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BOOK REVIEWS LE TH:EATRE CONTEMPORAIN EN GRANDE-BRETAGNE ET AUX ETATSUNIS , special number of Etudes Anglaises, edited by L. Boonerot, M. Le Breton, and P. Legouis, Paris, Oct.-Dec., 1957. The critical and popular acclaim bestowed upon Ethel Voynich by the Russians has reaffirmed for many English readers the belief that literary reputation is often dependent upon fortuitous circumstance and cultural conditioning. A similar effect may be produced by this recent special issue of Etudes Anglaises. which is devoted entirely to the contemporary theatre in Great Britain and the United States. No American reader who has followed the development of his theatre at all will be surprised to find the ~ti.mulating discussion of Eugene O'Neill's recently produced plays (Suzanne Fleche·Salgues. "Trois Pieces Recentes d'Eugene O'Neill"); and, like it or not. no one would seriously question the inclusion of Tennessee Williams in a general survey of contemporary American theatre; but undoubtely many will be surprised to find that the only other American dramatist to be treated in any detail is Thornton Wilder (C. Amavon~ "La Vogue de Thornton Wilder"). Devotees of the naturalistic pathos of our modem theatre may be somewhat dis~ turbed by the omission of William Inge and Arthur Miller; others who reflect nostalgically upon the "golden" decade (1920-30) in American drama may feel that men like Elmer Rice, Robert Sherwood. Maxwell Anderson, George Kelly. and Philip Barry are more representative than Thornton Wilder. British readers will find even more surprises in this special number of Et1i.des Anglaises. Some may question the conte~poraneity-or at least the "modernity" in {onn and ideas-of James Bridie (Gabriel Marcel, "Le Theatre de James Bridie"); Granville-Barker (A. J. Farmer, "Harley ' Granville-Barker"); Somerset Maugham 0. Dobrinsky, "Les Debuts de Somerset Maugham au Theatre"); and]. B. Priestley (G. Nigot, "Le Theatre de J. B. Priestley"). And, undoubtedly, many will deplore the omission of Shaw whose plays continue to exert more influence upon modern drama than those by Priestley or Maugham. Obviously all the significant cont~mporary playwrights in Great Britain and the United States could not be adequately treated in a single issue of a scholarly journal. But this special number fails to give a representative view of either British or American theatre not so much because of its sins of commission and omission, but because it lacks a unifying theme or principle which would pennit a certain amoUDt of analysis and synthesis of relevant material. By no means a symposium, as its title may suggest, it is Simply an acbilrazy collection of fourteen essays which deal with playwrights who have written in English during the past forty or fifty years. Only two of the fourteen essays attempt to go beyond the work of individual playwrights. Unfortunately, these are both disappointing. M. Poulenard's "Le Modemisme au TheAtre" is nothing more than a series of miniature reviews of books by Ronald Peacock, John Gassner, Nonnan Marshall, and Frederick Lumley. And M. Villard's "Introduction aune l!:tude du Theatre Americain d'Aujourd'hui"-certainly a formidable UDdertaking-gets hopelessly lost in the vast distances that separate such plays as The Great Divide, Long Day's Journey into Night, I Remember Mama, and Harvey. Although C

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