DISCORDS. A volume of poems by Donald Evans. With the publication of this volume must end the oft-repeated complaint that real English poetry is no longer being written. These poems have no sermon to preach, no evils to arraign, no new scheme of things to propound. They are poems written in the sincere joy of artistic creation, and they possess a compelling music and an abiding beauty. This poet, who is singing only for the pleasure of singing, in his sixty or more poems that make up the volume, offers vivid glimpses of the stress and strain of modern life. He thinks frankly, and his utterances are full of free sweep and a passionate intensity. Dark green boards, $1.00 net; postage, 8 cents.
SWANWHITE. By August Strindberg. A Fairy Drama, translated by Francis J. Ziegler. Printed on deckle edge paper and attractively bound in cloth, $1.00 net; postage, 8 cents. “A poetic idyl, which is charming in its sweet purity, delightful in its optimism, elusive in its complete symbolism, but wholesome in its message that pure love can conquer evil. So out of the cold North, out of the mouth of the world's most terrible misogynist, comes a strange message—one which is as sweet as it is unexpected. And August Strindberg, the enemy of love, sings that pure love is all powerful and all-conquering.”—Springfield, Mass., Republican.
THE WOMAN AND THE FIDDLER. A play in three acts by Arne Norrevang. Translated from the Norwegian by Mrs. Herman Sandby. Cloth, uncut edges, $1.00 net. By mail, $1.08. This play is based upon one of the legends of the fiddlers who used to go about from valley to valley, playing for the peasants at their festivities.
FOR A NIGHT. A novelette by Emile Zola. Translated from the French by Alison M. Lederer. $1.00 net. Postage, 10 cents. The imaginative realism, the poetic psychology, of this story of the abnormal Thérèse who kills her lover; of the simple minded Julien who becomes an accessory after the fact for love of her, and finally “let himself fall” into the river, having first dropped the body of Colombel over, are gripping and intense. The masochism at the basis of the love of Thérèse and Colombel, resulting in the murder, is depicted with wonderful art and yet without any coarseness. The author does not moralize, but with relentless pen delineates that madness of Thérèse sown in her soul from birth—a madness which her convent training rather enhances than abrogates. The book contains two other typical Zola stories: “The Maid of the Dawber” and “Complements”—two delightful, crisp bits of literature.
FRÖKEN JULIE (Countess Julia). A Naturalistic Tragedy, by August Strindberg. Cloth, $1.00 net; by mail, $1.08. Says Mr. James Huneker; It is an emotional bombshell. The social world seems topsy-turvied after a first reading. After a second, while the gripping power does not relax, one realizes the writers deep, almost abysmal knowledge of human nature.... Passion there is, and a horrible atmosphere of reality. Everything is brought about naturally, inevitably. Be it understood, Strindberg is never pornographic, nor does he show a naked soul merely to afford a charming diversion, which is the practice of some French dramatists. That kitchen—fancy a kitchen as a battlefield of souls!—with its good-hearted and pious cook, the impudent scoundrel of a valet eager for revenge on his superiors, and the hallucinated girl from above stairs—it is a tiny epic of hatred, of class against mass.
THE LIVING CORPSE (Zhivoi Trup). A Drama in six Acts and twelve Tableaux, by Count Leo N. Tolstoi. Cloth, $1.00 net; by mail, $1.08. There is no question as to the tremendous power and simple impressiveness of this posthumous work, which is the literary sensation of the day not alone in Russia, but throughout Europe. As a protest against certain marriage and divorce laws, the absurdity of which is portrayed with a satiric pen, “The Living Corpse” is a most effective document.
SUCH IS LIFE. A Play in five Acts, by Frank Wedekind, Author of “The Awakening of Spring,” etc. Cloth, gilt top, raw edge, Net, $1.25, by Mail, $1.34. Whatever Wedekind's theme may be, it is always sure to be treated in a strikingly original fashion. In “Such is Life” it is Regality and Kingship. Though the locale is mediaeval Italy, the scene might as well have been laid at the present day, but this was, perhaps, too dangerous. While satire runs as an undercurrent throughout, the play is primarily one of tense dramatic situations and a clearly outlined plot, full of color and action. Portions of the play are written in verse—verse that runs with almost Elizabethan fire and impetuosity.