The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-11-23
DR.. GRIGGS TALKS
ON MAETERLINCk
Audience at Elks' Club is
Charmed by Lecture on
....,... Synbolist Artist.
DEATH AND DESTINY

mosphere aroused last evening by DR..
E. H. Griggs in his lecture on Maeter-
linck. He dealt last evening only with
Maeterlinck as a youthful dreamer,
and with his dreams of Death as
Destiny, and will proceed on the four
consecutive Tuesday evenings to give
a still deeper insight into the nature
of a poet who deals with emotional
experiences in the great region of
the unknown.
"Maeterlinck is one of the broad
est, most open minds in literature to-
day." said DR.. Griggs. HE has not
the depths and profundity of thought
that Ibsen possesses, but then he has
not. Ibsen's chronic pessimism, and
Maeterlinck has the gift of cosmo-
politan inclusiveness of vision. His
largest audience is outside of Bel
GUM and France, where he wrote.
Childhood Influences.
"Maeterlinck's childhood was beau
tifuI and serene" said the lecturer.
.'He was born in Client, in 1862. From
his picturesque backyard he could see
the boats peacefully gliding down
canal, and through his association
with the peasant life around him, he
acquired their simple art of reitera-
ton which occurs continually in his
works. He suffered through seven
desolate years at, the University of
| Client, where he was enrolled as a
lawyer. His first book, "The Massacre
of the Innocents," was published by
hand, and was patterned after fam
Gus painting. He finally abandoned
the law, as the call to literature be-
came stronger, and finally published
in bound volumes his first book of
poetry, lighthouses" 1t was written
after the Symbolist school. = In the
same year he published his first drama
princess Malaine," and by it he &C
cidentally achieved remarkable sue
cess. His benefactors compared him
favorably with Shakespeare, but Mae
terlinck himself denies the COMPARE
son. His excellence is unique, and lies
in his difference from Shakespeare"
Has Atmosphere of Fancy.
r. DR.. Griggs made clear that ifr Mae
terlinck, there was no action, but an
effort to adumbrate something other
than the character, and action-the
almost impossible task of interpret
ing the communion between souls.
He uses reiteration of commonplace
phrases to create. an atmosphere, emp
hasizing not the words themselves but
the greatness of infnity, with the in
significance it gives. to human beings,
lending them at the same timeAa sort
of dignity.
DR.. Griggs further cast upon his au-
dience the spell of Maeterlinck, when
! he read cuttings from several of the
destiny" dramas. This succeeded as
nothing else could, in giving his list
eners a glimpse of the hypnotizing
effect which Maeterlinck achieves. In
"Pelleas and Mellisande," considered
to be the greatest Of the dramas set
with romatic medieval characters, is
best brought out the fact that words
and tears were important to Maeter-
linck, only as they helped the effect
of terror, or love as driving destiny
"Allodine and Palomides" is another
of the same type.
Portrayed Common People.
"Maeterlincks plays which emphas-
lied the modern demand for realism in
picturing common people, are even
more successful in their symbolism
He eliminates words which describe
actions, and substitutes those which
seem to reveal the intangible work
ings of the soul. They are plays for
marienettes,- because human being
in one of Maeterlinck's dramas de-
stroys the effects which are achieved
through language only. Maeterlinck's
old people always speak for him be-
cause he believes that age brings GER
tain sympathetic understandings of
| life. Realism as we understand it or
dinarily, only gives us a surface pict-
ure of life, though true to detail, but
something must be added to life, be-
fore we can understand it. Poetry in
some intangible way does this, and
Maeterlinck also does it in his dramas.
Taking line from his beautiful In
terror Maeterlinck believes with the
old man that there is too much life
we do not understand We must
have a little silence in our hearts
in order to achieve spiritual under
standing"
1.-THE Blind is the greatest artistic
achievement Maeterlinck has made SO
far. He wrote it at the age of twenty
eight, not for the actors, but for the
reader. His actors are. not, real people
but poor little human beings trembling
on the, abyss overshaded by Fate
"The intrinsic beauty of The
Blind" said DR.. Griggs, lis so great
that it is a pity to read an indefinite
allegory into it, but somehow we can
not help thinking that Maeterlinck
meant something all the time, which
was deeper and greater in significance
than the surface drama"
Next Tuesday evening Dr. Griggs
will speak on the later dramas of
Maeterlinck, especially Norma Vana,
which were influenced by his gay lit
terary surroundings iii Paris, and by
the love. of strong, beautiful woman.
Maeterlinck, at the age of thirty-four,
left off great deal of his morbidity
and became true interpreter of life.