Die Dramaturgie des Späten Brecht by Walter Hinck (review)

1962 BOOK REVIEWS 115 hensive study of Eliot's plays that is likely to be available for some time. His opening chapter on poetic drama is both a theoretical discussion of the subject and an account of Eliot's views. The section which follows deals with Sweeney Agonistes, giving special attention to the handling of language, and with The Rock, clarifying the relation of the Choruses, which Eliot includes in the body of his poetry, to the original pageant from which they came. Mr. Jones then turns to the major plays, devoting a separate chapter to each one. In all of his plays Eliot went back to classical models, and Mr. Jones meticulously points out the relationships between Eliot's works and his sources. He examines in detail the development of Eliot's theatrical verse, describing the consistent movement away from the richness of language of MHrder in the Cathedral and taking account of the shift in Eliot's opinions about the function of dramatic verse which this development involves. Throughout his consideration of the plays Mr. Jones traces what for hhn is Eliot's major theme, "that of spiritual conflict and growth in an exceptional person and its relation to, and repercussions in, the lives of more ordinary people," even though it costs him some effort to establish the existence of this themc in the more recent plays where exceptional persons are rare. Another of Mr. Jones' particular concerns is to elucidate Eliot's theology, a goal which he achieves most successfully. For many of his readers, who do not move with his ease among the subtleties of Christian doctrine, this explication will be among the most valuable aspects of Mr. Jones' book. During all of his careful and detailed examination of these plays he not only presents his own views, but regularly refers to Eliot's comments, and to the opinions of other critics. In fact, he is almost too precise in acknowledging indebtedness, for the book is documented to the point where pages on which a quarter to a half of the space is given over to footnotes are not particularly rare. In addition, Mr. Jones has not escaped a certain academic compulsion to completeness for its own sake. For example, such excrescences as a capsule history of the Greek chorus and a summary of the plot of OedipHs Rex have been allowed to remain in the text. Nevertheless, thcse arc essentially minor quibbles. (I cannot resist indulging in one more. On pages two and three Mr. Jones attributes the line, "0, that way madness lies" to Hamlet rather than to Lear, an error which he himself most probably noted the day after this volume left thc printers.) i'vfr. Jones' study is clearly organized and excellently written. If it presents few moments of profound insight, there is ample compensation in the writer's thoroughncss, clarity, good sense, and intelligence. All students of Eliot, of the poetic drama, and of the modcrn theater generally are in Mr. Jones' debt. ARTHUR GANZ Rutgers University DIE DRAMATURGIE DES SPli.TEN BRECHT, by Walter Hinck, Gottingen, 1960, coIl. Palacstra 229, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 172 pp. Les editions Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht nOLlS pn§sentcnt 1a deuxieme edition revue cl'une these de doctorat soutenue en 1956 devant la Faculte des Lcttrcs de I'Universite dc Gottingen par Iv!. 'Walter I-I inc k actuellcment assistant al'Institut de Langue et Litt6rature allemandes de la mcme univcrsit6. L'auteur y etudie la derniere epoque pour en degager lcs intentions principalcs d'une dramaturgie. A un moment 01\ la gloire de Brecht ne cesse de s'6panouir et de s'impcser et OU mcme des jugements erudits sont fausses par 116 MODERN DRAMA May des pn§juges politiques et ideologiques, nous sommes reconnaissants de cet ouvrage etonnant qui merite en effet toutes les louanges pour la multitude des details, la minutie et la profondeur des analyses, la silrete des conclusions. Dorenavant les etudes sur l'oeuvre dramatique de Brecht ne pourront se passer des resultats de ce livre dont les deux premieres parties nous exposent Ie systeme pratique (Une dramaturgie ouverte) et theorique (Le jeu dirige vers Ie spectateur) tandis que la troisieme essaie une...