LIST IN BELLES-LETTRES
Published by
NICHOLAS L. BROWN
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
THE AWAKENING OF SPRING. By Frank Wedekind. A tragedy of childhood dealing with the sex question in its relationship to the education of children. Fifth edition. Cloth, gilt top, deckle edge, $1.25 net. By mail, $1.35. "Here is a play which on its production caused a sensation in Germany, and can without exaggeration be described as remarkable. These studies of adolescence are as impressive as they are unique."—The Athenæum, London.
THE CREDITOR. By August Strindberg. Translated from the Swedish by Francis J. Ziegler. A psychological study of the divorce question by one of the greatest Scandinavian dramatists. Cloth, 75 cents net; postage, 8 cents. "Fordringsägare" was produced for the first time in 1889, when it was given at Copenhagen as a substitute for "Fröken Julie," the performance of which was forbidden by the censor. Four years later Berlin audiences made its acquaintance, since when it has remained the most popular of Strindberg's plays in Germany.
TWO DEATHS IN THE BRONX. By Donald Evans. Ebony grey boards, antique wove paper. $1.00 net. Mr. Evans has again sounded a new note in poetry, and possibly an important one. The modernism, mistakenly called Futurism, that in the "Sonnets from the Patagonian" sometimes merely amazed, in the present instance, stimulates and satisfies. The volume is a series of pitiless photographs of profligate men and women who fritter away life, seeking new pleasures, new sensations. It is a gallery of incurable poseurs. Mr. Evans's method of approach is irony, and each poem is a vial of acid.
A DILEMMA. By Leonidas Andreiyeff. Translated from the Russian by John Cournos. Cloth, 75 cents net; postage, 7 cents. A remarkable analysis of mental subtleties as experienced by a man who is uncertain as to whether or not he is insane. A story that is Poe-like in its intensity and full of grim humor. "One of the most interesting literary studies of crime since Dostoieffsky's Crime and Punishment."—Chicago Evening Post.
DISCORDS. A volume of poems by Donald Evans. With the publication of this volume must end the oft-repeated complaint that real English poetry is no longer being written. These poems have no sermon to preach, no evils to arraign, no new scheme of things to propound. They are poems written in the sincere joy of artistic creation, and they possess a compelling music and an abiding beauty. This poet, who is singing only for the pleasure of singing, in his sixty or more poems that make up the volume, offers vivid glimpses of the stress and strain of modern life. He thinks frankly, and his utterances are full of free sweep and a passionate intensity. Dark green boards, $1.00 net; postage, 8 cents.
SWANWHITE. By August Strindberg. A Fairy Drama, translated by Francis J. Ziegler. Second edition. Printed on deckle edge paper and attractively bound in cloth, 75 cents net; postage, 8 cents. "A poetic idyl, which is charming in its sweet purity, delightful in its optimism, elusive in its complete symbolism, but wholesome in its message that pure love can conquer evil. So out of the cold North, out of the mouth of the world's most terrible misogynist, comes a strange message—one which is as sweet as it is unexpected. And August Strindberg, the enemy of love, sings that pure love is all powerful and all-conquering."—Springfield, Mass., Republican.
THE WOMAN AND THE FIDDLER. A play in three acts by Arne Norrevang. Translated from the Norwegian by Mrs. Herman Sandby. Cloth, uncut edges, 75 cents net. By mail, 83 cents. This play is based upon one of the legends of the fiddlers who used to go about from valley to valley, playing for the peasants at their festivities.
FOR A NIGHT. A novelette by Emile Zola. Translated from the French by Alison M. Lederer. 75 cents net. Postage, 10 cents. The imaginative realism, the poetic psychology, of this story of the abnormal Thérèse who kills her lover; of the simple minded Julien who becomes an accessory after the fact for love of her, and finally "let himself fall" into the river, having first dropped the body of Colombel over, are gripping and intense. The masochism at the basis of the love of Thérèse and Colombel, resulting in the murder, is depicted with wonderful art and yet without any coarseness. The author does not moralize, but with relentless pen delineates that madness of Thérèse sown in her soul from birth—a madness which her convent training rather enhances than abrogates. The book contains two other typical Zola stories: "The Maid of the Dawber" and "Complements"—two delightful, crisp bits of literature.
FROKEN JULIE (Countess Julia). A Naturalistic Tragedy, by August Strindberg. Cloth, 75 cents net; by mail, 83 cents. Says Mr. James Huneker: It is an emotional bombshell. The social world seems topsy-turvied after a first reading. After a second, while the gripping power does not relax, one realizes the writer's deep, almost abysmal knowledge of human nature. . . . Passion there is, and a horrible atmosphere of reality. Everything is brought about naturally, inevitably. Be it understood, Strindberg is never pornographic, nor does he show a naked soul merely to afford a charming diversion, which is the practice of some French dramatists. That kitchen—fancy a kitchen as a battlefield of souls!—with its good-hearted and pious cook, the impudent scoundrel of a valet eager for revenge on his superiors, and the hallucinated girl from above stairs—it is a tiny epic of hatred, of class against mass.
THE LIVING CORPSE (Zhivoi Trup). A Drama in six Acts and twelve Tableaux, by Count Leo N. Tolstoi. Second edition. Cloth, 75 cents net; by mail, 83 cents. There is no question as to the tremendous power and simple impressiveness of this posthumous work, which is the literary sensation of the day not alone in Russia, but throughout Europe. As a protest against certain marriage and divorce laws, the absurdity of which is portrayed with a satiric pen, "The Living Corpse" is a most effective document.
SUCH IS LIFE. A Play in five Acts, by Frank Wedekind, Author of "The Awakening of Spring," etc. Second edition. Cloth, gilt top, raw edge, net, $1.25; by mail, $1.34. Whatever Wedekind's theme may be, it is always sure to be treated in a strikingly original fashion. In "Such is Life" it is Regality and Kingship. Though the locale is mediaeval Italy, the scene might as well have been laid at the present day, but this was, perhaps, too dangerous. While satire runs as an undercurrent throughout, the play is primarily one of tense dramatic situations and a clearly outlined plot, full of color and action. Portions of the play are written in verse—verse that runs with almost Elizabethan fire and impetuosity.
FAIRY QUACKENBOSE. By Arthur K. Stern. A Fairy Tale with Modern Improvements, Illustrated by Iredell. A book for sheer joy and enjoyment is this tale of modern Fairyland. Its whimsicalities, its nonsense, its jingling rhymes will amuse children of all ages, if they be six or sixty, and its simple, direct and appealing language make it particularly pleasant reading. A fairy tale no parent or teacher can afford to be without. Boards. Net, 75 cents. By Mail, 84 cents.
PLAYS AND SONNETS. By Ernest Lacy, 2 volumes, printed on hand made paper and illustrated with 7 etchings, bound in Vellum de Luxe cloth, gilt top, deckle edge. Price per volume, $1.75. Sold separately or together. Volume I: THE BARD OF MARY REDCLIFFE, a play in 5 Acts. xix + 205 pp. Volume II: RINALDO, THE DOCTOR OF FLORENCE, a play in 5 Acts. CHATTERTON, a one-Act play. SONNETS, vii + 237 pp. These three plays and sixty odd sonnets are written with lucidity and emotion. A human heart throbs through them. The plays have won the approbation of the greatest living authority and historian of the English drama, Prof. A. W. Ward, of Cambridge. The Sonnets have evoked a fine critical eulogy from that greatest student of the Eliabethan sonnets (including Shakespeare's)—Sir Sidney Lee. Enthusiastic critics have pronounced both "The Bard of Mary Redcliffe" and "Rinaldo" as the greatest plays ever written in America.
EPHEMERA. Greek Prose Poems. By Mitchell S. Buck. Printed throughout on Japan Vellum paper from eight point Old Style Caslon type, and bound in half vellum, Fabriano sides, paper label on the back in two colors; gilt top, deckle edge. Edition limited to 750 copies. Price, $2.25 net. The two series of antique sketches contained in this volume show the art of rhythmic prose, so successfully used in French by such writers as Baudelaire and Pierre Louys, presented directly in the English language. The medium selected is handled freely and delicately, securing its effects without obvious effort or strain. And the fifty "pastels" form a collection heretofore unknown to American poetry. The impressions one receives are not only delightful, but also not unfaithful to the fascinating age they limn. A keep perception of beauty has not distorted a necessary faithfulness to subject-matter; and those who still admire the flowers of past ages will find them here, still fragrant.
DANTE AND OTHER WANING CLASSICS. By Albert Mordell, cloth, $1.00 net. GEORGE BRANDES, the world's greatest living literary critic, wrote to the author after reading this book: "If I originally had any scruples against your fundamental idea, these scruples completely ceased when I thoroughly examined the execution of your plan. Now I am of your opinion. It is necessary to say once for all that these books of past times no longer correspond to our intellectual needs. You have had the courage to say it frankly. Even if they attack it at present, in the future, and not at all in a distant future, they will be grateful to you for having said it."
MODERN AUTHORS' SERIES.
Under this title appear from time to time short stories and dramas, chiefly translations from the works of modern European authors, each containing from 32 to 64 pages. Printed in large, clear type and tastefully bound in gray boards with paper label. Each 35 cents net; by mail, 40 cents. Now ready:
SILENCE. From the Russian of Leonidas Andreiyeff. Second edition. An unusual short story that reads like a poem in prose by the leading exponent of the new Russian school of novelists.
MOTHERLOVE. From the Swedish of August Strindberg. Second edition. An example of Strindberg's power as analyst of human nature.
A RED FLOWER. By Vsevolod Garshin. A powerful short story by one of Russia's popular authors, unknown as yet to the English-speaking public.
THE GRISLEY SUITOR. From the German of Frank Wedekind. An excellent story of the De-Maupassant type.
RABBI EZRA AND THE VICTIM. By Frank Wedekind. Two sketches characteristic of the pen of this noted German author.
Other volumes in Preparation.
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