The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1938-05-05
Book Reviews
The Best Plays of 1936-37
By Burns Mantle
BY Bernice Finnegan

The Best Plays of 1936-37
BY Burns Mantle
This season on Broadway Is chief
ly notable for its comedies and the
new BEST Plays" reflects their
lighthearted gaiety. But there are
to be found, in addition, several
more serious plays Of unusual sig
nificance. There is melodrama, too,
and even verse-altogether varied
and sparkling collection as readable
as they have been playable.
AS usual, in addition to the ten
most representative plays, which
are included by excerpt and sum-
mary, the volume lists the full casts
for each production Of the year,
the number of performances each
play has achieved, the date on
which it played, the statistical sum-
mary Of the season, the plays that
have run over five hundred per-
formances on Broadway" the birth
place and birthdates of prominent
actors, and the neurology"
Hearken Unto the Voice"
Franz Werfel
Franz Werfel was born in Prague
ON September 10, 1890, of Jewish
parents. He had all the advantages
of education and travel that are
customary to a European youth Of
cultured family and easy circum-
stances. After studying at Prague
and Leipzig, he went for further
study to Hamburg, where he pub
1ished his first poetry in 1911.
In 1912 he became a lecturer at
the University of Leipzig; from 1915
to 1917 he served on the Russian
front in the World War. After the
war, he retired to Vienna where he
has lived since 1918. In addition
to poetry, essays, and articles, he
soon began writing novels. His
greatest success in that form came
in 1884 with the publication of The
Forty Days Of Musa Dagh.
ever since my youth the hero
of this book has occupied my
thought, but it seems as If this day,
with all its storming and suffering,
had to come before found courage
to look him truly in the eye. Now
I believe that have delivered my
soul Of all that burned for utterance
and was given me to say"
Stefan Zweig, addressing Franz
Werfel on the subject of the book,
writes: More than ever before,
your innermost being reveals itself
.creatively. I don't know whether
you yourself are aware of what
you accomplish, what you signify to
us and to our time and what a mar
vel you are. At moments become
dizzy following your progress along
the steep heights that you have
been treading these last few years"
- .
Hearken Unto the Voice
BY Franz Werfel
In this magnificent, heart-stirring
novel Franz Werfel brings to full
realization the many facets Of a
genius that has long been recogniz-
ed as one of the great voices OF
modern literature. It is q story of
the days Of the Kings and the Prop
-hets-when mighty rulers took the
field for the glory Of their names
and the greater glory Of their gods,
and when holy men stood upon the
high places and spoke the word OF
the Lord as 1t was vouchsafed them.
In particular, 1t Is the story OF
Jeremiah, through whose lips Jeho-
yah spoke to the children Of David
In accents of divine wrath. And
through the eyes Of this sensitive
but answering prophet is unfolded
the incredible pageantry Of the east
-ern world in the flower of its
might. Josiah and Zedekiah, Phar-
aoh and Nebuchadnezzar, the plum
bedecked warriors and the ragged
.slaves-Jeremiah commanded the
attention Of the great and the
wretched from one corner of the
ancient world to the other. For a
prophet Of doom finds no resting
place for his head, and as he wan
.ders through the land he meets
many people and learns to under
stand many things, and 1t is no
great wonder that men come to
hate him as they fear his words.
But the true greatness OF this
story, and the final proof Of Wer-
-fePs genious. rests in the fact that
the life Of jeremiah becomes the
story Of the men of all the ages
from whose eyes have been torn
the scales of self-delusion. For he
has created a frame for his story
which permits us to see and under
stand it through the eyes of a mod
ern man. jeremiah walks In the
courtyard Of the Temple, descends
into thu hall NJ fho TOvnffa ma