Evening star., 1928-10-20
THE LIBRARY TABLE
Bv The Bookiorer

For some years before writing THE
DynastS." called by one critic zone OF
the most momentous achievements OF
modern literature" Thomas Hardy had
been recurringly interested in the great
international upheaval represented by
the Napoleonic wars. There are evil
Major" and number of the short
stories and poems Then in 1908, after
writing all his novels, he published
Part of THE Dynasts." Parts II and
III appeared in 1906 and 1908. Alto
gether there are 19 acts and 130 scenes.
In planning the play he chose the
chronicle form, one of the oldest forms
of English drama. that used by Shake
speare in his Henry v" and all the
other plays of the English kings. The
unity of such play Is not ditficult to
preserve, for it depends simply on the
sequence of historical events. The
story is told Of Napoleon's career from
his projected invasion of England in
1904 to his downfall at Waterloo in l81 5.
The chief protagonists are England and
France. In the first part, which opens
on A. ridge in Wessex, the leading
scenes are the attempted repeal Of the
defense act in the British Parliament
the coronation of Napoleon in Milan
Cathedral the preparations for the in
vasion of England, the battles of Ulm
and AuSterlitZ and the death of Nelson
at Trafalgar. The second part shows
the Prussian defeat at Jena, the famous
conference of Napoleon and Gar Alex
ander of Russia at Tilsit, the battle
of Wagram, the Walcheren expedition,
Napoleon's divorce from Josephine. his
marriage with Marie-LoIlise of Austria,
10 0f ~
Rome; the placing of Joseph Bonaparte
upon the throne of Spain, the Penin-
sular campaign under Wellesley. The
third part moves swiftly to the end,
through the disastrous Russian inva-
sion of 1912. the battle of Leipzig,
Napoleon'S Punishment to Elba his
escape the Hundred Days and the bat
tie Of Waterloo.
Many critical appreciations of "The
Dynasts" have been written. An excel
lent one is to be found in the last
chapter of Thomas Hardy; Critical
Study" by Lascelles Abercrombie THE
Dynasts." according to Mr.. Abercrombie.
attends to something that the age of
Tennyson and Browning quite failed TO
effect This epic-drama of
Thomas Hardy's is. in what may be
the words of Milton and Wordsworth
in our literature, and beyond it to
Faust and 'Prometheus Bound'" The
structure Of the play is complicated
The chronicle of the Napoleonic era is
set within framework of the super
natural, called the "Overworld." In the
"forescene" of the "Overworld" move
and chant a group of symbolica1 char
acterS, the Ancient Spirit, the Chorus
of the Years, the Spirit and Chorus of
the Pities, the Shade of the Earth, the
Spirits Sinister and Ironic, with their
Choruses, Rumours. Spirit Messengers
and Recording Angels. These symbol
ical figures interSperSe choragic verses
throughout the whole drama. The
many changes Of scene and the large
number of characters show immedi-
ately that this is play for the library,
not for the stage 1t is more epic than
dramatic Hardy says in his preface:
Readers will readily discern. too. that
The Dynasts' Is play intended simply
for mental performance, and not for
the stage A practicable COM
promise may conceivably result. taking
the shape of monotonic delivery of
speeches, with dreamy conventional ges-
lures, something in the manner ira
ditionally maintained by the old Christ
mas mummers" The scene changes
from Wessex to Paris. London, Bou-
logne, Milan, Gibraltar, Austria, Bavaria.
Trafalgar, various places in France
Bath, Berlin, Tilsit and the River
Niemen, the Pyrenees, Madrid and
various other places in Spain, the open
sea off the Spanish coast, Vienna,
Brighton St Petersburg. Windsor. Mos
COW. Lithuania, Leipzig, the Rhine.
Fontainebleau, Avignon. Malmaison.
Elba. Brussels and Waterloo. These
are by no means al lof the places. and
the action shifts back and forth to some
of them many times The characters
number several hundred and include
not only George III. all the important
English statesmen and generals OF the
period, all the Bonaparte family, all
Napoleons generals and all the SOW
ereigns of Europe, but such minor per-
sonages as "a Gentleman of Fashion, ;"
"A Country Gentleman" Coach and
other Highway Passengers" "A Militia
mans wife" Madame Grassini and
the Ladies of the Opera" French
Market Women" and numerous others.
The dialogue is in both verse and prose;
the stage directions are In prose.
Fatalism is the keynote, as it is In all
Hardy's novels. Life is represented as
a colossal tragedy. The choruSes OF the
Pities. the Ironies and the Years pre-
sent the philosophic conclusions from
the horrors of what Hardy calls the
Great Historical Calamity or Clash OF
Peoples. artificially brought about some
hundred years ago.
If it is genuine. THE Diary OF
Communist Schoolboy,' by N. OgnyoV,
translated from the Russian by Alexan-
der Worth, is a contribution to knoWl-
edge of the Bolshevist methods OF edu-
cation. The boy who writes the diary
is called Kostya RiabtZov and Is the
15-year-old son of a tailor. Because
Kostya. diminutive for Constantine,
was the name of a Turkish Gar. the
boy changes his name TO Walden
Whether the diary is that OF real
boy or is the literary production OF NJ
Ognyov, does not appear. We may
take it as fiction or as biography, as
we choose. Through the diary we
see Russian schoolboys attempting TO
absorb social doctrines which are some
what beyond their years. Though the
doctrines may not be aSsimilated. the
catch phrases are picked up with tacll-
ity. Meetings and discussions are end
less and reasons are demanoed LOT
everything Student f-governmenC
prevails, but does not always work well:
Kostya gives episodes of teacher-puph
conflict. Here Is one: The teacner'
a young woman. addressed her CESS
as children" and Kostya resented the
epithet; but she persisted, whereupon
he invited her 'to be more polite or
else we may send you to the devil"
She retorted by sending him from the
room, but instead of going he gave
her q lecture on her place In the edu-
cational system. I'm the first place
s. v this is not a classroom. but lab
oratory. and in any case you can't cnaSe
anv one out--you're more like q teach
err of the old school, and only they were
allowed to behave as you do"
X x X
A recent Mark Twain story Is said
to have been told by lawyer of Dallas.
When Mark Twain got married. he was