The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-03-12

mar the sins Of selfshness and self.
Indulgence have been expiated only
by suffering and penance, and this
Is the message OF The Bridal
Crown"
The dramatic literature Of to-day
Is full Of intention. To read modern
drama is to find the dramatist in
structing you as TO The laws of life.
II yet this instruction differs from
, that Of the Elizabethan period or NJ
he eighteenth century in France In
two ways. To-day mar no longer
looks upon the individual as Il separate.
responsible entity. lie sees him as the
product of a historic movement. of
social environment. Of physical hered-
lily. and he sees all men guilty OF the
fates Of other men. This outlook npon
life has enormously widened the gym.
pathy between men and has tended
toward making the drama interna-
tional. making men truly realize that
nothing which ~ human can he alien
to any. Maeterlinck has contributed
to this modern drama the idea that
passive thought is as effective In the
realm OF fact as any constructive deed
and thus i~mpregnated the whole crea-
ton with the atmosphere Of ideas and
moods. Shaw has contributed "a drama
Of brilliant ethical and political dis
cussions. aud all the modern drama
lists together have undertaken to
bring about a transvaiuation OF moral
values and to set the world upon "A
higher plane Of ethical intention and
purpose.
Strindberg's personal contribution to
This new drama Is the strange new
disquieting forces Of life clearly char
acterized; IL is n combination OF nat
uralism and strangeness. Strindbcrg
himself says frankly. II find the joy
Of life in its violent and cruel strug-
gles.' and it is these that he depicts
in his plays; the struggle of sex
against sex, Of man against man. II
man against circumstance. of the out
ward man and his inner nature.
In each play Of the present series
he depicts some such contest. In the
first. the struggle of the young girl
to free herself after having sinnci
against conventional morality her lie
sire to annihilaie the traces OF her
former act and its punishment. In
the second play. THE Spook sonata"
we have a mingling OF extreme real
ism with symbolism. and. AS the trans
lator says. those who demand prcdi-
gested thought will be lost in the
mazes Of irresponsible fancy" Tn
doubtedly IL strives TO illustrate the
m mysterious relationship between APP
parently disconnected matters AMI
vents. II warns against interference
with other lives. which was one OF tho
spectres of Strindberg's whole exis-
n Dramatically the play intro
duces many new effects For exam
pie, the bringing in Of dumb charac-
ters and keeping them on the staL"
throughout the scene and the effort
TO portray at once the life inside and
outside Of a house. but whatever
else he does there is no dnuh, that
Strindberg cooperates with modern
science TO bring us TO "a clearer real |
ization of the close INTERROGATION he
tween the material basis of existence
and its spiritual ovcrtones.
The TRANSACTIONS are eloquent and
exact, while lacking in a poetic charm
which one believes must have been |
in the original. Tn. iirst
three plays show tina. ~
which Is representative Of
the modern drainatlst. but tn" last play. |
with its seven different scenes and IS
twenty EIGHT characters. has certainly |
aside tina convention of the mod |
ern dramatist. This volume undoub;-
eddy holds some OF the hes, n most |
Of the ~pleasantest of Strindberg's plays
End is probably the last volume in
the series.