【国外英文文学】Abraham Lincoln 2.doc

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1、【国外英文文学】Abraham Lincoln 2NOTEIn using for purposes of drama a personality of so wide and recent afame as that of Abraham Lincoln, I feel that one or two observationsare due to my readers and critics.First, my purpose is that not of the historian but of the dramatist.The historical presentation of my

2、 hero has been faithfully made inmany volumes; notably, in England, by Lord Charnwood in a monographthat gives a masterly analysis of Lincolns career and character andis, it seems to me, a model of what the historians work should be. Tothis book I am gratefully indebted for the material of my play.

3、Butwhile I have, I hope, done nothing to traverse history, I have freelytelescoped its events, and imposed invention upon its movement,in such ways as I needed to shape the dramatic significance of mysubject. I should add that the fictitious Burnet Hook is admittedto the historical company of Lincol

4、ns Cabinet for the purpose ofembodying certain forces that were antagonistic to the President. Thiswas a dramatic necessity, and I chose rather to invent a character forthe purpose than to invest any single known personage with sinisterqualities about which there might be dispute.Secondly, my purpos

5、e is, again, that of the dramatist, not that of thepolitical philosopher. The issue of secession was a very intricateone, upon which high and generous opinions may be in conflict, butthat I may happen to have or lack personal sympathy with Lincolnspolicy and judgment in this matter is nothing. My co

6、ncern is with theprofoundly dramatic interest of his character, and with the inspiringexample of a man who handled war nobly and with imagination.Finally, I am an Englishman, and not a citizen of the great countrythat gave Lincoln birth. I have, therefore, written as an Englishman,making no attempt

7、to achieve a local colour of which I have noexperience, or to speak in an idiom to which I have not been bred. Tohave done otherwise, as I am sure any American friends that this playmay have the good fortune to make will allow, would have been to treata great subject with levity._J.D. _Far Oakridge,

8、 July-August, 1918_INTRODUCTORY NOTEThis play was originally produced by the Birmingham Repertory Theatrelast year, and it had a great success in Birmingham. But if itsauthor had not happened to be the artistic director of the BirminghamRepertory Theatre the play might never have been produced there

9、.The rumour of the provincial success reached London, with the usualresult-that London managers magnificently ignored it. I have myselfspoken with a very well-known London actor-manager who admitted to methat he had refused the play.When Nigel Playfair, in conjunction with myself as a sort ofChancel

10、lor of the Exchequer, started the Hammersmith Playhouse (forthe presentation of the best plays that could be got) we at oncebegan to inquire into the case of Abraham Lincoln. Nigel Playfair wasabsolutely determined to have the play and the Birmingham company toact it. I read the play and greatly adm

11、ired it. We secured boththe play and the company. The first Hammersmith performance was atremendous success, both for the author of the play and for William J.Rea, the Irish actor who in the role of Lincoln was merely great. Theaudience cried.I should have cried myself, but for my iron resolve not t

12、o stain awell-earned reputation for callousness. As I returned home that nightfrom what are known as the wilds of Hammersmith (Hammersmith is asuburb of London) I said to myself: This play is bound to succeedThe next moment I said to myself: This play cannot possibly succeed.It has no love interest.

13、 It is a political play. Its theme is thethreatened separation of the Southern States from the Northern States.Nobody ever heard of a play with such an absurd theme reachingpermanent success. No author before John Drinkwater ever had theeffrontery to impose such a theme on a London public.My instinc

14、t was right and my reason was wrong. The play did succeed.It is still succeeding, and it will continue to succeed. Nobody candine out in London to-day and admit without a blush that he has notseen ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Monarchs and princes have seen it. Archbishopshave seen it. Statesmen without number h

15、ave seen it. An ex-LordChancellor told me that he had journeyed out into the said wilds andwas informed at the theatre that there were no seats left. He couldnot believe that he would have to return from the wilds unsatisfied.But so it fell out. West End managers have tried to coax the play fromHamm

16、ersmith to the West End. They could not do it. We have contrivedto make all London come to Hammersmith to see a play without alove-interest or a bedroom scene, and the play will remain atHammersmith. Americans will more clearly realize what John Drinkwaterhas achieved with the London public if they

17、imagine somebody puttingon a play about the Crimean War at some unknown derelict theatre roundabout Two Hundred and Fiftieth Street, and drawing all New York to TwoHundred and Fiftieth Street.ABRAHAM LINCOLN has pleased everybody, and its triumph is the bestjustification of those few who held that t

18、he public was capable ofliking much better plays than were offered to the public. Why hasABRAHAM LINCOLN succeeded? Here are a few answers to the question:Because the author had a deep, practical knowledge of the stage.Because he disdained all stage tricks. Because he had the wit toselect for his he

19、ro one of the worlds greatest and finest characters.Because he had the audacity to select a gigantic theme and to handleit with simplicity. Because he had the courage of all his artistic andmoral convictions. And of course because he has a genuine dramaticgift. Finally, because William J. Rea plays

20、Lincoln with the utmostnobility of emotional power.Every audience has the same experience at ABRAHAM LINCOLN, and I laughprivately when I think of that experience. The curtain goes up on ahighly commonplace little parlour, and a few ordinary people chattingin a highly commonplace manner. They keep o

21、n chatting. The audiencethinks to itself: Ive been done! What is this interminable smalltalk? And it wants to call out a protest: Hi! You fellows on thestage! Have you forgotten that there is an audience on the otherside of the footlights, waiting for something to happen? (Truly theordinary people i

22、n the parlour do seem to be unaware of the existenceof any audience.) But wait, audience! Already the author is windinghis chains about you. Though you may not suspect it, you are alreadybound. At the end of the first scene the audience, vaguely feelingthe spell, wonders what on earth the nature of

23、the spell is. At theend of the play it is perhaps still wondering what precisely thenature of the spell is. But it fully and rapturously admits thereality of the spell. Indeed after the fall of the curtain, and aftermany falls of the curtain, the spell persists; the audience somehowcannot leave its

24、seats, and the thought of the worry of the journeyhome and of last busses and trains is banished. Strange phenomenon!It occurs every night.ARNOLD BENNETT _April 1919_ABRAHAM LINCOLNABRAHAM LINCOLN_Two Chroniclers_:_The two speaking together_: Kinsmen, you shall beholdOur stage, in mimic action, moul

25、dA mans character.This is the wonder, always, everywhere-Not that vast mutability which is event,The pits and pinnacles of change,But mans desire and valiance that rangeAll circumstance, and come to port unspent.Agents are these events, these ecstasies,And tribulations, to prove the puritiesOr poor

26、oblivions that are our being. WhenBeauty and peace possess us, they are noneBut as they touch the beauty and peace of men,Nor, when our days are done,And the last utterance of doom must fall,Is the doom anythingMemorable for its apparelling;The bearing of man facing it is all.So, kinsmen, we present

27、This for no loud eventThat is but fugitive,But that you may beholdOur mimic action mouldThe spirit of man immortally to live._First Chronicler_: Once when a peril touched the daysOf freedom in our English ways,And none renowned in governmentWas equal found,Came to the steadfast heart of one,Who watc

28、hed in lonely Huntingdon,A summons, and he went,And tyranny was bound,And Cromwell was the lord of his event._Second Chronicler_: And in that land where voyagingThe pilgrim Mayflower came to rest,Among the chosen, counselling,Once, when bewilderment possessedA people, none there was might drawTo fol

29、d the wandering thoughts of men,And make as one the names againOf liberty and law.And then, from fifty fameless yearsIn quiet Illinois was sentA word that still the Atlantic hears,And Lincoln was the lord of his event._The two speaking together:_ So the uncounted spirit wakesTo the birthOf uncounted

30、 circumstance.And time in a generation makesPortents majestic a little story of earthTo be remembered by chanceAt a fireside.But the ardours that they bear,The proud and invincible motions of character-These-these abide.SCENE I._The parlour of Abraham Lincolns House at Springfield, Illinois,early in

31、 1860_. MR. STONE, _a farmer, and_ MR. CUFFNEY, _astore-keeper, both men of between fifty and sixty, are sitting beforean early spring fire. It is dusk, but the curtains are not drawn. Themen are smoking silently_._Mr. Stone (after a pause)_: Abraham. Its a good name for a man tobear, anyway._Mr. Cu

32、ffney_: Yes. Thats right._Mr. Stone (after another pause)_: Abraham Lincoln. Ive known himforty years. Never crooked once. Well._He taps his pipe reflectively on the grate. There is another pause_.SUSAN, _a servant-maid, comes in, and busies herself lighting candlesand drawing the curtains to._Susan

33、_: Mrs. Lincoln has just come in. She says shell be heredirectly._Mr. Cuffney_: Thank you._Mr. Stone_: Mr. Lincoln isnt home yet, I dare say?_Susan:_ No, Mr. Stone. He wont be long, with all the gentlemencoming._Mr. Stone:_ How would you like your master to be President of theUnited States, Susan?_S

34、usan:_ Im sure hed do it very nicely, sir._Mr. Cuffney:_ He would have to leave Springfield, Susan, and go tolive in Washington._Susan:_ I dare say we should take to Washington very well, sir._Mr. Cuffney:_ Ah! Im glad to hear that._Susan:_ Mrs. Lincolns rather particular about the tobacco smoke._Mr

35、. Stone:_ To be sure, yes, thank you, Susan._Susan:_ The master doesnt smoke, you know. And Mrs. Lincolnsspecially particular about this room._Mr. Cuffney:_ Quite so. Thats very considerate of you, Susan._They knock out their pipes._Susan:_ Though some people might not hold with a gentleman not doin

36、gas hed a mind in his own house, as you might say._She goes out._Mr. Cuffney (after a further pause, stroking his pipe)_: I supposetheres no doubt about the message theyll bring?_Mr. Stone_: No, thats settled right enough. Itll be an invitation.Thats as sure as John Browns dead._Mr. Cuffney_: I coul

37、d never make Abraham out rightly about old John.One couldnt stomach slaving more than the other, yet Abraham didnthold with the old chap standing up against it with the sword. Badphilosophy, or something, he called it. Talked about fanatics who donothing but get themselves at a ropes end._Mr. Stone_

38、: Abrahams all for the Constitution. He wants theConstitution to be an honest master. Theres nothing he wants likethat, and hell stand for that, firm as a Samson of the spirit, if hegoes to Washington. Hed give his life to persuade the state againstslaving, but until it is persuaded and makes its la

39、ws against it,hell have nothing to do with violence in the name of laws that arentmade. Thats why old Johns raiding affair stuck in his gullet._Mr. Cuffney:_ He was a brave man, going like that, with a few zealouslike himself, and a handful of niggers, to free thousands._Mr. Stone:_ He was. And thos

40、e were brave words when they took him outto hang him. I think, my friends, you are guilty of a great wrongagainst God and humanity. You may dispose of me very easily. I amnearly disposed of now. But this question is still to be settled-thisnegro question, I mean. The end of that is not yet. I was th

41、ere thatday. Stonewall Jackson was there. He turned away. There was a colonelthere giving orders. When it was over, So perish all foes of thehuman race, he called out. But only those that were afraid of losingtheir slaves believed it._Mr. Cuffney (after a pause):_ It was a bad thing to hang a man li

42、kethat. . Theres a song that theyve made about him._He sings quietly._ John Browns body lies a mouldring in the grave, But his soul goes marching on._Mr. Stone:_ I know._The two together (singing quietly):_ The stars of heaven are looking kindly down On the grave of old John Brown._After a moment_ M

43、RS. LINCOLN _comes in. The men rise._Mrs. Lincoln:_ Good-evening, Mr. Stone. Good-evening, Mr. Cuffney._Mr. Stone and Mr. Cuffney:_ Good-evening, maam._Mrs. Lincoln:_ Sit down, if you please._They all sit._Mr. Stone:_ This is a great evening for you, maam._Mrs. Lincoln:_ It is._Mr. Cuffney:_ What ti

44、me do you expect the deputation, maam?_Mrs. Lincoln:_ They should be here at seven oclock. _(With aninquisitive nose.)_ Surely, Abraham hasnt been smoking._Mr. Stone (rising):_ Shall I open the window, maam? It gets close ofan evening._Mrs. Lincoln:_ Naturally, in March. You may leave the window, Sa

45、muelStone. We do not smoke in the parlour._Mr. Stone (resuming his seat):_ By no means, maam._Mrs. Lincoln:_ I shall be obliged to you._Mr. Cuffney:_ Has Abraham decided what he will say to the invitation?_Mrs. Lincoln:_ He will accept it._Mr. Stone:_ A very right decision, if I may say so._Mrs. Lin

46、coln:_ It is._Mr. Cuffney:_ And you, maam, have advised him that way, Ill bebound._Mrs. Lincoln:_ You said this was a great evening for me. It is, andIll say more than I mostly do, because it is. Im likely to go intohistory now with a great man. For I know better than any how great heis. Im plain lo

47、oking and Ive a sharp tongue, and Ive a mind thatdoesnt always go in his easy, high way. And thats what history willsee, and it will laugh a little, and say, Poor Abraham Lincoln.Thats all right, but its not all. Ive always known when he shouldgo forward, and when he should hold back. Ive watched, and watched,and what Ive learnt America will