The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1914-01-11
THE NEW CRITICISM.

European Dramatists BY Archibald Henderson.
Author Of George Bernard shaw; His Lito and
and Other Works. Published by Stewart 4 Kidd
Company, Cincinnati.
critic of high culture and wide fa-
miiarity with the works OF modern dra-
matists, Mr.. Archibald Henderson has
here given us studies of the work and
lives of six playrigats who have made
their bid for immortality within the last
fifty or sixty years Before discussing
the dramatists OF whom Mr.. Henderson
treats, it may be fitting 10 say few
words about recent criticism In general
and about Mr. Henderson's methods in
particular.
In these essays. despite their undoubt-
ed charm. we see wide departure in
style from the style of Andrew Lang
or Saintsbury. This may be due In part
TO the peculiar psychology. OF such men
as Strindberg and Ibsen. II not OF Maui
rice Macterlincll and Of Bernard Shaw.
AT all events we find in the essays on
StrindberE and Ibsen much high flown
and rather obscure language Take such
sentences for example as the following:
with Nietzsche entered into modern
consciousness the sense OF superhuman
from the ashes OF universal illusionlsm,
the rela tivity of the concepts of good and
evil, the fundamental amoralsm of M
ture." Never did artist so per
sstently cleave TO the center of his own
being in his effort to project for the
worlds inspection the inner significance
Of contemporary existence. StrindberG Is
the most ego centric dramatist who has
ever lived"
Such diction is In the latest top-olti-
cal manner Of the modern critics. We
ask ourselves. for instance. where Mr.;
Harris found the word EGO centric" and
what Is It's significance? Il probab bly, Is
our old and commonplace friend self
conferred logged out In aristocrauc raj
meu,. II must be confessed. however
that the authors sense of One words and
phrases and his excellent memory for the
apt and witty descriptive phrases OF
others give his essays a liTeliness they
would not possess il they were merely
pedantjc studies OF dramatIcs and dra-
matte technique,
Something OF the authors own mental
caara cterlstics is probably suggested by
tho dramatIsts he has selected for dis
cussion--August Strlndbere, Henrik lb-
sen. Maurice Maeterlincls. Oscar Wilde,
Bernard Shaw and Granville Barker
with the exception OF the last named.
whose work Is too recent To be classified,
all OF the authors belong 10 the modern
iconoclastc school OF literature. Strind-
berg and Ibscn may be described as pes
simist9, Macterllnck as rather sorry op-
timist, Shaw as an iconoclast. and Oscar
Wilde as a decadent II the author had
included essays on Rostand or Barrie-
touch but Mr. Henderson is ono Of the
ultra -intcllectuals who rcvel IN the new
thought the complex psychology and ian
tasfic innovations o( those drama fists
feats than for their human appeal
An Of the playwriGhts here treated
have writ their names large upon the
scroll of the worlds literary rebels. al
though Oscar Wilde is less remarkable In
this respect than are the others. In his
essay on the brilliant Celt who rose 10
such high rcnown in Engl'st lrt'ers orlv
70 dash himself from his pedestal by
degenerate living. the critic has given
MS a sane and conservative, but Just ap-
preciR ton. Very properly he d'ffercnti-
ates the artist from the man. but does
not neglect 10 point out some of lhe iatal
defects which Wilde's personality
wrought upon his art Speaking of
Wilde, Shaw. and Chesterton. the author
says: "rhc mania for cortltudc died
with Renan; confidence had It's last
leader in Carlyle. and authority relin-
Quisles It's last and greatest adhersnt In
blasphemy and the commercali1s uon Of
audacIty are accepted facts; we have
lost tho courage and simplicity for the
expression OF the trnth unvarnished and
and distinguished but we do not know
that we arc right. We swaEger in fan
tastic costumes we praise ourselves; we
ding epigra ms right and left; We have
the courage TO play the egotist. and the
courage to play the fool. but we have
not the courage to preach. The symbol
of art is no longer a noble muse, bur
only tricksy jade. Criticism, once the
art OF imaginative Interpretation. is now
mere self -eNpression--as Anatole France
puts Il. the adventures of a soul among
masterpieces. We are expected TO be-
leve that the greatest pictures arc those
I'm which there II moro OF the artist
than the sitter.
We believe that the author has here
set forth truly some OF the flaws in
twentieth century criticism. There Is too
much of a tendency 10 egoiise, but per-
haps We should forgive this tendency in