In order to understand the social and dynamic significance of modern
dramatic art it is necessary, I believe, to ascertain the difference
between the functions of art for art's sake and art as the mirror of
life.
Art for art's sake presupposes an attitude of aloofness on the part of
the artist toward the complex struggle of life: he must rise above the
ebb and tide of life. He is to be merely an artistic conjurer of
beautiful forms, a creator of pure fancy.
That is not the attitude of modern art, which is preëminently the
reflex, the mirror of life. The artist being a part of life cannot
detach himself from the events and occurrences that pass panorama-like
before his eyes, impressing themselves upon his emotional and
intellectual vision.
The modern artist is, in the words of August Strindberg, "a lay preacher
popularizing the pressing questions of his time." Not necessarily
because his aim is to proselyte, but because he can best express himself
by being true to life.
Millet, Meunier, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, Emerson, Walt Whitman, Tolstoy,
Ibsen, Strindberg, Hauptmann and a host of others mirror in their work
as much of the spiritual and social revolt as is expressed by the most
fiery speech of the propagandist. And more important still, they compel
far greater attention. Their creative genius, imbued with the spirit of
sincerity and truth, strikes root where the ordinary word often falls on
barren soil.
The reason that many radicals as well as conservatives fail to grasp the
powerful message of art is perhaps not far to seek. The average radical
is as hidebound by mere terms as the man devoid of all ideas. "Bloated
plutocrats," "economic determinism," "class consciousness," and similar
expressions sum up for him the symbols of revolt. But since art speaks a
language of its own, a language embracing the entire gamut of human
emotions, it often sounds meaningless to those whose hearing has been
dulled by the din of stereotyped phrases.
On the other hand, the conservative sees danger only in the advocacy of
the Red Flag. He has too long been fed on the historic legend that it is
only the "rabble" which makes revolutions, and not those who wield the
brush or pen. It is therefore legitimate to applaud the artist and hound
the rabble. Both radical and conservative have to learn that any mode of
creative work, which with true perception portrays social wrongs
earnestly and boldly, may be a greater menace to our social fabric and
a more powerful inspiration than the wildest harangue of the soapbox
orator.
Unfortunately, we in America have so far looked upon the theater as a
place of amusement only, exclusive of ideas and inspiration. Because the
modern drama of Europe has till recently been inaccessible in printed
form to the average theatergoer in this country, he had to content
himself with the interpretation, or rather misinterpretation, of our
dramatic critics. As a result the social significance of the Modern
Drama has well nigh been lost to the general public.
As to the native drama, America has so far produced very little worthy
to be considered in a social light. Lacking the cultural and
evolutionary tradition of the Old World, America has necessarily first
to prepare the soil out of which sprouts creative genius.
The hundred and one springs of local and sectional life must have time
to furrow their common channel into the seething sea of life at large,
and social questions and problems make themselves felt, if not
crystallized, before the throbbing pulse of the big national heart can
find its reflex in a great literature--and specifically in the drama--of
a social character. This evolution has been going on in this country for
a considerable time, shaping the widespread unrest that is now
beginning to assume more or less definite social form and expression.
Therefore, America could not so far produce its own social drama. But in
proportion as the crystallization progresses, and sectional and national
questions become clarified as fundamentally social problems, the drama
develops. Indeed, very commendable beginnings in this direction have
been made within recent years, among them "The Easiest Way," by Eugene
Walter, "Keeping Up Appearances," and other plays by Butler Davenport,
"Nowadays" and two others volumes of one-act plays, by George
Middleton,--attempts that hold out an encouraging promise for the
future.
* * * * *
The Modern Drama, as all modern literature, mirrors the complex struggle
of life,--the struggle which, whatever its individual or topical
expression, ever has its roots in the depth of human nature and social
environment, and hence is, to that extent, universal. Such literature,
such drama, is at once the reflex and the inspiration of mankind in its
eternal seeking for things higher and better. Perhaps those who learn
the great truths of the social travail in the school of life, do not
need the message of the drama. But there is another class whose number
is legion, for whom that message is indispensable. In countries where
political oppression affects all classes, the best intellectual element
have made common cause with the people, have become their teachers,
comrades, and spokesmen. But in America political pressure has so far
affected only the "common" people. It is they who are thrown into
prison; they who are persecuted and mobbed, tarred and deported.
Therefore another medium is needed to arouse the intellectuals of this
country, to make them realize their relation to the people, to the
social unrest permeating the atmosphere.
The medium which has the power to do that is the Modern Drama, because
it mirrors every phase of life and embraces every strata of
society,--the Modern Drama, showing each and all caught in the throes of
the tremendous changes going on, and forced either to become part of the
process or be left behind.
Ibsen, Strindberg, Hauptmann, Tolstoy, Shaw, Galsworthy and the other
dramatists contained in this volume represent the social iconoclasts of
our time. They know that society has gone beyond the stage of patching
up, and that man must throw off the dead weight of the past, with all
its ghosts and spooks, if he is to go foot free to meet the future.
This is the social significance which differentiates modern dramatic
art from art for art's sake. It is the dynamite which undermines
superstition, shakes the social pillars, and prepares men and women for
the reconstruction.