New-York tribune., 1922-07-23


VW YHO would expect to find n
NA/ book full of highly stimu-
W " lating dramatic criticism
issued in brown paper COW
ers az No. 81 OF the Ner-
vous and Mental Disease Monograph
Series? / would, for one, since these
erudite treatises are always at the
same time brilliant and acute, as is
also DR.. Jelliffe, world figure in
psycho-analysis and not unacquainted ID
with literature, No. "a is decidedly q
contribution to the study of the drama
Dramatic criticism? Let sleeping
dogmas lie, but think psychoanalysis
and the Drama" is certainly that.
Tempus fugit, does it not? There can
be no great critical meris any longer
in mere ignorance of the latest dis
coveries concerning the soul of man as
1t dwells for the greater part in the un-
conscious, nor in the inability to han
die the technique of exploration in
that vast, thrilling territory. Verify,
sooner or later all those whose bust
ness it is to discuss that odd product
or the unconscious, art, must make
their peace with Freud
DR.. Jelliffe and his collaboration con-
slider the drama to be an important
psychotherapeutic agent, serving as an
avenue of release for overcharged emo
tions, relieving the strain of re-
preston, ministerng to the psychic
| physician to mankind, handmade and
| assistant ha ho-
analyst himself.
Can you beat that!" one hears ex-
claim some astonished student Of
William Archer. And you really can't,
for it seems to be quite true.
THE spectator" we read, need not
be consciously aware of the close re-
lation to himself of the problems pre-
terest in their progress, their solution
or the disaster that follows in their
train lies chiefly in the unconscious,
where mis- own problems largely lie
hidden. The mission of the drama is
to apply healing. sometimes through
the solution effectively presented or
| perhaps only through the laying of
these open for certain amount Of
psychic ventilation"
| MO GREAT novelty Is claimed by the
authors or by the reviewer for this
starting point of theory, which is quite
within the scope and doctrine Of the
pre-Freudian intelligence. The stimu-
lating quality Of the study inheres
rather in the illumination, elaboration
and further developm ent Of this point
Of view by the Freudian technique and
! in its application to nine plays that
have been produced on Broadway in
recent seasons: Surely any one who
can read at ell and who can raise SO
will not want to miss this bill of fare.
The bulk of the monograph consists
in the necessarily somewhat superficial
analysis Of the leading dramatis per-
soma of the nine chosen examples. The
of Youth" "Peter Ibbetson," "Redemp-
ton "The Army With Banners" "The
| Willow Tree" "The Yellow Jacket"
Dear Brutus'' and "The Jest" No one
can say that DR.. Jelliffe and Louise
Brink are literary snobs. Such popular
appeal as lies in certain of these plays
may lead to the perusal of No. "a by
| many persons who stand greatly in
need of an introduction of psycho-anal-
speak, prevent them from wading into
longer and heavier studies. For in
stance, dramatists. And a critic or
| two.
The authors Of No. "a feel no hesi-
fancy in drawing morals" Of an
almost theological rigidity from the
fates of the various heroes and nor
rible examples encountered in the
plays. Those who still imagine that psy-
cho-analysts are loose persons should
read this book. The fact is, psyche
analysis seems to be in the clutches of
an inflexible system of ethics based
hich &c
cunningly represented to be the only
true means of attaining individual
freedom and happiness. One dislikes
to fling the charge of plagiarism, but
this sounds suspiciously like the
| Golden Rule.
I'm spite Of their victorious trans
d. valuations and diss ociations, psy-
ho-analysts in general are firmly con-
vinced that they know the difference
| between right and wrong, good and
bad, although they do not resort to
the banality of these particular words.
They are likely to say "higher" and
Clover" And in consequence they
the old-fashi oned virtues. Their sense
of duty, for example, toward the poor
neurotic. is positively Philistine.
But DR.. Jelliffe and Louise Brink do
not condemn. They deplore. They
pity. They cure. With the aid of the
drama, be it noted. Paradoxically,
they cure with the aid of the drama
which is not seldom produced by
those who, by the tenets of psyche
analysis, need nothing SO urgently as
thorough "psyching." But the
psychology Of the artist, to me the
most interesting phase of the develop
ing psycho-analytical study of litera-
ture, is barely mentioned in this mono
graph. One longs to have DR.. Jelliffe
handle this fruitful subject, but at
present he is intent upon humanity
and the communal good.
Why ask for more, however, when
one is introduced into the secret places
in the hearts of the heroes and hero
ines of the drama, the demigods and
goddesses we have so often laughed at
and suffered from? Who would have
thought that WI Hoo Git, the manly
hero Of "The Yellow Jacket" had an
Edipus complex? But he got over
it, thus illustrating the natural path Of
sublimation. One had always sus-
pected the daffodil of this ailment, but
it seems that his trouble was only
narcissism.
Fascinating Neri Chiaramentesi and
Giannetto, Of "The Jest" are sum-
moned up, but only to serve as awful
examples of the effects of hate. We
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