Julian Green, Novelist as Playwright

JULIAN GREEN, NOVELIST AS PLAYWRIGHT An established novelist like the Gallic-American Julian Green presents his plays under the most favorable circumstances: distinguished casts, impressive sets and costumes,1 forewarned critics,2 and eager spectators. Why is it then that Sud (1953), L'Ennemi (1954), and L'Ombre (1956) were disappointing? Why is it, indeed, that an acknowledged technician of the novel, such as Green-or Edith Wharton , Henry James, Fram;ois Mauriac; the list, despite exceptions, would be interminable-seldom writes a good play? G. M. Loney, examining Mrs. Wharton's failure with the dramatization of The House of Mirth, speculates that the novelist mistakenly considers a play "little more than a novel brought to life."3 I find this speculation only partially acceptable. After all, a novel, bound by fewer structural limitations, can evoke life as effectively as a play (if not more effectively ). I think we have to do with a mystique of genres. When a good novelist fails on the stage, is not this because he tries to translate his fictional mode into a dramatic mode when he should have been creating in a dramatic mode from the start? Mauriac, defending Sud against its baffled critics, said in Bloc-Notes I952-57 that only a novelist could have written it. Precisely. If we study Green's plays in the context of both the generic requirements and his fictional practice, we find that he is attempting to translate novels into plays. Along the way we can throw light on the entire novelist-as-playwright enigma, for in Green's case the novelist clearly defrauds the dramatist. Perhaps "mystique" sounds esoteric. Everyone knows the mechanics of form are different, and do not both plays and novels present an original vision of reality? Yes, but the directions of their epistemology 1 The cast for the French production of Sud (first performance, March 6, 1953, at Theatre Athenee-Louis Jouvet) included Anouk Aimee, Pierre Vaneck, and Franc;:ois Guerin. It was presented in German translation the following winter at Munich's Residenztheater and in English translation at the London Arts Theatre during the spring 1955 season. John Dexter revived it for the spring 1961 season in London. For L'Ennemi (first performance, March 1, 1954, at Theatre Bouffes-Parisiens) Green secured Maria Casares, Pierre Vaneck, and Jacques Franc ;:ois. Jean Chevrier headed the cast of L'Ombre (first performance, September 19, 1956, at Theatre Antoine). Mme Suzanne Lalique designed the sets and costumes for L'Ennemi and L'Ombre. 2 In thirty-six critiques. 3 Modern Drama, IV (September, 1961), 152. 195 196 MODERN DRAMA September are irrevocably opposed. The reader·is on the inside looking out. The perspective of the central character, his rhythm of movement, his obsessive images and dreams, his somber moods and settings are the reader's too. The protagonist may say very little, for he sees through a glass darkly and cannot communicate through speech. What he says may even mislead the reader. A novel can accommodate false starts and impasses. But a play, of course, depends upon the external. The spectator is on the outside looking in. The playwright relies upon acts performed and words spoken to force the spectator's mind across the footlights. The rhythm of movement is divided by acts and scenes. The director sets the pace for the actors. Obsessions must be made visual or auditory. Props and lighting require only the playwright's suggestions. If the groundwork is a special causeand -effect, as in Green's case, it cannot be subtle. The successful plays of Ionesco, Beckett, and Genet stun rather than acclimate the spectator . Thus, they prevent the spectator's judging by his own criteria, most likely to be common sense or convention. From the outset a playwright must visualize (or hear or block out) his playas a play. Green, for one, is too good a novelist to do that. Because of both personality and practice Green visualizes reality as a novelist and does not alter his approach for a new genre. He has never written from an outline. As he explains in "How a Novelist Begins," he creates a central character who works out the ploU He...