Geschiedenis van het Drama en van het Tooneel in Nederland by J. A. WorpReview by: J. G. RobertsonThe Modern Language Review, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Apr., 1908), pp. 301-302Published by: Modern Humanities Research AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3713724 .

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Reviews

Geschiedenis van het Drama en van het Tooneel in Nederland. Door J. A. WORP. 2 Volumes. Groningen: J. B. Wolters, 1904-8. viii + 466 pp. and viii + 577 pp. 8vo.

Dr J. A. Worp's History of the Drama and Theatre in the Netherlands, which has just been completed by the publication of the second volume, has an importance which is by no means limited to the subject and the literature of which it treats. It is a valuable contribution to the com- parative history of the European drama, and will be appreciated by all who seek to understand the general movements of modern literature. As a matter of fact, the key of such movements is often to be found in the little literatures of the continent rather than in France, or Germany, or England; this is particularly true of Holland, which is, as it were, hedged in by the three great literary powers. There is much to be learned from the reflection of French and English ideas in the Dutch mind, and Professor Grierson's recent attempt, in his contribution to the Periods of European Literature, to bring the Dutch Renaissance movement into line with the classicism of the rest of Europe, was a noteworthy recognition of the comparative value of Dutch literature. A careful study of Dr Worp's two admirable volumes will help us, better than any other existing history of the subject, to realise how much light the study of the Dutch drama is able to throw on the dramatic literature of other lands.' This comparative value of the book, and the fact that our English journals rarely take cognisance of the excellent work which is being done at present in Holland in the field of modern literary research and criticism, are my chief reasons for bringing Dr Worp's history before the notice of the readers of this Review.

The most conspicuous merit of Dr Worp's book is, as I have just in- dicated, that it constantly keeps in view what may be called the European standpoint. Unfortunately, the early record of the Dutch drama, where every fragment of evidence is precious, is defective; we have a mere handful of dramas from which to draw our inferences and conclusions. This broken and incomplete tradition has perhaps been the reason which led to a somewhat adventurous criticism on the part of older writers on the subject-German as well as Dutch-an attempt to set up hypotheses of Dutch origins, which were at variance with the parallel evidence of French and German literary history. Dr Worp has not forgotten that, before we are justified in inventing new theories, the evidence against a development analogous to that in neighbouring lands, must be very strong; and he has succeeded in proving that the early Dutch traditions involve no factors which are absent in other literatures. Indeed, one wonders now that any other explanation could ever have been accepted.

It is, however, to later times that the reader will turn with most interest, to the century of Hooft and Vondel, when Holland succeeded in creating a national renaissance drama, which combined Senecan form with the spacious imaginative atmosphere of the medieval liturgic drama. The comparative results of Dr Worp's investigation of the drama of the seventeenth century are not as enlightening as one might

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have hoped to find them; he has made abundantly clear the various waves of foreign influence that swept over Holland from abroad, but he has not added to our knowledge of the influence that went out from Holland to other lands, and especially to Germany. If we are ever to find a solution to the many fascinating problems of German dramatic literature in the seventeenth century, from the Sidea and Phoenicia of Ayrer to the Peter Squetntz of Schwenter-Gryphius, and the school comedies of Christian Weise, it must, as is generally admitted, come by way of Dutch literature. But if Dr Worp has no new facts to offer, his history at least helps us to realise what is too often forgotten, the essentially Dutch character of the German drama of that age. The advantages of the author's comparative method are to be seen in his treatment of the eighteenth century, a period barren enough in the history of Dutch dramatic literature; as especially suggestive I would note his discussion of the influence exerted by the French classic drama, on the national tradition that had come down from the drama of the preceding century.

Dr Worp's book is characterised by German thoroughness and German method. The more important plays are taken up one by one and discussed in detail; in fact, there is occasionally almost an excess of method in this respect, and the broader aspects of the dramatic move- ment do not always receive their due. His style is lucid and straight- forward, and need not discourage anyone whose knowledge of Dutch requires constant recourse to the dictionary. The book is provided with valuable lists of foreign dramas in Dutch translation, and three exemplary indices.

J. G. ROBERTSON.

MINOR NOTICES.

M. Gustave Cohen's Histoire de la mise en scene dans le thedtre religieux franfais du moyen dge (Paris, Champion, 1906, and now out of print), has been translated into German under the title Geschichte der Inszenierung im geistlichen Schauspiele des Mittelalters in Frankreich, by Dr Constantin Bauer (Leipzig, Klinkhardt, 1907). This, however, is more than a simple translation, and the formula 'verbesserte und vermehrte Ausgabe' is fully justified both as regards illustrations and text. The German edition has two plates which are not in the French original: Die drei Marien am Grabe, from a Reichenau MS. of the twelfth century, and Der Weinmarkt in Luzern als Schauplatz des Osterspieles vom Jahre 1583. With regard to the text, numerous rectifications and valuable additions have been made. These have been suggested by the reviews of Roy (Revue Bourguignonne, 1906), S6pet (Romania, October, 1906), Rigal (Revue des Langues Romanes, December, 1906), ChAtelain (Revue d'Histoire Litt!raire, September,

have hoped to find them; he has made abundantly clear the various waves of foreign influence that swept over Holland from abroad, but he has not added to our knowledge of the influence that went out from Holland to other lands, and especially to Germany. If we are ever to find a solution to the many fascinating problems of German dramatic literature in the seventeenth century, from the Sidea and Phoenicia of Ayrer to the Peter Squetntz of Schwenter-Gryphius, and the school comedies of Christian Weise, it must, as is generally admitted, come by way of Dutch literature. But if Dr Worp has no new facts to offer, his history at least helps us to realise what is too often forgotten, the essentially Dutch character of the German drama of that age. The advantages of the author's comparative method are to be seen in his treatment of the eighteenth century, a period barren enough in the history of Dutch dramatic literature; as especially suggestive I would note his discussion of the influence exerted by the French classic drama, on the national tradition that had come down from the drama of the preceding century.

Dr Worp's book is characterised by German thoroughness and German method. The more important plays are taken up one by one and discussed in detail; in fact, there is occasionally almost an excess of method in this respect, and the broader aspects of the dramatic move- ment do not always receive their due. His style is lucid and straight- forward, and need not discourage anyone whose knowledge of Dutch requires constant recourse to the dictionary. The book is provided with valuable lists of foreign dramas in Dutch translation, and three exemplary indices.

J. G. ROBERTSON.

MINOR NOTICES.

M. Gustave Cohen's Histoire de la mise en scene dans le thedtre religieux franfais du moyen dge (Paris, Champion, 1906, and now out of print), has been translated into German under the title Geschichte der Inszenierung im geistlichen Schauspiele des Mittelalters in Frankreich, by Dr Constantin Bauer (Leipzig, Klinkhardt, 1907). This, however, is more than a simple translation, and the formula 'verbesserte und vermehrte Ausgabe' is fully justified both as regards illustrations and text. The German edition has two plates which are not in the French original: Die drei Marien am Grabe, from a Reichenau MS. of the twelfth century, and Der Weinmarkt in Luzern als Schauplatz des Osterspieles vom Jahre 1583. With regard to the text, numerous rectifications and valuable additions have been made. These have been suggested by the reviews of Roy (Revue Bourguignonne, 1906), S6pet (Romania, October, 1906), Rigal (Revue des Langues Romanes, December, 1906), ChAtelain (Revue d'Histoire Litt!raire, September,

Reviews Reviews 302 302

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