TYPES OF PHILOSOPHIC DRAMA EDITED BY ROBERT METCALF SMITH, PH.D. PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, LEHIGH UNIVERSITY KNOWLEDGE OF ALL PRENTICE-HALL NEW YORK PRENTICE-HALL, INC. 823.08 cape. £ COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 612-22-43 5.4 The types of philosophical drama in this volume have been chosen not for their dramatic values, since it may be questioned whether some of them, from the point of view of the theater, are dramas at all. They reveal rather the struggles of representative minds from antiquity to the present era to explain the relation of man to the force or forces that we call God or the Universe. "To justify the ways of God to man" has called forth the best efforts of the greatest minds not only in philosophy but also in dramatic literature. What is the nature of the power or powers back of the universe? Is it wise, just, and powerful; a friend or an enemy of mankind? What is the explanation of evil and suffering? What, in the face of inexplicable disaster, shall man do? Shall he rebel, revolt, resist, curse, placate, trust, love, bless, or reverence this power, or resign himself to it? All of these attitudes will be found in the course of these dramas. Here are gathered together representative figures of piety or protest, the Prometheus and Faust types, the Ancient and Medieval Saint, the Renaissance Pagan, the Heroic Christian, the Romantic Revolter, the Romantic Humanitarian, and the Defiant Fatalist. The book is planned for the last part of a course in "Types of World Drama," in which the point of view is intentionally shifted from considerations of dramatic technique and theatrical effectiveness to problems of thought. It may serve also as an introduction, or adjunct, to courses in philosophy proper; and as valuable collateral reading in connection with the study of Goethe's Faust, a masterwork best reserved for more. advanced study, preferably in the original. To Charles Scribner's Sons, I am indebted for permission to reprint the translation of Andrieev's The Life of Man by Meader and Scott, and the prose poem by Turgenev. Especially am I under obligation to Mrs. Morris Jastrow, Jr., and to J. B. Lippincott & Company, for permission to utilize material from Professor Morris Jastrow, Jr.'s scholarly treatise and translation of The Book of Job. I am glad to acknowledge the aid and advice of my colleagues of the Department of English at Lehigh University in working out with me in conference and classroom this course in world drama. Particularly am I indebted to Mr. H. G. Rhoads for the Appendix and for assistance in preparing the manuscript, and also to Professor Myron J. Luch for revisions and corrections, ROBERT METCALF SMITH |