Modern Drama: Library Collections

1965 PROTAGONIST OF AN ANTI-PLAYWRIGHT 133 Berenger grows to such stature. In the second two plays, Berenger begins as a man of unusual stature, but he comes to face the most common of human experiences-a consciousness of death, and he faces that death with fear. By uniting common man and king in the single character of Berenger, by showing him in public and in private life, Ionesco has given us one of the fullest portraits of any dramatic character. In an interview Ionesco once said, "I hope that Berenger is above all a character . . . [who] should, if he is valid, live on even after his 'message' is out of date. Poetically, it is not his thought but his passion and his imaginary life that will count." It seems to me that in the totality of Berenger, passion and imaginary life count for a great deal. RUBY COHN 1 Le Pitton de I'air and Le Roi se meurt were translated after this article was written. MODERN DRAMA LIBRARY COLLECTIONS The Gleeson Library of the University of San Francisco has recently acquired the George W. Poultney Collection of Theatre Manuscripts. The 273 play scripts of the American theater date from 1866 to 1910 and include works of the best known dramatists of this period. The supplement to Gleeson Library Associates, February, 1965, edited by Charles Anthony Fracchia, contains a list of the manuscripts. ...