The New York herald., 1921-05-15

says. IL Is INlelASSHc , BTcdl ocSshStiN
service that ne lnate6 this anarchy of
the non artistic, teaching that artists
should not see things as they are
they should see them fuller, simpler
stronger" Realism informed with a
vital spirit of vision is, in her view.
the highest possible achievement OF
the dramatic form. Naturalism OF
very high order she attributes to the
work of Strindberg. regarding the lat
ter's THE Father and THE Dance
of Death" as truly great plays, despite
their obvious faults. In THE Dance
of Death" Miss Jameson AYERS, nat
uralism touched its highest point.
Strindberg has written nothing to sur
pass it, nor his followers anything to
approach it. 1t is worth comparing
his methods with the realist who gave
modern drama it's next and most pow
erful impulse. Ibsen and Strndberg
are the eliminating points OF the two
great phases of modern dramatic real
ism. Ibsen deals with high human
aspirations expressed through every
day people: Strindberg with great pas
sions and exceptional people"
Few critics will be disposed, / think,
to take issue with this sharp distinc-
tion, nor with the place accorded these
two great dramatists. One of the un-
usual things, as we'll as one of the
best. in Miss Jameson's book is her
fine. cool and collected appreciation
Of Oscar Wilde as dramatist. Wilde
is often skinned over with AN air OF
aloof hauteur by the pundits OF the
theatre, but Miss Jameson outlines his
place once and for all in the history
of the drama. She rates him neither
too high nor too low. She recognizes
with unerring critical acumen that he
was "too sure an artist to mar his
work by stumbling after greatness.
So perfect is his self mastery that he
can juggle with forms disdained by
those writer's who must justify them
selves by a curious artistic quality
called sincerity" Before leaving Os-
car Wilde we cannot resist quoting
her final penetrating word about him:
Because it is concerned with little
people, Oscar Wildes drama is not
great; because it is subtle in thought,
restrained in emotion, sane in out
look, it remains perfect Of its kind"
Toward Sudermann, Granville Barker,
Miles Malleson, Somerset Vaughan,
Harold Brighouse, Alfred Capus and
Henry Bernstein, whom she regards as
playmakers frankly trucking to the
wire cage. she is incisive and ruthless
again Without benefit of clergy she
dooms the foregoing playwrights to
the limbo Of the ephemeral; her fare
wells are biting and witty, and she
pursues them with a furry of well
aimed epgrams.
She is Just as biting, however
toward such plays as Masefields The
Tragedy of Man." and Yeats's Land
of Hearts Desire" And from a>vivid
analysis Of the latter play she turns
aside for an instant to remark that
Yeats is meaningless and his blank
verse rotten When 1t comes to
"The Tragedy of Nan" and Yeats's
blank verse Miss Jameson and. /, |
fear, part company rather abruptly.
But there is no space to thrash this
matter out in this article. 1t were
best to pass on to her criticism of
Maeterlinck with which / am prone to
agree, particularly as regards the as
sertion that his earlier plays are far
superior to his later ones. Miss Jane
son does not spare the FEELINGS of the
sacred dead: she revels like a Miner
visit bacchante or ghoul on the new
made graves of the living. On the
whole / believe she quite underesti-
mates Shaw and puts Barrie too high.
Shaw, think, has a fighting chance
with posterity, as the saying is, with
Man and Superman," Cesar and
Cleopatra" and "Androcles and the
Lion,'' not to mention one or two
others, such as Back to Methusaleh."
Barrie. of course. will always continue
to delight. Why, then, make in
vidious comparisons?
Miss Jameson gets begged every
once in a while through unwary
broad generalizations. / choose one
out OF quickest hedge of many such:
"A society built on slavery means a
theatre directed first OF all to the
amusement of the slaves" Even n
bowling acquaintance with the condi-
tions that surrounded the Greek drama
at It's best enables us to fout this
confident assertion. on the contrary,
society built on slavery foreshadows
theatre bending it's energies to
amuse the slave owners. Undaunted.
however, Miss Jameson skips b!thely
on. dancing fandangoes on a multi
plicity of graves, old and new. Fur
ther on. when she comes to sur
vey the modern Russian drama she
minimizes the genius of Cork at the
expense OF Chekov. A comparison of
Gorki's Might Lodging" with The
Cherry Orchard will reveal the
greater universal significance OF the
former play; where Chekov is chiefly
local, Cork embraces the whole Of