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C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
G. R. Lomer, ed. The Student’s Course in Literature.

Early Twentieth-Century Drama

By Edgar White Burrill (b. 1883)

Introduction

THE SERIOUS drama of the last forty years, which begins approximately with Ibsen, its chief exponent, is characterized primarily by its emphasis upon ideas. It deals first and foremost with intellectual, often quite abstract, concepts, and its emotional appeal is secondary. Reflecting the pre-occupation of humanity everywhere with the changing standards of life which are brought about by new scientific and humanitarian points of view, the drama concerns itself with problems of many kinds, investigates freely all conditions of life, and searches everywhere for truth. The portrayal of life for its own sake does not seem to satisfy the dramatists of to-day; they believe that their plays should present some special theory for living, should give information and direction for specific conduct. Too often, perhaps, life has thus been reduced to formulas, and as a result there have been reactions from the didacticism of this trend, such as are reflected in the plays of the Irish dramatists and especially of Yeats.

The old idea of conflict in the drama, either between the individual and an externally imposed destiny, as with the Greeks, or between the individual’s self-originating will and some champion of the immutable moral laws of the universe, as with the Elizabethans, underwent a transformation upon the advent of the theory of evolution, which exerted such a profound effect upon all phases of thought. This biological impress upon the world’s methods of thinking has led the dramatist to consider the belief that the individual is the creature of the historical moment, of social environment, of physical heredity. It is seen that moral laws are not eternally changeless, as Ibsen pointed out in ‘An Enemy of the People,’ and, as Barker illustrated in ‘The Voysey Inheritance,’ that no volition exists without preliminary and contributing causes. Hence the emphasis of recent drama is not upon erring individuals who defy righteousness, but upon rebellious heroes who attack outworn customs, unjust laws, and malevolent instincts and circumstances. Injustice everywhere in the universe is analyzed, but attention is focused most of all upon the victims of hereditary defects, and of imperfect social institutions. In such a play as Ibsen’s ‘Ghosts’ we find most clearly the individual’s unavailing struggle with a physical and mental prenatal taint, and in Hauptmann’s ‘The Weavers’ we are shown upon a large scale the revolt of a class against a wretched and unjust environment. Galsworthy depicts in ‘Strife’ the bitter struggle between capital and labor; Brieux, in ‘Damaged Goods,’ and Shaw, in ‘Mrs. Warren’s Profession,’ attack the social evil. The emancipation of women is treated by Ibsen in ‘A Doll’s House’ and ‘The Lady from the Sea’; the problem of society’s treatment of the criminal and the unfit is analyzed by Galsworthy in ‘Justice’ and ‘The Pigeon.’ Björnson, in ‘Beyond Our Power,’ and Moody, in ‘The Faith Healer,’ deal with the power of faith; Pinero in ‘Mid-Channel’ discusses the drifting apart of really compatible married people; and Lady Gregory in ‘Spreading the News,’ like Echegaray in ‘The Great Galeoto,’ portrays the grave consequence of gossip. Racial problems are presented in Zangwill’s ‘The Melting Pot,’ while Kennedy’s ‘The Servant in the House’ makes an appeal for the real Christianity of service. These plays are typical of the new emphasis, not upon individual frailty or guilt, but upon the responsibility of society as a whole for conditions which adversely affect the community. There is frequently no reconciliation nor final acquiescence in the punishment received, but rather a protest against the injustice of its administration by heaven and earth. The purport of the majority of these plays, however, is that the people of this world are able, by co-operating here and now, to remove many of the causes of future ill; for the justice of events is now seen to lie largely in human hands.

Scandinavian Drama

The chief Scandinavian dramatists, Ibsen, Björnson, and Strindberg, all appear in the LIBRARY. The reader will find in the selections from their plays and in the critical essays an ample introduction to their work.

While any attempt to mark the exact beginning of the modern movement in the drama must fail, yet the influence of the great Scandinavian dramatist, Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) continues to be the most convenient starting point and the most potent single element. Technically and philosophically he has influenced all the writers who have followed him, and he reflects most concisely and variously the prevailing ideas of our times.

Of his early plays, which were in the form of poetic dramas, ‘Brand’ and ‘Peer Gynt’ reflect two aspects of the character of his countrymen. Brand is the ruthless idealist who sacrifices not only himself but all his family and friends in an uncompromising pursuit of what he believes to be the truth. He is the Brutus type which, having lost touch with reality and become wholly impractical, has nevertheless a touch of the sublime in the selfishness with which it seeks martyrdom in the fulfilment of every duty. Peer Gynt, the dreamer, the incarnation of selfish individualism, on the other hand, seeks always the easy way, learning to compromise with every situation and refusing ever to burn all his bridges behind him. In his life-long search to find himself and to be true to his own nature, he realizes at last that his real self is to be found preserved only in the loving heart of a woman.

Of the prose dramas, ‘Pillars of Society’ depicts the regeneration of a respected leader of the community whose success had been founded upon a lie. ‘A Doll’s House’ is a ringing plea for independence of thought and action on the part of women, and especially of wives. ‘Ghosts’ repudiates the doctrine that a woman owes allegiance to her husband if he has become degenerate and despicable. ‘An Enemy of the People’ is a defense of the reformer who, like Ibsen himself, is assailed when he proposes to tell the truth at all costs, even to the injuring of the pocketbook of the community. ‘The Wild Duck’ is a study of Quixotic idealism which foolishly insists upon a literal interpretation of self-sacrifice. ‘Rosmersholm’ presents the familiar triangle situation, with the suicide of the unhappy wife followed by the similar self-destruction of the conscience-stricken lovers. ‘Hedda Gabler’ is largely a pathological analysis of the vampire type of woman, willing to exert her power in purely destructive ways, but brought to this procedure largely because of incompatibility of temperament with her well-meaning husband. ‘The Master Builder’ is a portrait of the ruthless man of affairs afraid that his success will be infringed upon by the younger generation whose ideas and strength he has appropriated, and making one final supreme effort to regain his own lost strength and freedom. ‘Little Eyolf’ is another study of the family, the child being sacrificed to the selfish absorption of the parents, who find peace at length in their devotion to the service of the community. ‘John Gabriel Borkman’ presents a deposed captain of industry. ‘When We Dead Awaken’ shows us an artist who has killed his soul by sacrificing life to art.

Ibsen’s contemporary, Björnstjerne Björnson (1832–1910), was a novelist and statesman as well as a dramatist, but he was the first to found the new drama in Norway. Unlike his fellow-countryman, he uses little of the retrospective method in his technique, but after his earlier efforts with historical plays, he, like Ibsen, uses the drama for a free discussion of individual rights and intellectual liberty. Sometimes he is too evidently the propagandist.

The great Swedish dramatist, August Strindberg (1849–1912), was the chief opponent of Ibsen’s ideas of emancipation for women, and savagely attacked the rise of feminism, in such plays as ‘The Father,’ ‘Countess Julia,’ ‘The Dance of Death,’ and ‘Comrades,’ where he bitterly represents woman as the robber of man’s power. The instinctive duel of sex, as he represents it, is strongly portrayed in the one-act study of hatred called ‘Creditors.’

American Drama

From the literary point of view, the situation of the drama in America is exceptional; many of the important plays are not available in print, while many that have been published have not been fortunate enough, under the peculiar conditions of professional production, to have a hearing from the stage. Then, too, a considerable number of the plays that deal with important ideas do so in a way that is too sensational or too melodramatic to remain as permanent contributions. Of many of the younger dramatists, such as George M. Cohan, it is still too early to predict whether their work entitles them to serious consideration. One of the most important plays of the last decade, Eugene Walter’s ‘The Easiest Way,’ is still not available for general reading, and Augustus Thomas’s ‘The Witching Hour’ has only recently been made so. The work of Edward Sheldon in ‘Salvation Nell,’ ‘The Nigger,’ and ‘Romance’ promised well, but four years have gone by without anything further of significance from him. In the older men, like Bronson Howard and James A. Herne, no trace of the modern tendencies of the drama can be found. Clyde Fitch, indeed, has a long list of clever comedies to his credit, but he will hardly be ranked as a commanding genius, though ‘The Truth’ is well worth while, and his posthumous play, ‘The City,’ attempts to analyze certain morbid aspects of city life. William Vaughn Moody, primarily a poet, has left one great play in ‘The Great Divide,’ and Percy MacKaye, of similarly poetic temperament, has tried his hand at various types of drama. Charles Rann Kennedy and Israel Zangwill are neither, strictly speaking, to be classed as Americans, though the former has done good work over here with ‘The Servant in the House’ and ‘The Terrible Meek,’ revivals of older types of play, and the latter, in ‘The Melting Pot,’ has voiced American democracy as well as any one. As a whole, however, American drama is still in the making, and the best is yet to be.

Belgian Drama

Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949), “the Belgian Shakespeare,” is known as a philosopher as well as a dramatist, though in the latter capacity he created the type of drama known as the static play, the drama of situation and atmosphere. His early work is strongly tinged with fatalism, and most of his writing deserves the adjectives mystic and symbolistic. Yet his dramatic achievements are not limited to the expression of subconscious moods or semi-conscious feelings, as ‘Monna Vanna’ will demonstrate. His best-known play, however, is the charming allegory called ‘The Blue Bird.’

English Drama

The best plays of the Scotch novelist and dramatist, Sir James Barrie (1860–1937), are not available in print, but none the less they will probably outlast the great bulk of the plays of to-day. Their charm and humor, together with a thorough exemplification of expert technique, render them unique.

Arnold Bennett (1867–1931), notable as a novelist, has contributed a few plays to the body of English drama, but they are not especially noteworthy.

John Galsworthy (1867–1933), novelist and essayist, is the author of several plays of sociological import. ‘Strife,’ ‘Justice,’ ‘The Pigeon,’ are humanitarian studies in which he sympathetically analyzes certain defects in the social fabric, but he never loses sight of the fact that he is primarily an artist.

With a long list of plays to his credit, Henry Arthur Jones (1851–1929) cannot be ranked very high as a playwright, but he has nevertheless done much for the uplift of the contemporary drama in English. He clings to the older traditions of high comedy, and his characteristic work is along the line of the comedy of manners.

John Masefield (1878–1967), the poet, has created a great tragedy in his ‘Tragedy of Nan,’ a play of rare beauty, pathos, and pitiless cruelty. Aside from this, he will be known as an original and vigorous poet, and the poetic quality is perhaps the most striking characteristic of this play, as of his others.

Stephen Phillips (1868–1915) marks about the last attempt of the later English drama to produce dramatic poetry, but it should be said of his plays that they have only partially succeeded on the stage.

Belonging more to the old school than to the new, Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855–1934) has given us some careful studies of our contemporaries in ‘The Second Mrs. Tanqueray,’ considered the finest English play of its time (1893), ‘Iris,’ ‘The Thunderbolt,’ excellent for its middle-class characterizations, and ‘Mid-Channel,’ though his more mature work has not met with the success accorded to his earlier and lighter plays.

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) delights in attacking the current comfortable conceptions of morality and manners, and, with his sharp Celtic wit, is always able to reveal new angles of truth. The penetrative prefaces with which he accompanies the printed versions of his plays are often as important as the dramas themselves. There is a strong economic accent to his work, and he is deeply interested in reforms of all kinds; but this earnestness is so carefully subordinated to his scintillating cleverness that it is often overlooked or mistaken. Sometimes, indeed, the irrelevant talk in which his characters indulge interferes with the action, but it is so amusing and stimulating that the audience is never bored or resentful.

The hard brilliance of the wit of Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) does not prevent four of his comedies from ranking high above the work of his contemporaries for their ingenuity of plot and their epigrammatic dialogue.

French Drama

Henri Becque (1837–1899) was the originator of the French naturalistic school of drama which was produced at its own theatre, the famous Free Theatre, under the leadership of André Antoine. Eugène Brieux (1858–1932), and Paul Hervieu (1857–1915) are the best exponents of the thesis play in France. The latter attacks certain phases of the law in its relation to marriage, and the former declares himself the enemy of every abuse of power and all authority, “because in human hands they develop sooner or later into tyranny.” These writers are less artistic sociologists in the drama than Galsworthy, but Brieux especially, with less reticence and more thorough utilitarianism, treats almost all the great problems of the day. Edmond Rostand (1868–1918), on the other hand, cares little for problems as such, and, turning away from realism, prefers to deal with life poetically and romantically.

German Drama

Gerhart Hauptmann (1862–1946), the foremost living dramatist of Germany, has two distinct tendencies, naturalism and romanticism; but he is such a restless experimenter that few of his dramas are akin in form, subject matter, or treatment. Essentially the poet in such a play as ‘The Sunken Bell,’ he is incontestably the scientific realist in his first play, ‘Before Dawn,’ which was contributed to the Free Theatre movement in Germany. Hermann Sudermann (1857–1928), though possessed of little of the poetry and power of characterization of his fellow-dramatist, has a superior technique; less idealistic, he is the more perfect craftsman. His ‘Magda’ (‘Heimat’) is a triumph of the so-called well-made play, united with a strictly modern theme, the protest of the woman-genius against family traditions.

Irish Drama

William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) was a leader in the Irish dramatic renaissance, with which the names of Lady Gregory (1852–1932) and George Moore (1852–1933) are also associated. With them he founded the Irish Literary Theatre, which was later to produce also the work of that chronicler of the primitive, John Millington Synge (1871–1909). Yeats desired to revive the legends and literature of ancient Ireland, and has done so in such plays as ‘The Land of Heart’s Desire,’ and ‘Deirdre.’ Synge’s ‘Riders to the Sea’ is a one-act masterpiece, a tragedy full of the finest prose-poetry and most poignant pathos. Lady Gregory has contributed some fine pieces of native comedy, while William Boyle, St. John Ervine, T. C. Murray, and Lennox Robinson also have the objective temperament, somewhat lacking in the more visionary Yeats, which can project everyday humanity upon the stage. Last of all comes Lord Dunsany, with his extraordinary imagination which can body forth gods and Fate and ancient lands that never were, in such brief “tours de force” as ‘The Gods of the Mountain’ and ‘The Glittering Gate.’

Italian and Spanish Drama

Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863–1938) is the leading dramatist of Italy to-day. He believes in the religion of beauty, maintaining in ‘Gioconda’ that what is beautiful is good. Though his themes are morbid, if not decadent, there is lyrical power in all of his work.

Giuseppe Giacosa (1847–1906) has produced in ‘As the Leaves’ one of the finest examples of modern social comedy.

Giovanni Verga (1840–1922), primarily a realistic novelist, treating of the unhappy history and social conditions of his native Sicily, has done some dramatic work, notably ‘Cavalleria Rusticana,’ made from his own novelette of the same name, upon which Mascagni’s opera is also based.

José Echegaray (1832–1916), chief representative of the modern drama in Spain, treats of a typical point of honor according to the Spanish code, in ‘Madman or Saint,’ but in ‘The Great Galeoto’ he achieves a more universal perspective.

The plays of his fellow-countryman, Benito Pérez Galdós (1843–1920), are chiefly dramatizations of his own novels, the action here also generally turning upon some point of honor.

Juan Valera (1824–1905), novelist, critic, and poet, has done some successful work in the dialogue, of which ‘Asclepigenia’ is a little masterpiece. In light opera, too, he has made contributions.

Russian Drama

The dramatists of Russia have yet to perfect a technique which will be adequate to the requirements of the stage, though perhaps it may be said that they are now trying to create a new stage to meet the requirements of their dramas. Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), greatest of their writers and philosophers, is poorest in his sense of dramatic form; but his customary insight into character is present. Maksim Gorky (1868–1936) is likewise concerned with the delineation of character, but devotes himself chiefly to the depiction of low-class types, especially peasants and tramps. Anton Chekhov (1860–1904), more sensitive to the necessity for form in his plays than Tolstoy or Gorky, revolts against much that is conventional, but most of his dialogue is too casual and his characters too ordinary to arouse attentive interest. Leonid Andreyev (1871–1919) is the transcendentalist of the Russian group, dealing with the purposes of life, in the abstract rather than with the average individuals of Tolstoy, or the subnormal beings of Gorky, or the middle and upper classes shown by Chekhov; his characters are generally puppets of the forces that lie behind and beyond the visible spheres.

A Reading List of Representative Modern Drama

[Only those available in English are given. The date preceding the title is that of the first performance. For other printed editions see United States Catalogue.]

American Drama. Clyde Fitch (1865–1909): 1899 Barbara Frietchie. 1900 The Climbers. 1902 The Girl with the Green Eyes. 1903 Her Own Way. 1906 The Truth (New York). Charles Rann Kennedy (1871–1950): 1907 The Servant in the House (New York, 1908). 1912 The Terrible Meek (New York, 1912). Percy MacKaye (1875–1956): 1903 The Canterbury Pilgrims (New York, 1903); Mater (New York, 1910); The Scarecrow (New York, 1910). Mrs. Lionel Marks (Josephine Preston Peabody) (1874–1922): 1911 The Piper (Boston, 1909). William Vaughn Moody (1869–1910): 1906 The Great Divide (Boston 1912). 1909 The Faith Healer (New York, 1909, and Boston, 1912). Israel Zangwill (1864–1926): 1908 The Melting Pot (New York, 1910).

Austrian Drama. Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874–1929): 1898 Death and the Fool (tr. by Max Blatt in Poet Lore, 1913). 1903 Elektra (tr. by Arthur Symons, New York, 1908). Arthur Schnitzler (1862–1931): 1893 The Affairs of Anatol (paraphrased by Granville Barker, New York and London, 1911); 1902 Living Hours: Four One-Act Plays (tr. by Paul H. Grummann. Boston, 1913).

Belgian and Dutch Drama. Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949): 1890 Princess Maleine (tr. by Richard Hovey, Chicago and New York, 1894–1911). 1891 The Intruder (1890). 1891 The Blind (1890). 1893 The Seven Princesses (1891). 1893 Pelleas and Melisande (1892). 1895 Interior (or Home) (1894). 1896 Alladine and Palomides (1894). 1899 The Death of Tintagiles (1894). 1902 Monna Vanna (tr. by Alfred Sutro, New York, 1907). 1903 Joyzelle (tr. by A. T. de Mattos, New York, 1907). 1904 Aglavaine and Selysette (tr. by A. Sutro, London and New York, 1897–1911). 1907 Ardiane and Barbe Bleue (tr. by B. Miall, New York and London, 1902). 1910 Sister Beatrice (tr. by B. Miall, New York and London, 1902). 1910 Mary Magdalene (tr. by A. T. deMattos, New York, 1910). Hermann Heijermans (1864–1924): 1899 The Ghetto (tr. by C. B. Fernald, London, 1899). 1900 The Good Hope (tr. by Harriet G. Higgins in The Drama, 1912).

English Drama. Elizabeth Baker: 1913 Chains (London, 1909). H. Granville Barker (1877–1946): Three Plays (New York, 1909). 1910 The Madras House (New York and London, 1911). James M. Barrie (1860–1937): 1902 Quality Street (New York). 1902 The Admirable Crichton (New York). 1905–1913 Pantaloon, The Twelve-Pound Look, Rosalind, The Will; in a volume called Half-Hours (New York, 1913). Arnold Bennett (1867–1931): 1909 What the Public Wants (London, 1909; New York, 1911). 1912 Milestones (with Edward Knoblauch, London, 1912). 1911 The Great Adventure (London, 1913). John Galsworthy (1867–1933): 1909 Strife (in Plays, 1st Series, New York, 1909). 1910 Justice (New York and London, 1910). 1912 The Pigeon (New York and London, 1912). 1914 The Mob (New York, 1914). St. John E. C. Hankin (1860–1909): 1907 The Cassilis Engagement. Stanley Houghton (1881–1913): 1910 The Younger Generation. 1912 Hindle Wakes. Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927): 1908 The Passing of the Third Floor Back (London, 1913). Henry Arthur Jones (1851–1929): 1890 Judah (London, 1894). 1891 The Dancing Girl (New York, 1909). 1896 Michael and His Lost Angel (London, 1905). 1900 Mrs. Dane’s Defence (London, 1905). 1906 The Hypocrites (New York, 1908). John Masefield (1878–1967): 1908 The Tragedy of Nan (New York, 1910). The Tragedy of Pompey the Great (New York, 1910). Stephen Phillips (1868–1915): 1899 Paolo and Francesca (London and New York, 1901). 1900 Herod (London and New York, 1901). 1902 Ulysses (London and New York, 1902). 1904 The Sin of David (London and New York, 1904). 1906 Nero (London and New York, 1906). Arthur Wing Pinero (1855–1934): 1889 The Profligate (London, 1891; Boston, 1894). 1893 The Second Mrs. Tanqueray (Boston, 1894; London, 1895). 1895 The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith (London, 1895, Boston, 1900): The Gay Lord Quex (London, 1899, New York, 1900). 1901 Iris (London, 1902, New York, 1902). 1906 His House in Order (London, 1906, Boston, 1907). 1908 The Thunderbolt (London, 1909). 1909 Mid-Channel (Boston, 1910). George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950): 1892 Widowers’ Houses (in Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant, vol. 1, New York, 1906). 1897 The Devil’s Disciple (in Three Plays for Puritans, New York. 1906). 1899 The Man of Destiny (in Plays Pleasant, vol. 2). 1900 Cæsar and Cleopatra (in Three Plays). 1903 Candida (in Plays Pleasant, vol. 2). 1905 Man and Superman (New York, 1903). 1905 Major Barbara: in John Bull’s Other Island (New York, 1907). 1906 The Doctor’s Dilemma (New York, 1911, with Getting Married, and The Shewing Up of Blanco Posnet). 1910 Misalliance (New York, 1914, with The Dark Lady of the Sonnets, and Fanny’s First Play). Githa Sowerby (1876–1970): 1912 Rutherford and Son (New York and London, 1912). Oscar Wilde (1854–1900): 1892 Lady Windermere’s Fan (London, 1893). 1893 A Woman of No Importance (London, 1894). 1895 An Ideal Husband (London, 1899). 1896 Salome (London, 1894).

French Drama. Henri Becque (1837–1899): 1882 The Crows (tr. by Benedict Papot, in The Drama 1912; as The Vultures, tr. by Freeman Tilden, in Edwin Björkman’s Modern Drama Series, New York, 1913). Eugène Brieux (1858–1932): 1892 Blanchette (tr. by Frederick Eisemann, Boston, 1913). 1896 The Escape (printed with Blanchette). 1897 The Three Daughters of M. Dupont (tr. by St. John Hankin, in Three Plays by Brieux, New York, 1911). 1900 The Red Robe (tr. by Reed, in Dickinson’s Contemporary Dramatists, New York, 1915). 1902 Damaged Goods: tr. by John Pollock (in Three Plays). 1903 Maternity (tr. by Pollock, and also by Mrs. Bernard Shaw, in Three Plays). Paul Hervieu (1857–1915): In Chains or Enchained (tr. by Ysidor Asckenasy, in Poet Lore, 1909, and in The Dramatist, 1910). 1901 The Trail of the Torch (tr. by Haughton, 1915). 1903 The Labyrinth (tr. by B. H. Clark and L. MacClintock, New York, 1913). 1909 Know Thyself (tr. by Cerf in Dickinson’s Contemporary Dramatists, New York, 1915). Edmond Rostand (1868–1918): 1894 The Romancers or The Fantasticks (tr. by Mary Hendee, New York, 1899, and by George Fleming, New York, 1900). 1895 The Princess Faraway (tr. by Charles Renauld, New York, 1899). 1897 Cyrano de Bergerac (London, 1898). 1910 Chantecler (tr. by Gertrude Hall, New York, 1910).

German Drama. Gerhart Hauptmann (1862–1946): 1889 Before Dawn. 1890 The Reconciliation. 1891 Lonely Lives. 1893 The Weavers. 1893 Hannele. 1896 The Sunken Bell. 1898 Teamster (or Drayman) Henschel. 1903 Rose Bernd (all tr. by Ludwig Lewisohn, in Selected Dramas of Gerhart Hauptmann, 4 vols., New York, 1912–1914). 1906 And Pippa Dances (tr. by Mary Harned, Boston, 1909). 1911 The Rats (tr. by Lewisohn, vol. 2). Hermann Sudermann (1857–1928): 1893 Magda (tr. by C. E. A. Winslow, Boston, 1895). 1896 Morituri (Three one-act plays tr. by A. Alexander, New York, 1910). 1898 John the Baptist (tr. by Beatrice Marshall, New York, 1908). 1900 The Fires of St. John (1904). 1902 The Joy of Living (tr. by Edith Wharton, New York, 1902, London, 1903). 1907 Roses (Four one-act plays tr. by Grace Frank, New York, 1909). Frank Wedekind (1864–1918): 1896 The Awakening of Spring (tr. by F. J. Ziegler, Philadelphia, 1909). 1902 Such is Life (tr. by F. J. Ziegler, Philadelphia, 1912).

Irish Drama. William Boyle (1853–1923): 1905 The Building Fund. 1906 The Mineral Workers. Lord Dunsany (1878–1957) (Edward J. M. D. Plunkett): 1909 The Glittering Gate (in Five Plays, Boston, 1916). 1911 The Gods of the Mountain (in Five Plays, 1916). 1916 A Night at an Inn (New York, 1916). St. John G. Ervine (1883–1971): 1911 Mixed Marriage (Dublin, 1911). 1912 The Magnanimous Lover (Dublin, 1912). Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory (1852–1932): 1904 Spreading the News (in Seven Short Plays, Boston, 1909). 1905 The White Cockade (in Irish Folk History Plays, 2 vols., New York, 1912). 1906 The Canavans (in Irish Folk History Plays. 2 vols., New York, 1912). 1906 Hyacinth Halvy (in Seven Short Plays). 1906 The Gaol Gate (in Seven Short Plays). 1907 The Rising of the Moon (in Seven Short Plays). 1908 The Workhouse Ward (in Seven Short Plays). 1910 The Travelling Man (in Seven Short Plays). George Moore (1852–1933): 1893 The Strike at Arlingford (London, 1893). T. C. Murray (1873–1959): 1910 The Birthright (Dublin, 1910). 1912 Maurice Harte (Dublin, 1912). Lennox Robinson (1886–1958): 1908 The Clancy Name. 1910 The Harvester (both in Two Plays, Dublin, 1911). John Millington Synge (1871–1909): 1903 The Tinker’s Wedding (Complete Works, 4 vols., Dublin, 1910). 1904 Riders to the Sea (London, 1910). 1905 In the Shadow of the Glen (with Riders to the Sea, 1910). 1905 The Well of the Saints (Dublin, 1911). 1907 The Playboy of the Western World (Dublin, 1911). 1910 Deirdre of the Sorrows (Dublin, 1911). William Butler Yeats (1865–1939): 1894 The Land of Heart’s Desire. 1902 Kathleen ni Hoolihan. 1902 A Pot of Broth. 1903 The Hour Glass. 1904 Where There is Nothing. (All published in London and New York, 1903–1912.)

Italian and Spanish Drama. Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863–1938): 1898 The Dead City (tr. by Arthur Symons, London, 1900). 1898 Gioconda (tr. by Arthur Symons, New York, 1902). 1901 Francesca da Rimini (tr. by Arthur Symons, New York, 1902). 1904 The Daughter of Jorio (tr. by C. Porter, Boston, 1907). Giuseppe Giacosa (1847–1906): 1900 As the Leaves (in The Drama, 1911). 1904 The Stronger (in The Drama, 1913). José Echegaray (1832–1916): 1877 Folly or Saintliness: or Madman or Saint (London, 1895). 1881 The Great Galeoto (Adapted, in English, as The World and His Wife: by C. F. Nirdlinger, New York, 1908). 1892 Mariana (Boston, 1895). 1892 The Son of Don Juan (Boston, 1895). Benito Pérez Galdós (1843–1920): 1904 The Grandfather (tr. by Elizabeth Wallace, in Poet Lore, 1910).

Russian Drama. Leonid Andreyev (1871–1919): 1906 To the Stars (in Poet Lore, 1907). Maksim Gorky (1868–1936) (Pyeshkov, Aleksei Maksimovich): 1901 The Smug Citizen (in Poet Lore, 1906). 1902 A Night’s Lodging (in Poet Lore, 1905). Anton Chekhov (1860–1904): 1889 Ivanoff (tr. by Marian Fell, New York, 1912). 1896 The Sea Gull (tr. by Marian Fell, New York, 1912). 1902 Uncle Vanya (tr. by Marian Fell, New York, 1912). 1904 The Cherry Orchard (New Haven, 1908). Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910): 1888 The Power of Darkness. 1889 The Fruits of Culture (both tr. by L. & A. Maude, London, 1905). 1911 The Live Corpse: or The Man Who Was Dead (New York, 1904).

Scandinavian Drama. Björnstjerne Björnson (1832–1910): 1865 The Newly-Married Couple or a Lesson in Marriage (New York, 1910). 1883 A Gauntlet (London, 1913). 1883 Beyond our Power or Pastor Sang (London, 1893). 1885 Love and Geography (in Plays, 2d Series, New York, 1914). 1895 Beyond Human Might (in Plays, 2d Series, New York, 1914). 1909 When the New Wine Blooms (in Poet Lore, 1911). Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906): 1876 Peer Gynt (published, 1867). 1885 Brand. 1878 The Pillars of Society. 1880 A Doll’s House (or Nora). 1881 Ghosts. 1883 An Enemy of the People. 1885 The Wild Duck. 1887 Rosmersholm. 1889 The Lady from the Sea. 1891 Hedda Gabler. 1893 The Master Builder. 1895 Little Eyolf. 1897 John Gabriel Borkman. 1900 When We Dead Awaken (all in Collected Works, London and New York, 1890–1913). August Strindberg (1849–1912): 1887 The Father (Chicago, 1899). 1888 Comrades (Boston, 1907). 1888 Miss Julia (Philadelphia, 1911). 1890 The Stronger (New York, 1912). 1897 The Link. 1901 The Dance of Death (I and II). 1901 Swanwhite (Philadelphia and Boston, 1911–1914). 1902 The Dream Play (these four tr. by Edwin Björkman in Plays, New York, 1912–1913).

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. For information on individual dramatists the reader is referred to the critical essays prefixed to the selections from the dramatists in the “Reading Recommended” given below.

For Bibliographies. F. C. Brown: A Selective List of Essays and Books about the Drama and the Theatre; Drama League Pamphlet, Chicago, 1912; F. W. Chandler: Aspects of Modern Drama, pp. 423–479, New York, 1914; Ashley Dukes: Modern Dramatists, Chicago, 1912; Walter Henderson, and Others: Modern Drama and Opera, Boston, 1907, 1911, 1915.

For Play Construction and Dramatic Theory. William Archer: Play-Making, a Manual of Craftsmanship, Boston, 1913; Richard Burton: How to See a Play, 1914; Clayton Hamilton: Studies in Stagecraft, New York, 1914. The Theory of the Theatre, New York, 1910; Brander Matthews: A Study of the Drama, Boston, 1910; W. T. Price: Technique of the Drama, New York, 1892, 1909.

General References. F. W. Chandler: Aspects of Modern Drama, New York, 1914; Ashley Dukes: Modern Dramatists, 1912; Edward Everett Hale: Dramatists of To-day, New York, 1905, and after; Archibald Henderson: The Changing Drama, New York, 1914; Ludwig Lewisohn: The Modern Drama, New York, 1915.

Reading Recommended