Art; Literature, Modern -- History and criticism; Music -- History and criticism
Space, I am sorry to say, forbids me from further exposition of such
strong little pieces as Musik, a heart-breaking drama of a betrayed
girl studying singing who goes to jail while the real offender, the
man, remains at liberty (1907), or of Die Zensur, with its discussion
of art and religion--the poet intrudes--and its terrible cry at the
close: "Oh, God! why art thou so unfathomable?" Or of the so-called
Lulu tragedy (Erdgeist and The Box of Pandora) of which I like the
first act of the former and the second act of the latter--you are
reminded at this point of the gambling scene in Sardou's Fernande--but
as I do not care to sup on such unmitigated horrors, I prefer to let
my readers judge for themselves from the printed plays.
Karl Hetman is an absorbing play in which a man loses the world but
remains captain of his soul; actually he ends his life rather than
exhibit himself as motley to the multitude. As a foil for the idealist
Hetman--who is a sort of inverted Nietzsche; also a self-portrait in
part of the dramatist--there is the self-seeking scamp Launhart who
succeeds with the very ideas which Hetman couldn't make viable, ideas
in fact which brought about his disaster. They are two finely
contrasted portraits, and what a grimace of disgust is aroused when
Launhart tells the woman who loves Hetman: "O Fanny, Fanny, a living
rascal is better for your welfare than the greatest of dead prophets."
What Dead-Sea-fruit wisdom! The pathos of distance doesn't appeal to
the contemporary soul of Wedekind. He writes for the young, that is,
for to-morrow.
The caprice, the bizarre, the morbid in Wedekind are more than
redeemed by his rich humanity. He loves his fellow man even when he
castigates him. He is very emotional, also pragmatic. The second act
of his Franziska, a Karnevalgroteske, was given at the Dresden
Pressfestival, February 7, 1913, with the title of Matrimony in the
Year 2000, the author and his wife appearing in the leading roles with
brilliant success. It contains in solution the leading motives from
all his plays and his philosophy of life. It is fantastic, as
fantastic as Strindberg's Dream Play, but amusing. In 1914 his
biblical drama, Simson (Samson), was produced with mixed success.
Translated Wedekind would lose his native wood-note wild, and
doubtless much of his dynamic force--for on the English stage he would
be emasculated. And I wonder who would have the courage to produce his
works.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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