M. Jules Lemaitre is the wonder and admiration of most
of our older dramatic critics. He was one of the first impres- sionist critics : he wrote, that is to say, straight from his reactions to the plays he saw, not bothering to stabilize his judgments, to erect critical standards, or to make his mind seem grander or profounder than it was. It was a method of criticism which produced a liberation in many minds and cleared away much fog ; it was obviously, too, a method supremely fitted for journalism. It prevented pomposities and hypocrisies ; it left the writer free to display his own temperament and his general attitudes and opinions. Nothing became irrelevant, and formal virtues were no longer demanded. Since dramatic criticism in our newspapers and journals owes so much to impressionism, it is valuable to have a selection from M. Lemaitre's Theatrical Impressions published in English (Jenkins). The translation is by Mr. Frederic Whyte, and it is exquisitely done. There are failings in the method, of course. It will not allow any seriousness, any universality of application, any help towards a final judgment, any coherency of standards. English readers will probably turn most to the essay on Hamlet, and will be surprised both by the delicacy of M. Lemaitre's mind, and by the occasional inability of Frenchmen to comprehend Shakespeare at all. " When the Ghost reappears for the third or fourth time, Hamlet, who a moment ago was listening upon his knees, calls out : Well said, old mole ! ' The exclamation is surprising enough—is it terror that evokes it ? Is Hamlet already beginning to lose his head ? Or is it anxiety to maintain his coolness in front of his companions, and not to let them see he is nervous, that prompts this unseemly jest ? I do not know. But in any ease, I feel that there can be but one way of uttering this ' old mole.' It must be given with an unthinking roughness in which one is conscious of a tremendous effort." And yet there have been cases of deathbed-jesting in France : surely they know that exhilarating sanity and case of humour even in the midmost of terror.
Previous page
