File:Dramatists of to-day- (1911) (14580574760).jpg

Identifier: dramatistsoftoda00hal (find matches)
Title: Dramatists of to-day:
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: Hale, Edward Everett, 1863-1932
Subjects: Rostand, Edmond, 1868-1918 Hauptmann, Gerhart, 1862-1946 Sudermann, Hermann, 1857-1928 Pinero, Arthur Wing, Sir, 1855-1934 Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950 Phillips, Stephen. (from old catalog) Maeterlinck, Maurice, 1862-1949
Publisher: New York, H. Holt and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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s before M. Rostand becamea familiar figure in the literature of the time thatM. Maeterlinck appeared, and in a very differentmanner. Although a dramatist, he became knownfrom the printed versions of his plays. It was in1893 that translations of his earlier plays werepublished in America, and up to that time few inthis country had ever heard of him, fewer wereacquainted with his work, and none had ever seenhis works upon the stage. M. Maeterlinck was introduced to the widerworld of letters under the cloud of comparisonwith Shakespeare. In America and England, atleast, he was therefore received with a smile, as oneof those humorous movements that flutter aftereach other like exquisite humming-birds throughthe Parisian world of letters. He had been called,by M. Octave Mirbeau in the Figaro, the BelgianShakespeare. If he had been called the OllendorfShakespeare, the Puppetshow Shakespeare, or theNursery Shakespeare, the name would have con-veyed more accurately the impression which he174
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MAURICE MAETERLINCKReprinted by courtesy of Messrs. Dodd, Mead and Company. MAETERLINCK 175 made at first. Some people became very angry athim: Max Nordau, a violent person of that day,called him a mental cripple, an idiotic driveller,an imbecile plagiarist. In general, people merelycould not understand him at all, though they couldses that some of his ways were funny. The well-known dialogue—people may not remember thatit was quite as remarkable as the burlesques on it: MALEINE Wait! I am beginning to see. NURSE Do you see the city? MALEINE No. NURSE And the castle? MALEINE No. NURSE It must be on the other side. MALEINE And yet . . . There is the sea. NURSE There is the sea? MALEINE Yes, yes; the sea. It is green. 176 MAETERLINCK NURSE But then you ought to see the city. Let uslook. MALEINE I see the lighthouse. NURSE You see the lighthouse? MALEINE Yes; I think it is the lighthouse. NURSE But, then, you ought to see the city. MALEINE I do not see the city. NURSE You do not see th

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