Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-06-12
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margaret Cermond.

It Is likely that when the final
analyses Of this years books are conn
| pleted and made public the most irn-
portant publication among the classics
In America and England will be a
masterpiece Of fitera.ure and drama
that IL more than seventy years old.
1t is q work that is familiar through
out Europe and parts Of Asia and Is
loved by the people Of many lands.
Yet, by some strange failure Of rec
ignition, both the genius and his
work have remained literally unknown
to the two great English-speaking
nations until . little more than q
year ago, when Mr.. Charles Henry
Meltzer attempted to find q publisher
or q manager who would produce the
| first really successful English trans
lation from the Hungarian OF The
Tragedy of Man"
Hungarians everywhere know the
epic almost by heart. 1t has been
translated into Russian, German,
Czechoslovakian, Hebrew, French, Ital-
ian, Rumanian and Arabic. Costly
presentations Of the drama have for
years drawn large audiences In al
Of the famous continental theaters.
Yet In London and New York Mr..
Meltzer could md no one who had
ever heard of Madach or the "Trag-
edy." It's publication on May 20
merits congratulations to the Mac
milan house and to Mr.. Meltzer and
Paul Vajda for their masterful trans
lation Of the work, which they now
offer to English readers.
As q work OF literature, Madach's
dramatic poem is similar in type to
Coethe's Faust" and Byron's Cain"
Its characters are Adam, the eternal
man, and Eve, the eternal woman,
and its theme Is the struggle Of these
two through the ages toward the ideal
Of God. Beside them in their quest
for the meaning Of life and the beauty
Of eternal love travels Lucifer, the
destroyer CT faith, Of ideals and Of
hope. In the fifteen scenes coinpris-
ing the drama Adam Is given the pow
er by Lucifer to foresee the future Of
mankind on earth, and in series Of
visions he lives and walks the earth
as the hero in the succeeding ages
Of civilization.
1t Is in the role Of a young Pharaoh
that Adam begins his career as
leader among the peoples Of the earth.
The wretchedness to which slavery has
reduced the Egyptians moves him TO
pity. As ruler absolute he DEGREES
freedom for the masses and lays the
foundation for the attainment of the
ideal, the great Commonwealth, in
which all men win be granted equal
opportunity. In this scene Eve ap-
pears as q slave. ...-
Adam appears next in Athens. as
Miltiades, where he sees his ideal Of
the Commonwealth destroyed by the
mob rule of people set free. and
where he Il sent to the guillotine at
the win Of the new spirit which marks
the birth Of the Fatherland. 1t Is as
his consort and companion that Eve
shares his life In this vision.
Discouraged by the failure Of his
noble ideals, Adam asks new expert
ences. Reincarnate as Sergiolus, in
famous Roman of noble tn, he in
dulges in the orgies that sweep the
great empire In the period Of her de-
cay and then espouses Christianity
after he becomes acquainted with
Peter, the apostle. Eve this time
symbolizes pleasure.
Again reincarnate, Adam appears in
Constantinoplc as Tancred, valorous
leader Of the Crusaders, wearied and
| disheartened by the disputations of
theologians that have hidden the true
meaning Of Christianity behind q
maze Of cobwebs. It Is in this scene
that he sees Eve consigned to a life
OF isolation by O terror stricken father.
as sacrifice to the Virgin Mary.
The struggles Of leadership and the
tragedies Of lost hope have taken
their toll from eternal man, and Adam
is no longer young. But the world
moves on into its next era, and with
it new hope Is born for the saliva
ton Of mankind. The age Of Science
dawns with Adam in Prague as Keep
Ter, the removed astronomer and as
trologer, and Eve as the money-mad
wife who has no patience with the de-
mands Of his laboratory.
Next comes the French Revolution
In which Adam strives, in the role
Of Danton, to save the nation from
destruction by the very frenzy of its
revolt. and dies on the scaffold pre-
dieting that Robespierre, who has
ordered his execution, win shortly
meet the same fate. Eve the scornfuI
and Eve the temptress divide the role
OF woman eternal in this vision.
Adam now ceases to be q leader and
becomes an observer of mankind's
strife against the forces of his own
| creation. He sees London in the grip
OF Capitalism, and society plunging
toward state of degradation from
which there is no escape except by the
influence Of the eternal woman, And
following capitalism comes the age of
communism, wherein individualism
has vanished and all spiritual life is
destroyed.
There is no hope for humanity, and
Adams seeks a way out. He scars into
space with Lucifer, and beholds the
earth from afar. It is frozen, and life
Is all but extinct. In despair, he asks
to be awakened from his dream.
Lucifer grants his request. and thereby
seals his own doom. Through every
known age of history he has en-
desvored, through Adam, to destroy
mans ideals, his trust and his faith in
God. Brought out Of his visions, Adam
Is almost convinced. Eve again ap-
| pears, draws Adam aside and speaks
for his ears alone. The eternal man
and the eternal woman live on, tri-
umphant. In renewed faith and
courage.
| y * X
In the dramas with which this work
has been compared the original theme
Of Satan against man is similar. 1.-The
Tragedy OF Man." however like the
others 1t may be In this respect. turns
to a higher plane Of thought. Here is
no struggle of the individual for the
preservation Of self from the conse-
quences of his association with Satan,
but the continuous striving of hu-
mainly to keep Its relationship with
that intangible and powerful spiritual
force beyond the universe from whence
comes the strength to survive and the
hope Of eternal life. @