DRAMATIC LITERATURE
European Theories of the Drama
An Anthology of Dramatic Theory and Criticism from Aristotle to the Present Day, in a Series of Selected Texts, with Commentaries, Biographies and Bibliographies
By BARRETT H. CLARK
Author of "Contemporary French Dramatists," "The Continental Drama of Today," "British and American Drama of Today," etc., etc.
A book of paramount importance. This monumental anthology brings together for the first time the epoch-making theories and criticisms of the drama which have affected our civilization from the beginnings in Greece down to the present day. Beginning with Aristotle, each utterance on the subject has been chosen with reference to its importance, and its effect on subsequent dramatic writing. The texts alone would be of great interest and value, but the author, Barrett H. Clark, has so connected each period by means of inter-chapters that his comments taken as a whole constitute a veritable history of dramatic criticism, in which each text bears out his statements.
Nowhere else is so important a body of doctrine on the subject of the drama to be obtained. It cannot fail to appeal to any one who is interested in the theater, and will be indispensable to students.
The introduction to each section of the book is followed by an exhaustive bibliography; each writer whose work is represented is made the subject of a brief biography, and the entire volume is rendered doubly valuable by the index, which is worked out in great detail.
Prof. Brander Matthews of Columbia University says: "Mr. Clark deserves high praise for the careful thoroughness with which he has performed the task he set for himself. He has done well what was well worth doing. In these five hundred pages he has extracted the essence of several five-foot shelves. His anthology will be invaluable to all students of the principles of playmaking; and it ought to be welcomed by all those whose curiosity has been aroused by the frequent references of our latter day theorists of the theater to their predecessors."
Wm. Lyon Phelps of Yale University writes: "Mr. Clark's book, 'European Theories of the Drama,' is an exceedingly valuable work and ought to be widely useful."
Large 8vo, 500 pages Net, $3.50
Plays and Players
Leaves from a Critic's Scrapbook
BY WALTER PRICHARD EATON PREFACE BY BARRETT H. CLARK
A new volume of criticisms of plays and papers on acting, playmaking, and other dramatic problems, by Walter Prichard Eaton, dramatic critic, and author of "The American Stage of Today," "At the New Theater and Others," "Idyl of the Twin Fires," etc. The new volume begins with plays produced as far back as 1910, and brings the record down to the current year. One section is devoted to American plays, one to foreign plays acted on our stage, one to various revivals of Shakespeare. These sections form a record of the important activities of the American theater for the past six years, and constitute about half of the volume. The remainder of the book is given over to various discussions of the actor's art, of play construction, of the new stage craft, of new movements in our theater, such as the Washington Square Players, and several lighter essays in the satiric vein which characterized the author's work when he was the dramatic critic of the New York Sun. Unlike most volumes of criticisms, this one is illustrated, the pictures of the productions described in the text furnishing an additional historical record. At a time when the drama is regaining its lost position of literary dignity it is particularly fitting that dignified and intelligent criticism and discussion should also find accompanying publication.
Toronto Saturday Night:
Mr. Eaton writes well and with dignity and independence. His book should find favor with the more serious students of the Drama of the Day.
Detroit Free Press:
This is one of the most interesting and also valuable books on the modern drama that we have encountered in that period popularly referred to as "a dog's age." Mr. Eaton is a competent and well-esteemed critic. The book is a record of the activities of the American stage since 1910, down to the present. Mr. Eaton succinctly restores the play to the memory, revisualizes the actors, and puts the kernel of it into a nutshell for us to ponder over and by which to correct our impressions.
Large 12mo. About 420 pages, 10 full-page illustrations on Cameo Paper and End Papers Net $2.00
Gilt top. 3/4 Maroon Turkey Morocco Net 6.50
Four Plays of the Free Theater
Francois de Curel's The Fossils
Jean Jullien's The Serenade
Georges de Porto-Riche's Francoise' Luck
Georges Ancey's The Dupe
Translated with an introduction on Antoine and Theatre Libre by BARRETT H. CLARK. Preface by BRIEUX, of the French Academy, and a Sonnet by EDMOND ROSTAND.
The Review of Reviews says:
"A lengthy introduction, which is a gem of condensed information."
H. L. Mencken (in the Smart Set) says:
"Here we have, not only skilful playwriting, but also sound literature."
Brander Matthews says:
"The book is welcome to all students of the modern stage. It contains the fullest account of the activities of Antoine's Free Theater to be found anywhere—even in French."
The Chicago Tribune says:
"Mr. Clark's translations, with their accurate and comprehensive prefaces, are necessary to anyone interested in modern drama.... If the American reader will forget Yankee notions of morality... if the reader will assume the French point of view, this book will prove a rarely valuable experience. Mr. Clark has done this important task excellently."
Handsomely Bound. 12mo. Cloth Net, $1.75
DRAMATIC LITERATURE
Contemporary French Dramatists
By BARRETT H. CLARK
In "Contemporary French Dramatists" Mr. Barrett H. Clark, author of "The Continental Drama of Today," "The British and American Drama of Today," translator of "Four Plays of the Free Theater," and of various plays of Donnay, Hervieu, Lemaître, Sardou, Lavedan, etc., has contributed the first collection of studies on the modern French theater. Mr. Clark takes up the chief dramatists of France beginning with the Théâtre-Libre: Curel, Brieux, Hervieu, Lemaître, Lavedan, Donnay, Porto-Riche, Rostand, Bataille, Bernstein, Capus, Flers, and Caillavet. The book contains numerous quotations from the chief representative plays of each dramatist, a separate chapter on "Characteristics" and the most complete bibliography to be found anywhere.
This book gives a study of contemporary drama in France which has been more neglected than any other European country.
Independent, New York:
"Almost indispensable to the student of the theater."
Boston Transcript:
"Mr. Clark's method of analyzing the works of the Playwrights selected is simple and helpful. * * * As a manual for reference or story, 'Contemporary French Dramatists,' with its added bibliographical material, will serve well its purpose."
Uniform with FOUR PLAYS. Handsomely bound.
Cloth Net, $1.75
3/4 Maroon Turkey Morocco Net, $5.00
The Antigone of Sophocles
By PROF. JOSEPH EDWARD HARRY
An acting version of this most perfect of all dramas. A scholarly work in readable English. Especially adaptable for Colleges, Dramatic Societies, etc.
Post Express, Rochester:
"He has done his work well." "Professor Harry has translated with a virile force that is almost Shakespearean." "The difficult task of rendering the choruses into English lyrical verse has been very creditably accomplished."
Argonaut, San Francisco:
"Professor Harry is a competent translator not only because of his classical knowledge, but also because of a certain enthusiastic sympathy that shows itself in an unfailing choice of words and expression."
North American, Philadelphia:
"Professor Harry, teacher of Greek in the Cincinnati University, has written a new metrical translation of the Antigone of Sophocles. The translation is of fine dramatic quality."
Oregonian, Portland:
"A splendidly executed translation of the celebrated Greek tragedy."
Herald, Boston:
"Scholars will not need to be urged to read this noteworthy piece of literary work, and we hope that many others who have no special scholarly interest will be led to its perusal."
8vo. cloth. Dignified binding Net, $1.00
"European Dramatists"
By ARCHIBALD HENDERSON
Author of "George Bernard Shaw: His Life and Works."
In the present work the famous dramatic critic and biographer of Shaw has considered six representative dramatists outside of the United States, some living, some dead—Strindberg, Ibsen, Maeterlinck, Wilde, Shaw, Barker, and Schnitzler.
Velma Swanston Howard says:
"Prof. Henderson's appraisal of Strindberg is certainly the fairest, kindest and most impersonal that I have yet seen. The author has that rare combination of intellectual power and spiritual insight which casts a clear, strong light upon all subjects under his treatment."
Baltimore Evening Sun:
"Prof. Henderson's criticism is not only notable for its understanding and good sense, but also for the extraordinary range and accuracy of its information."
Jeanette L. Gilder, in the Chicago Tribune:
"Henderson is a writer who throws new light on old subjects."
Chicago Record Herald:
"His essays in interpretation are welcome. Mr. Henderson has a catholic spirit and writes without parochial prejudice—a thing deplorably rare among American critics of the present day. * * * One finds that one agrees with Mr. Henderson's main contentions and is eager to break a lance with him about minor points, which is only a way of saying that he is stimulating, that he strikes sparks. He knows his age thoroughly and lives in it with eager sympathy and understanding."
Providence Journal:
"Henderson has done his work, within its obvious limitations, in an exceedingly competent manner. He has the happy faculty of making his biographical treatment interesting, combining the personal facts and a fairly clear and entertaining portrait of the individual with intelligent critical comment on his artistic work."
Photogravure frontispiece, handsomely printed and bound, large 12mo Net, $2.00
At Last You May Understand G. B. S.
Perhaps once in a generation a figure of commanding greatness appears, one through whose life the history of his time may be read. There is but one such man today.
George Bernard Shaw
HIS LIFE AND WORKS
A CRITICAL BIOGRAPHY (Authorized)
By
ARCHIBALD HENDERSON, M.A. Ph.D.
Is virtually the story of the social, economic and æsthetic life of the last twenty-five years. It is a sympathetic, yet independent interpretation of the most potent individual force in society. Cultivated America will find here the key to all that is baffling and elusive in Shaw; it is a cinematographic picture of his mind with a background disclosing all the formative influences that combined to produce this universal genius.
The press of the world has united in its praise; let us send you some of the comments. It is a large demy 8vo volume cloth, gilt top, 628 pages, with 35 full page illustrations in color, photogravure and halftone and numerous pictures in the text.
$5.00 Net
The Changing Drama
By ARCHIBALD HENDERSON, M.A. Ph.D.
Author of "European Dramatists," "George Bernard Shaw—His Life and Work." Etc.
A vital book, popular in style, cosmopolitan in tone, appraising the drama of the past sixty years, its changes, contributions and tendencies. Has an expression of the larger realities of the art and life of our time.
E. E. Hale in The Dial: "One of the most widely read dramatic critics of our day; few know as well as he what is 'up' in the dramatic world, what are the currents of present-day thought, what people are thinking, dreaming, doing, or trying to do."
New York Times: "Apt, happily allusive, finely informed essays on the dramatists of our own time—his essay style is vigorous and pleasing."
Book News Monthly: "Shows clear understanding of the evolution of form and spirit, and the differentiation of the forces—spiritual, intellectual and social—which are making the theatre what it is today... we can recollect no book of recent times which has such contemporaneousness, yet which regards the subject with such excellent perspective... almost indispensable to the general student of drama... a book of rich perspective and sound analysis. The style is simple and direct."
Geo. Middleton in La Follette's: "The best attempt to formulate the tendencies which the drama is now taking in its evolutionary course."
Argonaut: "Marked by insight, discernment and enthusiasm."
Large 12mo. Dignified binding Net, $1.75
Short Plays
By MARY MACMILLAN
To fill a long-felt want. All have been successfully presented. Suitable for Women's Clubs, Girls' Schools, etc. While elaborate enough for big presentation, they may be given very simply.
Review of Reviews:
"Mary MacMillan offers 'Short Plays,' a collection of pleasant one to three-act plays for women's clubs, girls' schools, and home parlor production. Some are pure comedies, others gentle satires on women's faults and foibles. 'The Futurists,' a skit on a woman's club in the year 1882, is highly amusing. 'Entr' Act' is a charming trifle that brings two quarreling lovers together through a ridiculous private theatrical. 'The Ring' carries us gracefully back to the days of Shakespeare; and 'The Shadowed Star,' the best of the collection, is a Christmas Eve tragedy. The Star is shadowed by our thoughtless inhumanity to those who serve us and our forgetfulness of the needy. The Old Woman, gone daft, who babbles in a kind of mongrel Kiltartan, of the Shepherds, the Blessed Babe, of the Fairies, rowan berries, roses and dancing, while her daughter dies on Christmas Eve, is a splendid characterization."
Boston Transcript:
"Those who consigned the writer of these plays to solitude and prison fare evidently knew that 'needs must' is a sharp stimulus to high powers. If we find humor, gay or rich, if we find brilliant wit; if we find constructive ability joined with dialogue which moves like an arrow; if we find delicate and keen characterization, with a touch of genius in the choice of names; if we find poetic power which moves on easy wing—the gentle jailers of the writer are justified, and the gentle reader thanks their severity."
Salt Lake Tribune:
"The Plays are ten in number, all of goodly length. We prophesy great things for this gifted dramatist."
Bookseller, News Dealer & Stationer:
"The dialogue is permeated with graceful satire, snatches of wit, picturesque phraseology, and tender, often exquisite, expressions of sentiment."
Handsomely Bound. 12mo. Cloth Net, $1.75
More Short Plays
BY MARY MacMILLAN
Plays that act well may read well. Miss MacMillan's plays are good reading. Nor is literary excellence a detriment to dramatic performance. They were put on the stage before they were put into print. They differ slightly from those in the former volume. Two of them, "The Pioneers," a story of the settlement of the Ohio Valley, and "Honey," a little mountain girl cotton-mill worker, are longer. The other six, "In Mendelesia," Parts I and II, "The Dryad," "The Dress Rehearsal of Hamlet," "At the Church," and "His Second Girl," contain the spirit of humor, something of subtlety, and something of fantasy.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle: "Mary MacMillan, whose first volume of short plays proved that she possessed unusual gifts as a dramatist, has justified the hopes of her friends in a second volume, 'More Short Plays,' which reveal the author as the possessor of a charming literary style coupled with a sure dramatic sense that never leads her idea astray.... In them all the reader will find a rich and delicate charm, a bountiful endowment of humor and wit, a penetrating knowledge of human nature, and a deft touch in the drawing of character. They are delicately and sympathetically done and their literary charm is undeniable."
Uniform with "Short Plays" Net, $1.75
The Gift
A Poetic Drama
By MARGARET DOUGLAS ROGERS
A dramatic poem in two acts, treating in altogether new fashion the world old story of Pandora, the first woman.
New Haven Times Leader:
"Well written and attractive."
Evangelical Messenger:
"A very beautifully written portrayal of the old story of Pandora."
Rochester Post Dispatch:
"There is much poetic feeling in the treatment of the subject."
Grand Rapids Herald:
"The Gift, dealing with this ever interesting mythological story, is a valuable addition to the dramas of the day."
St. Xavier Calendar:
"The story of Pandora is so set down as to bring out its stage possibilities. Told by Mrs. Rogers in exquisite language."
Salt Lake Tribune:
"The tale is charmingly wrought and has possibilities as a simple dramatic production, as well as being a delightful morsel of light reading."
Cincinnati Enquirer:
"The love story is delightfully told and the dramatic action of the play is swift and strong."
Buffalo Express:
"It is a delightful bit of fancy with a dramatic and poetic setting."
Boston Woman's Journal:
"Epimetheus and Pandora and her box are charmingly presented."
Worcester Gazette:
"It is absolutely refreshing to find a writer willing to risk a venture harking back to the times of the Muses and the other worthies of mythological fame. * * * The story of Pandora's box told in verse by a woman. It may be said it could not have been better written had a representative of the one who only assisted at the opening been responsible for the play."
Handsomely bound silk cloth Net, $1.00
Comedies of Words and Other Plays
BY ARTHUR SCHNITZLER
TRANSLATED BY PIERRE LOVING
{"The Hour of Recognition"
{"Great Scenes"
The contents are {"The Festival of Bacchus"
{"His Helpmate"
{"Literature."
In his "Comedies of Words," Arthur Schnitzler, the great Austrian Dramatist, has penetrated to newer and profounder regions of human psychology. According to Schnitzler, the keenly compelling problems of earth are: the adjustment of a man to one woman, a woman to one man, the children to their parents, the artist to life, the individual to his most cherished beliefs, and how can we accomplish this adjustment when, try as we please, there is a destiny which sweeps our little plans away like helpless chessmen from the board? Since the creation of Anatol, that delightful toy philosopher, so popular in almost every theater of the world, the great Physician-Dramatist has pushed on both as World-Dramatist and reconnoiterer beyond the misty frontiers of man's conscious existence. He has attempted in an artistic way to get beneath what Freud calls the "Psychic Censor" which edits all our suppressed desires. Reading Schnitzler is like going to school to Life itself!
Bound uniform with the S & K Dramatic Series, Net $1.75
Lucky Pehr
By AUGUST STRINDBERG
Authorized Translation by Velma Swanston Howard. An allegorical drama in five acts. Compared favorably to Barrie's "Peter Pan" and Maeterlinck's "The Blue Bird."
Rochester Post Express:
Strindberg has written many plays which might be described as realistic nightmares. But this remark does not apply to "Lucky Pehr." * * * This drama is one of the most favorable specimens of Strindberg's genius.
New York World:
"Pehr" is lucky because, having tested all things, he finds that only love and duty are true.
New York Times:
"Lucky Pehr" clothes cynicism in real entertainment instead of in gloom. And it has its surprises. Can this be August Strindberg, who ends his drama so sweetly on the note of the woman-soul, leading upward and on?
Worcester Gazette:
From a city of Ohio comes this product of Swedish fancy in most attractive attire, attesting that the possibilities of dramatic art have not entirely ceased in this age of vaudeville and moving pictures. A great sermon in altruism is preached in these pages, which we would that millions might see and hear. To those who think or would like to think, "Lucky Pehr" will prove a most readable book. * * * An allegory, it is true, but so are Æsop's Fables, the Parables of the Scriptures and many others of the most effective lessons ever given.
Boston Globe:
A popular drama. * * * There is no doubt about the book being a delightful companion in the library. In charm of fancy and grace of imagery the story may not be unfairly classed with "The Blue Bird" and "Peter Pan."
Photogravure frontispiece of Strindberg etched by Zorn. Also, a reproduction of Velma Swanston Howard's authorization.
Handsomely bound. Gilt top Net, $1.75
Easter
(A Play in Three Acts)
AND STORIES BY AUGUST STRINDBERG
Authorized translation by Velma Swanston Howard. In this work the author reveals a broad tolerance, a rare poetic tenderness augmented by an almost divine understanding of human frailties as marking certain natural stages in evolution of the soul.
Louisville Courier-Journal:
Here is a major key of cheerfulness and idealism—a relief to a reader who has passed through some of the author's morbid pages. * * * Some critics find in this play (Easter) less of the thrust of a distinctive art than is found in the author's more lugubrious dramas. There is indeed less sting in it. Nevertheless it has a nobler tone. It more ably fulfills the purpose of good drama—the chastening of the spectators' hearts through their participation in the suffering of the dramatic personages. There is in the play a mystical exaltation, a belief and trust in good and its power to embrace all in its beneficence, to bring all confusion to harmony.
The Nation:
Those who like the variety of symbolism which Maeterlinck has often employed—most notably in the "Bluebird"—will turn with pleasure to the short stories of Strindberg which Mrs. Howard has included in her volume. * * * They are one and all diverting on account of the author's facility in dealing with fanciful details.
Bookseller:
"Easter" is a play of six characters illustrative of human frailties and the effect of the divine power of tolerance and charity. * * * There is a symbolism, a poetic quality, a spiritual insight in the author's work that make a direct appeal to the cultured. * * *
The Dial:
One play from his (Strindberg's) third, or symbolistic period stands almost alone. This is "Easter." There is a sweet, sane, life-giving spirit about it.
Photogravure frontispiece of Strindberg etched by Zorn. Also, a reproduction of Velma Swanston Howard's authorization.
Handsomely bound. Gilt top Net, $1.75
The Hamlet Problem and Its Solution
By EMERSON VENABLE
The tragedy of Hamlet has never been adequately interpreted. Two hundred years of critical discussion has not sufficed to reconcile conflicting impressions regarding the scope of Shakespeare's design in this, the first of his great philosophic tragedies. We believe that all those students who are interested in the study of Shakespeare will find this volume of great value.
The Louisville Courier-Journal:
"Mr. Venable's Hamlet is a 'protagonist of a drama of triumphant moral achievement.' He rises through the play from an elected agent of vengeance to a man gravely impressed with 'an imperative sense of moral obligation, tragic in its depth, felt toward the world.'"
E. H. Sothern:
"Your ideas of Hamlet so entirely agree with my own that the book has been a real delight to me. I have always had exactly this feeling about the character of Hamlet. I think you have wiped away a great many cobwebs, and I believe your book will prove to be most convincing to many people who may yet be a trifle in the dark."
The Book News Monthly:
"Mr. Venable is the latest critic to apply himself to the 'Hamlet' problem, and he offers a solution in an admirably written little book which is sure to attract readers. Undeterred by the formidable names of Goethe and Coleridge, Mr. Venable pronounces untenable the theories which those great authors propounded to account for the extraordinary figure of the Prince of Denmark. * * * Mr. Venable looks in another direction for the solution of the problem. * * * The solution offered by the author is just the reverse of that proposed by Goethe. * * * From Mr. Venable's viewpoint the key to 'Hamlet' is found in the famous soliloquies, and his book is based upon a close study of those utterances which bring us within the portals of the soul of the real Hamlet. The reader with an open mind will find in Mr. Venable a writer whose breadth of view and searching thought gives weight to this competent study of the most interesting of Shakespearean problems."
16mo. Silk cloth Net, $1.00
Portmanteau Plays
BY STUART WALKER
Edited and with an Introduction by
EDWARD HALE BIERSTADT
This volume contains four One Act Plays by the inventor and director of the Portmanteau Theater. They are all included in the regular repertory of the Theater and the four contained in this volume comprise in themselves an evening's bill.
There is also an Introduction by Edward Hale Bierstadt on the Portmanteau Theater in theory and practice.
The book is illustrated by pictures taken from actual presentations of the plays.
The first play, the "Trimplet," deals with the search for a certain magic thing called a trimplet which can cure all the ills of whoever finds it. The search and the finding constitute the action of the piece.
Second play, "Six who Pass While the Lentils Boil" is perhaps the most popular in Mr. Walker's repertory. The story is of a Queen who, having stepped on the ring-toe of the King's great-aunt, is condemned to die before the clock strikes twelve. The Six who pass the pot in which boil the lentils are on their way to the execution.
Next comes "Nevertheless," which tells of a burglar who oddly enough reaches regeneration through two children and a dictionary.
And last of all is the "Medicine-Show," which is a character study situated on the banks of the Mississippi. One does not see either the Show or the Mississippi, but the characters are so all sufficient that one does not miss the others.
All of these plays are fanciful—symbolic if you like—but all of them have a very distinct raison d'être in themselves, quite apart from any ulterior meaning.
With Mr. Walker it is always "the story first," and herein he is at one with Lord Dunsany and others of his ilk. The plays have body, force, and beauty always; and if the reader desires to read in anything else surely that is his privilege.
Each play, and even the Theater itself has a prologue, and with the help of these one is enabled to pass from one charming tale to the next without a break in the continuity.
With five full-page illustrations on cameo paper.
12mo. Silk cloth $1.75
The Truth About The Theater
Anonymous
Precisely what the title indicates—facts as they are, plain and unmistakable without veneer of any sort. It goes directly to the heart of the whole matter. Behind the writer of it—who is one of the best known theatrical men in New York—are long years of experience. He recites what he knows, what he has seen, and his quiet, calm, authoritative account of conditions as they are is without adornment, excuse or exaggeration. It is intended to be helpful to those who want the facts, and for them it will prove of immeasurable value.
"The Truth About the Theater," in brief, lifts the curtain on the American stage. It leaves no phase of the subject untouched. To those who are ambitious to serve the theater, either as players or as playwrights, or, again, in some managerial capacity, the book is invaluable. To those, too, who would know more about the theater that they may come to some fair estimate of the worth of the innumerable theories nowadays advanced, the book will again prove its value.
Net $1.00