The Atlantic Book of Modern Plays | Page 2

a genuine artistic
embodiment of the vast and varied life, the manifold and deep idealism
of this country.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For their courteous and generous cooperation the editor is greatly
indebted to the authors and publishers of all the plays included. He is
equally grateful to other dramatists who were personally as cordial in
intention but quite impotent to grant copyright privileges. In addition,
he has received most friendly and cordial criticism from friends and

friendly strangers to whom he appealed--among others, from Mr.
Harold Brighouse; Mr. Theodore Hinckley, editor of "Drama"; Mr.
Clarence Stratton, now Director of English at Cleveland, and author of
a forthcoming book on the Little Theatre in this country; Mr. Allan
Monkhouse, author of "Mary Broome" and "War Plays"; Professor
Allan Abbot, of Teachers College, Columbia University; Mr. Frank G.
Thompkins, of Central High School, Detroit; Mrs. Mary Austin;
Professor Earl B. Pence, of De Pauw University; Professor Brander
Matthews; and Mrs. Alice Chapin. Indebtedness to many lists is
obvious, particularly to that of the Drama League and the National
Council of Teachers of English, and that of Professor Pence in the
"Illinois Bulletin."
"Ile" is reprinted by special arrangement with the author and with Boni
and Liveright, publishers, New York. "Ile" is reprinted from the volume
"The Moon of The Caribbees" and six other plays of the sea, which
volume is one of the series of plays by Mr. O'Neill, the series including
"Beyond the Horizon," a drama in four acts, "The Straw," a play in
three acts and five scenes, "Gold," a play in four acts and "Chris" a play
in four acts.

INTRODUCTION: ON THE READING OF PLAYS
The elder Dumas, who wrote many successful plays, as well as the
famous romances, said that all he needed for constructing a drama was
"four boards, two actors, and a passion." What he meant by passion has
been defined by a later French writer, Ferdinand Brunetiere, as a
conflict of wills. The Philosopher of Butterbiggens, whom you will
meet early in this book, points out that "what you are all the time
wanting" is "your own way." When two strong desires conflict and we
wonder which is coming out ahead, we say that the situation is
dramatic. This clash is clearly defined in any effective play, from the
crude melodrama in which the forces are hero and villain with pistols,
to such subtle conflicts, based on a man's misunderstanding of even his
own motives and purposes, as in Mr. Middleton's "Tides."

In comedy, and even in farce, struggle is clearly present. Here our
sympathy is with people who engage in a not impossible
combat--against rather obvious villains who can be unmasked, or
against such public opinion or popular conventions as can be overset.
The hold of an absurd bit of gossip upon stupid people is firm enough
in "Spreading the News"; but fortunately it must yield to facts at last.
The Queen and the Knave of Hearts are sufficiently clever, with the aid
of the superb cookery of the Knave's wife, to do away with an ancient
and solemnly reverenced law of Pompdebile's court. So, too, the force
of ancient loyalty and enthusiasm almost works a miracle in the invalid
veteran of "Gettysburg." And we feel sure that the uncanny powers of
the Beggar will be no less successful in overturning the power of the
King in Mr. Parkhurst's play.
Again, in comedies as in mathematics, the problem is often solved by
substitution. The soldier in Mr. Galsworthy's "The Sun" is able to find a
satisfactory and apparently happy ending without achieving what he
originally set out to gain. And the same is true of Jock in Mr.
Brighouse's "Lonesome-Like." Or the play which does not end as the
chief character wishes may still prove not too serious because, as in
"Fame and the Poet," the situation is merely inconvenient and absurd
rather than tragic. Now and then it is next to impossible to tell whether
the ending is tragic or not; in the "Land of Heart's Desire" we must first
decide whether our sympathies are more with Shawn Bruin and with
Maire's love for him, or with her keen desire to go
To where the woods, the stars, and the white streams Are holding a
continual festival.
It is natural for us to desire a happy ending in stories, as we desire
satisfying solutions of the problems in our own lives. And whenever
the forces at work are such as make it true and possible, naturally this is
the best ending for a story or a play. But where powerful and terrible
influences have to be combated, only a poor dramatist will make use of
mere chance, or compel his characters to do what such people really
would not do, to bring about a