects. others not. Some would dispense with
music, while others find that It reinforces era
matte situations wonderfully. Mr.. Lee and
others confuse two issues. They ask whether
scenery and costuming do not distract the spec
tatcr from the drama itself; getting an afirma-
tive reply from many persons. they straiG1twa3
imagine that answer has been given 70 the CUES
ton whether public theatres should return to
Shakespoaran simplicity. No attention is given
TO the inevitable utl:arianis.n Of the theatres,
which must always aim to give the greatest
pleasure 20 the largest number Of patrons we
fear any violent demand upon the sympathetic
Imagination Of modern theatresoers would meet
with . robucf. Literary curiosity in a revival
is a much feebler more heetng thing. than
genuine pleasure in a production
Mr. Lees other essays are miscellaneous &C
casionai and readable. The sketch Of Pcpys, the
diarist. and his impressions OF Shakespeare, ~
amusing throughout Pcpys vas certainly more
charmed with the beauty Of actresses and dane
ing than with the high dramatic art. He was the
incarnation Of the Average Man. Mr. Lee pleads
IN another essay for municipal theatres In an
other for a great Shakespeare memorial In Lon
don His essay on shakespeare In France IS
peculiarly welcome because it reveals the living
power Shakespeare is among stranger peoPieS'
The Baconians VIII lose their temper over SIT
Lees essay on the poets philosophy. In which ne
points out that the poet not only had no phnoso-
ply but even made fun Of thinkers and thoughts
dear TO the speculative Bacon.
Mr.. Stopford Brooke might better have FOL
rrTfa IN vTi
Shakespeare from many angles than to have m
d,,Ired in a long though we'll written exegesis on
Ten PLAYS Of Shakespeare" (Henry Holt g. Coz
When Professor Lounsbury said that nothrE
now could be written on Shakespeare he surely
referred TO commentaries like Mr.. Brookes'
here we find many charming passages accurate
analyses Of situations and good Characterization
OF ersonages-but all quite obvious and tradi-
tonal AS lectures these studies were doubtless
pleasing. But why print them?
Miss Elizabeth Wilder has done a credit
able work in transating Kari Werders IA
nous analysis OF Hamlet" In The Heart
Of Hamlers Mystery (Knckcrbocker Press
those students OF Shakespeare who have
reached the period Of life and culture at which
II becomes a vital matter 10 know whether
the melancholy Dane was really mad only
feigned madness will find the classical defence
of the sanity theory. Let us hope that Werder
viii win his new readers over, as ne mas so
many scholars who like Professor Rofe. have
listened to him. Professor Rofe introduces the
translation with a good essay the Hamlet
problem.
Professor James NJ Hoppns 1.-The Reading Of
Shakespeare" (I7oushton. Mfiin & Coz Is
meant 10 be a record Of impressions. The critic
must keep his hands of this little volume:
does not pose: It VIII not speculate nor dissect;
Il only gives voice to the authors love. Value
less to student and expert II has more life than
many more useful tones. We have received an
imposing volume from India. Entitled "Othe!lo
Unveiled" GIaGras: Rentala House,, II aims 10
do for the Moor what Werder has done for the
Dane. Tho author. Ny Rentala Nenkata Sub
baran. finds Othello and his adventures a mys-
terry deep that no European readers nave
suspected its presence. When this mys-
terry is once Grasped the seeming chronological
responsibilities OF the play disappear. In searching
the four hundred pages which reveal the mys-
terry, the reviewer sometimes fancied he found
1t in MI Subbaran's assertion that DesdemOna
ana Othelo unhappily welded from the
outset, and each was anxious TO be rid OF the
other a. the first fair chance Then again. it
seemed as though the mystery lay in the char
acter Of Iago. who Is hero reported 20 have been
! transformed by his misadventures from devil
into a man fun Of ron!orse and good resolutions
Perhaps the mystery is even deeper and more
revolutionary; at all events the Eastern critic
knows how 20 unveil without disclosing any
thing vulsarly. In spite of its myster"
monge-ing. though, his book is a scholarly, en-
thusiastic study of O;hello.
the next group OF writer's inviting atten-
J ton is the Left Wing, the unmitsated Radicals
Two rise for hearing in this year of grace;
| J r Isaac Plat and TolstOy. the latter seconded
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