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University Daily Kansan Thursday, March 26, 1964
New Plays Include Anthologies, O'Neill, Albee
THE GOLDEN AGE; THE ROMANTIC INFLUENCE; SEEDS OF MODERN DRAMA, all edited by Norris Houghton in the Laurel Masterpieces of Continental Drama series (Dell Laurel, 75 cents each except Vol. II, 95 cents).
Another excellent, attractive paperback series is appearing with this group. The titles are familiar, and there is a valuable introduction by the editors of the series.
The titles are, in Volume I, Lope de Vega's "The Sheep Well," Calderon's "Life Is a Dream," Corneille's "The Cid," Racine's Phaedra" and Moliere's "The Misanthrope." Those in "The Romantic Influence" are Goethe's "Faust," Part I, Schiller's "Mary Stuart," Hugo's "Hernani" and Rostand's "Cyrano de bergerac." In "Seeds of Modern Drama" are Zola's "Therese Raquit," Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People," Strindberg's "Miss Julie," Hauptmann's "The Weavers" and Chekhov's "The Sea Gull."
All in all, a varied collection for those interested in developments in the drama.
TWO PLAYS, by Francois Billet-doux (Mermaid Dramabook, $1.50, in cloth $3.50); MATTY AND THE MORON AND MADONNA, by Herbert Lieberman (Spotlight Dramabook, $1.50, in cloth $3.50); SEVEN PLAYS, by Michel de Ghelderode (Mermaid Dramabook, $1.95, in cloth $4.95); THE TESTMENT OF SAMUEL BECKETT, by Josephine Jacobsen and William R. Mueller (Dramabook, $1.75, in cloth $3.95).
This collection of plays is grouped together because all tell us much about playwrights and their view of the world today. One of the four volumes is an essay on one of the more influential writers of the theatre of the absurd.
Billetdoux's plays are "Tehn-Tchin" and "Chez Torpe," the first a highly successful play on Broadway, the second best known in Europe. "Tehn-Tchin" deals with two strangers who meet, become lovers, and drift into alcoholism. "Chez Torpe" takes place in an inn
run in eastern Europe, to which comes an inspector of police drawn there by the suicides of five guests.
"Matty and the Moron and Madonna" is a play which won first prize in the 1963 Charles E. Sergel drama competition at the University of Chicago. It is to be produced off-Broadway—where else? "The Testament of Samuel Beckett" is a study of the work of the man best known for "Waiting for Godot." The writers deal with Beckett's techniques, his poetry, his comic approach.
The plays by Ghelderode include "Red Magic," "Hop, Signor!," "The Death of Doctor Faust," "Christopher Columbus," "A Night of Pity," "Piet Bouteille" and "Miss Jairus." Not a well-known name in America, Ghelderode has achieved considerable fame in Europe with radio and television broadcasts and theatrical performances. He died in April 1962.
SHAKESPEARE ARRANGED FOR MODERN READING, edited by Frank W. Cady and Van H. Cartmell (Premier, 95 cents).
Once more the burden of thought has been lifted from the American reader, who has had everything from the Bible to "Huckleberry Finn" put in 20th century form. How long will this go on? Must everything be reduced to the mind that grasps only "The Carpetbaggers" and the comic books?
Perhaps this book is a service. There are eight comedies here in digest form — digest and modern English (though we have been spared the ultimate logic of this approach to literature, language of the streets and the restroom wall). Here are "The Comedy of Errors," "Love's Labour's Lost," "Two Gentlemen of Verona," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Merchant of Venice" (a comedy?), "The Taming of the Shrew," "Much Ado About Nothing," "The Merry Wives of Windsor," "As You Like It." "Twelfth Night," "All's Well That Ends Well," "Measure for Measure," "The Winter's Tale" and "The Tempest."
SHAKESPEARE ARRANGED FOR MODERN READING, edited by Frank W. Cady and Van H. Cartmell (Premier, 95 cents).
Now the tragedies have been put into primer form, or is this view too harsh? Perhaps if this will get people to read Shakespeare it will be worth it. Into almost 500 pages the editors have packed "Hamlet," "Macbeth," "Othello," "King Lear," "Antony and Cleopatra," "Romeo and Juliet," "Julius Caesar," "Coriolanus," "Cymbeline," "Titus Andronicus," "Timon of Athens," "Trailus and Cressida" and "Pericles."
WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?', by Edward Albee (Cardinal, 75 cents).
In a number of deadly Broadway seasons this has been possibly the most exciting of plays. It won the Drama Critics Circle and Tony awards for 1962-63, and must be regarded as a shattering experience for either the reader or the viewer.
It is a marital drama, and it reveals the brittle and also brutal talent of Edward Albee. Though it is funny it also will be shocking to many readers, and repelling to others.
10 SHORT PLAYS, edited by M. Jerry Weiss (Dell, 60 cents)
—A good anthology in the Laurel series. The editor has selected some good titles by some well known writers. Here are the contents—"The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden," by Thornton Wilder; "The Case of the Crushed Petunias," by Tennessee Williams; "The Triumph of the Egg," by Sherwood Anderson; "Coming Through the Rye," by Saroyan; "The Feast of Ortolans," by Maxwell Anderson; "Visit to a Small Planet" (the television play), by Gore Vidal; "Suppressed Desires," by Susan Glaspell; "Parents Are People," by M. Jerry Weiss; "My Client Curley" (radio play), by Norman Corwin, and "Quare Medicine," by Paul Green.
LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT, by Eugene O'Neill (Yale, $1.45); A TOUCH OF THE POET, by Eugene O'Neill (Yale, $1.25). Two beautifully bound paperbacks are offered the reader in these volumes, the last plays of Eugene O'Neill. "Long Day's Journey into Night" was written in 1940 but not released for performance until 1956, a few years after the playwright's death. "A Touch of the Poet" was the last full-length play O'Neill finished. It was produced on Broadway in 1958.
One finds in these plays autobiographical views into the playwright's life. "Long Day's Journey into Night" is an emotionally shattering play to see or to read, the family of old actor James Tyrone tearing each other apart in a long miserable day.
"A Touch of the Poet" takes place in the 1820s, and it also is a forceful drama about an actor. The power of O'Neill is demonstrated well in these plays, which fortunately are available in paper-back form.
WAITING FOR GODOT, by Samuel Beckett (Evergreen, $1.45); FOUR PLAYS, by Eugene Ionesco (Evergreen ($1.95); A TASTE OF HONEY, by Shelagh Delaney (Evergreen, $1.45).
These new plays in paperback are of two kinds. The plays of Beckett and Ionesco represent the new in the theater, that of Shelagh Delaney, while not the old, certainly the more traditional.
"Waiting for Godot" was quite a sensation, though many still don't know for sure what Samuel Beckett is saying. The play may be classed in the "theater of the absurd," and certainly is of symbolic interest as well as dramatic. It gave overnight fame to Beckett. Is it about God? Well, that's one interpretation. Bert Lahr, who starred in it on Broadway, didn't know what it was about.
Ionesco, even more, is of the "absurd" movement. In this volume are "The Bald Soprano," "The
Lesson," "The Chairs" and "Jack, or the Submission." All four are highly experimental in nature, funny yet terrifying. In the crazy world of the sixties Ionesco may be making more sense than we yet know.
As for "A Taste of Honey," it now is well known in the movies as well as stage. It deals with an English working-class girl and her friends and lovers—the Negro sailor who makes her pregnant, the homosexual art student, her mother, her mother's new husband.
IBSEN, LETTERS AND SPEECHES, edited by Evert Springchorn (Hill and Wang Dramabook, $2.45; in cloth, $5.75).
The editors of Dramabooks have performed a real service here, publication of the first English edition of Ibsen's letters since 1905. Included are 276 letters, 13 speeches, 4 prefaces and 1 autobiographical fragment. There are 129 letters not available in the earlier edition.
The student of Ibsen will be interested to read the great playwright's views on conventions of 19th century Norway, his fight for social progress, for rights of women and so on. The editor is associate professor of drama at the experimental theatre, Vassar College.
THE MERRY-GO-ROUND OF LOVE, AND SELECTED STORIES, by Luigi Pirandello (Signet Classics, 75 cents).
Though best known as a playwright, the Italian Luigi Pirandello also wrote a good many tales before he became one of the giants of the 20th century theater. This new volume presents a number of these.
The settings range from Sicily to Rome and deal with people caught in all kinds of situations—frustrated youth, miserable old age, unhappy married couples, others in isolation. "The Merry-Go-Round of Love" is presented, in English, for the first time.
There are 15 stories altogether.
COMPASS BOOKS
A CANDLE FOR ST. JUDE by Rumer Godden 1.25
Novel set in a London ballet school.
EXILE'S RETURN by Malcolm Cowley 1.45
The 'last generation' and its leading literary figures.
PHILOSOPHER'S HOLIDAY by Irwin Edman 1.25
Personal anecdotes and ideas.
THE VICTIM by Saul Bellow 1.65
Novel of a man harried to the verge of insanity.
THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE by George Gamow 1.25
Origin and evolution of the universe.
BRIGHTON ROCK by Graham Greene 1.45
Guilt and villainy at a British seaside resort.
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce 1.45
"Part of the lasting literature of our age."
THE LOVE LETTERS OF PHYLLIIS McGINLEY  .95
Humorous verse.
KAMONGO by Homer W. Smith 1.25
A discussion on man's place in the universe.
THE SONG OF BERNADETTE by Franz Werfel 1.65
Novel of the miracle at Lourdes.
AN EPIODE OF SPARROWS by Rumer Godden 1.25
Novel of two London street children.
BYRON IN ITALY by Peter Quennell Biography. 1.25
LIE DOWN IN DARKNESS by William Styron 1.65
With this novel Styron achieved worldwide recognition.
THE QUIET AMERICAN by Graham Greene 1.25
An idealistic young American in war-torn Saigon.
HERMAN MELVILLE: A CRITICAL BIOGRAPHY by Newton Arvin 1.85
NATHANIEL HEAWTHORNE: A CRITICAL BIOGRAPHY by Mark Van Doren 1.45
ETRUSCAN PLACES by D. H. Lawrence 1.25
Perhaps the most beautifully written of all travel books.
LOSER TAKES ALL by Graham Greene  .95
An "entertainment," written originally as a film scenario.
ARISTOTLE'S POLITICS AND POETICS 1.45
Politics trans. by Benjamin Jowett, Poetics by Thomas Twining.
DYLAN THOMAS IN AMERICA by John Malcolm Brinnin 1.65
The last years in the life of the famous poet.
THE CRAFT OF FICTION by Percy Lubbock 1.45
The famous writer's manual.
THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck 1.91
The memorable novel about the "Okies."
LUCKY JIM by Kingspley Amis 1.4
Life in an English university—half satire, half force.
RADIATION: WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT AFFECTS YOU BY Jack Schubert and Ralph E. Lapp 1.45
SONS AND LOVERS by D. H. Lawrence 1.65
Lawrence's third novel, his most popular book.
THE LITERARY SITUATION by Malcolm Cowley 1.45
Writing and writers in mid-century America.
WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson 1.45
A midwestern town is laid bare in these stories.
THE POWER AND THE GLORY by Graham Greene 1.45
A brilliant tale of suspense and diving terror.
RACE: SCIENCE AND POLITICS by Ruth Benedict 1.25
A refutation of the claims of the racists.
THE SUPREME DOCTRINE: PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES IN ZEN THOUGHT by Hubert Benoit 1.25
ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac 1.45
The novel of the beat generation.
THE OPPOSING SELF by Lionel Trilling 1.25
Nine essays on the self, from Wordsworth to Orwell.
PETER ABELAND by Helen Waddell 1.45
Tragic story of the immortal twelfth-century lovers.
WRITERS AT WORK: THE PARIS REVIEW INTERVIEWS edited by Malcolm Cowley 1.45
Insights into personality and work habits of some distinguished authors of our day.
REMINISCENCES OF TOLSTOY, CHEKNOV AND ANDREDEYE by Maxim Gorky 1.25
NOTRE-DAME OF PARIS by Allan Temko
Building the great cathedral. 32 pages of illustrations.
SEX, LITERATURE, AND CENSORSHIP by D. H. Lawrence 1.25
Eight essays.
OF SOCIETIES AND MEN by Caryl P. Hoskins
A scientist explores the problems of man, and society.
ANGLO-SAXON ATTITUDES by Angus Wilson
A novel.
WOMEN IN LOVE by D. H. Lawrence 1.85
Novel which Lawrence regarded as his best book.
THE CROWD by Gustave Le Bon 1.45
Prophetic study of mass psychology.
PLEASURES OF MUSIC edited by Jacques Barsun 1.95
Great writing about music and musicians.
THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow 1.95
A novel.
KANGAROO by D. H. Lawrence 1.85
Novel about Australia.
JOURNEY WITHOUT MAPS by Graham Greene 1.45
An arduous journey through the wilderness of Liberia.
THE LITTLE FOXES by Lillian Hellman 1.25
Drama about a wealthy southern family in a crisis.
THE RAINBOW by D. H. Lawrence 1.85
Lawrence's longest and most ambitious novel.
THE QUESTION OF HAMLET by Harry Levin 1.25
A new interpretation of Hamlet.
HOLISM AND EVOLUTION by Jan Christian Smuts 1.65
A scientific concept important to this century.
VENTURE TO THE INTERIOR by Laurens van der Post 1.45
Exposition into the unmapped regions of Central Africa.
THE END OF THE AFFAIR by Graham Greene
Novel of love and hate in modern London.
AARON'S ROD by D. H. Lawrence 1.45
Ends the trilogy begun by The Rainbow and Women in Love.
THE MEDIEVAL MANICHEE by Steven Runciman 1.45
Brilliant study of a major Christian heresy.
THE EDWARDIANS by V. Sackville-West 1.45
A portrait of an age in the form of a novel.
THE BEST OF SAKI
Stories of a master, selected by Graham Greene.
THE GREAT REHEARSALS by Carl Van Doren
The making of the U. S. Constitution.
THE THINKING REED by ROBECA West 1.65
Novel of a beautiful woman's search for love.
SEIZE THE DAY by Seul Bollow
Saga of a man in one climactic day.
THE WAY THINGS ARE by P. W. Bridgman 1.75
The nature of experience, by the Nobel Prize-winning physicist.
MAN, MORALS, AND SOCIETY by J. C. Flugel 1.65
What psychiatry has to suggest about ethics and religion.
THE POTTING SHED by Graham Greene 9.9
A play about a miracle.
Vol. 1 | THE COMPLETE 1.45
Vol. 2 | SHORT STORIES 1.45
Vol. 3 | OF D. H. LAWRENCE 1.45
LEAVES OF GRASS by Walt Whitman, the original edition, with an Introduction by Malcolm Cowley 9.9
THE ROYAL GAME with AMOK, and LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN by Stefan Zweig 1.25
A novel and two famous novels.
WHI Mely
POWER AND PERSONALITY by Harold D. Lasswell
The relation between leaders and those who are led.
THE TIME OF MAN by Elizabeth Madox Roberts
A novel.
THE AUNT'S STORY by Patrick White
Novel of a woman's search for happiness.
THE UNITED STATES AND CHINA by John King, Fairbank
Analysis of Chinese society, culture and politics.
THE SOFT VOICE OF THE SERPENT by Nadine Gordimer
Short stories.
TWENTY-ONE STORIES by Graham Greene
STORY WRITING by Edith Ronald Mitrielees
Specific, basic rules with practical application.
THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN by Edwin D. Reischauer
Analysis of Japanese society, culture and politics.
LOVE AMONG THE ARTISTS by George Bernard Shaw
A novel.
THE REPUBLIC by Charles A. Beard
The roots of American political institutions.
THE LOG FROM THE SEA OF CORTEZ by John Steinbeck
Report of an expedition to the Gulf of California.
MRS. BRIDGE by Evan S. Connell, Jr.
Award-winning portrait of a disillusioned suburban matron.
SEA AND SARDINIA by D. H. Lawrence
Travel.
THE ANATOMY OF PEACE by Emery Reves
Proposal for international government and law.
THE OUTERMOST HOUSE by Henry Beston
A year of life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod.
FOUR WAYS OF BEING HUMAN by Gene Lisitzky
Study of four primitive tribes.
TORTILLA FLAT by John Steinbeck
Mexican paisano of Monterey, California.
THE NEXT HUNDRED YEARS: Man's Natural and Technological Resources by Harrison Brown, James Banner, and John Weir
THE ROOTS OF AMERICAN COMMUNISM by Theodore Draper
From its beginnings to the 1920s.
AMERICAN COMMUNISM AND SOVIET RUSSIA by Theodore Draper
IN PARENTHEISIS by David Jones
Poetic narrative of seven months during World War I.
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