The New York herald., 1921-05-15

Prof. George Santayana observed
apropos of existence. Nothing
has right to exist. 1t Is an accident
mot a benefit) to be born 1t IS n
further accident whether, after one is
born, one is able to live on. or finds the
environng powers easy or hard TO get
on with. We exist on suffrance. WIS
dom is to enjoy life, not TO claim it."
Now if Miss Jameson, the author of
Modern Drama in Europe" We're to
stumble across this passage of Santa
yana's in. say, subsequent book, l
doubt not she would strenuously de-
mur: at all events, she would probably
declare that Prof. Santayana was in
capable of writing great drama and
that while his followers might produce
admirable musical comedies they could
soar no higher thar the delectable in
souciance of Oscar Wilde The reason
for this is that Miss Jameson emphat-
ically holds that mans function in life
is to claim it. subdue it to his urgent
will and to rise to finer, ampler state
of human perfection. Epicureanism
has little hope at the court of Miss
Jameson, for, to be concrete, she is
an out and out Nietzschean, and her
keen edged scalpel, which she applies
to the dramatic literature produced in
Europe during the past fifty years,
has been sharpened on the milestone
of Thus Spake Zarathustra." The
German critic, Johannes Volkelt, once
wrote an essay on 1.-The necessity of
some sort of viewpoint in tragedy. He
nl,c No i,n nf life
the brooding meaning of it, cannot be
expressed save through the fashioning
touch of the dramatist's fundamental
convictions. But he also urged that
tragedy be permitted the royal pre-
rogative of choice amid the contending
PHILOSOPHERS of life. At this point Miss
Jameson steps forward and cries,
"Nayi" That's because she herself
is yea sayer Nietzschean, and ac-
Cording to her all plays that lay claim
to greatness must first of all be
pllLnged into the superman crucible.
Good plays, to be sure, may well be
and often are, the subtle emanations of
a profound human outlook on life
This outlook will, as like as not, be a
reflection of the scientific temper of
the times as of a philosophy whose
roots extend into the dim past Ger
tainly ian Tragedy, as Volket suggests,
well rounded viewpoint is distinct
asset, particularly n it derives it's Wig
or from the innermost impulses of hu-
man nature and from the energized
expression of the creators own per-
sonality Thus in enduring tragedy
the dross of the pivotal emotion is
.lAa r.f
deeper vision.
Ordinarily we do not anticipate
glance at the sum of things in a
dramatic critic, but in Storm Jane
sons. volume we have such glance.
1t moves lightninglike among the
dramatists of Europe. Illuminating
with merciless clarity both faults and
virtues, and frequently striking with
fatal effect amid the tinsel debris OF
mediocrity. The writer is by no means
wanting in brilliancy: her wit flashes
with rapier swiftne5S and her dialectic
strips away the false glamour that has
heretofore encircled many well known
names.
The authors approach is stated
clearly and succinctly In the foreword.
The only sane view for the world to-
day, she maintains. is that which is
to be found in the works of Friedrich
Nietzsche. Nietzsche's philosophy may
be briefly summed up as follows: Man
is not dominated by the will to live,
as Schopenhauer insisted, but rather
by a smouldering will to power. Man
is not an end in himself. but an in
carnate bridge toward something
greater and finer over which the spir-
II may travel. IL there is one thing
that man loves better than life 1t is
power-power to transcend self and
thus to attain to a nobler estate of
humanity.
AS is to be expected, in Miss jane
sons book a bare handful are exalted.
the majority of the dramatists consid-
cred emerge from the test rather limp
and bedraggled, OF totally bankrupt
In her appraisals Miss Jameson does
not hesitate to apply the scourge of
irony born of her deep conviction
Even our own III. l.. Mencken wields
no more caustic pen than this clair
voyant English critic. The result is
that Miss Jameson has undoubtedly
produced one of the most stimulating,
thoughtful and provocative books we
have recently had ON the drama.
The material is marshaled in chron-
illogical sequence, starting with the
pre-Ibsen theatre OF Scribe and Dumas
and concluding with the modern Rus
slams She execrates sheer photo
graphic naturalism with its nose buried
in the mire Her scorn of symbolism.
which she regards az the extreme left
wing Of maudlin romanticism. is only
slightly less devastating.
Apropos of pure Naturalism, she