A Book about the Theater
by Mathhews Brander (9781406755527)

Text extracted from opening pages of book: ABOUT THE THEATER BY BRANDER MATTHEWS PBOFEBSOB OS 1 DRAMATIC XITEB TTnUB IN COLUMBIA. TTNTVEB3ITT; OP THE AMEBICAU ACADEMY OX 1 ABTS AMD LETTERS NEW YOBK CHABLES SCBIBNEB'S SONS 1916 LE BALLET DE LA REINE A. FRENCH COURT BALLET IN THE EA. BLY SEVENTEENTH CENTTHIY TO AUGUSTUS THOMAS MY DEAR AUGUSTUS: Let me begin by confessing my regret that I cannot overhear your first remark when you receive this sheaf of essays, many of which are devoted to the subordi nate subdivisions of the art of the stage. As it is, I can only imagine your surprise at discovering that this book, which contains papers dealing with certain aspects of the theater rarely considered to be worthy of criticism, is signed by the occupant of the earliest chair to be established in any American university specifically for the study of dramatic literature. I fancy I can hear the expression of your wonder that a sexagenarian professor should turn aside from his austere analysis of the genius of Sophocles and of Shakspere, of Mplire and of Ibsen, to discuss the minor arts of the dancer and the acrobat, to chatter about the conjurer and the negro minstrel, to consider the principles of pantomime and the development of scene-painting. But I am emboldened to hope that your surprise will be only momentary, and that you will be moved to acknowledge that perhaps there may be some advantage to be derived from these devia tions into the by-paths of stage history. You are rather multifarious yourself; like Cerbe rus, you are three gentlemen at once; you have been TO AUGUSTUS THOMAS a reporter, you have published a novel, you have painted pictures, you have delivered addresses and you writeplays, too. I think that you, at least, will readily understand how a student of the stage may like to stray now and again from the main road and to ramble away from the lofty temple of dramatic art to loiter for a little while in one or another of its lesser chapels. And you, again, will appreciate my convic tion that these loiterings and these strollings may be as profitable as that casual browsing about in a library which is likely to enrich our memories with not a little interesting information that we might never have captured had we adhered to a rigorous and rigid course of study. You will see what I mean when I declare my belief that I have come back from these wander ings with an increased understanding of the theory of the theater, and with an enlarged acquaintance with its manifold manifestations. Perhaps I ought to explain, furthermore, that these excursions into the purlieus of the playhouse began long, long ago. I gave a Punch and Judy show before I was sixteen; I performed experiments in magic, I blacked up as Tambo, I whitened myself as Clown, I played the low-comedy part in a farce, and I attempted the flying trapeze before I was twenty; and I was not encouraged by the result of these early experiences to repeat any of the experiments after I came of age. I think it was as a spinner of hats and as the under man of a brothers' act that I came nearest to suc cess; at least I infer this from the fact may I mention vi it without seeming to boast? that with my partners in this brothers' act, I was asked if I would care to accept an engagement with a circus for the summer. As to the merits of the other efforts I need say nothing now; the rest is silence. When the cynicdeclared that the critics were those who had failed in literature and art, he overstated his case, as is the custom of cynics. But it is an indisputable advantage for any critic to have adventured himself in the practise of the art to the discussion of which he is to devote himself; he may have failed, or at least he may not have suc ceeded as he could wish; but he ought to have gained a firmer grasp on the principles of the art than he would have had if he had never risked himself in the vain effort. With this brief word of personal explanation I step down from the plat

USD $31.45

   Dispatch: Immediate - In Stock