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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 1886)
THE HESPERIAN, thrice altcnding the theater. However wc are inclined to be lieve that this preparation equals that of many who set them selves up as connoisseurs in criticism. Presumption seems to take deep root in writers as well as other men. But it is permitted to everyone to say whether he likes a thing or not. If our taste is poor, that is oar own misfortune, for which we ought to command sympathy instead of censure. Holding to this theory we give our opinion without further ap ology. We were disappointed in Kccne's rendering of Hamlet, Perhaps a play that has called forth the study and criticisms of the greatest thinkers of the nintecnth century is not an easy one for an actor to satisfy his audience with. After hear ing all that Goethe, Schiller, Coleridge and Lowell have to say on the character of Hamle ,we arc liable to expect a great deal from one who endeavors to interpret him as he lived and moved at Elsinorc, Mr. Kecne's was not the Hamlet we bad expected to sec. Perhaps his individuality is such thathe cannot become Hamlctized. His general appearance, facia expression, was not what wc had conceived to be Hamlet's. The continual rolling of the eyes lent a sinister cast to his countenance that would be more characteristic of Richard III than the meditative, speculative, profoundly intellectual Hamlet. Perhaps as Shakespeare conceived him, he would not affect the grand manner as much as Kcenc. He would be more unconscious. Sometimes Kccne seemed to rant more than would be nat ural. Perhaps, also, he manifested too much emotion by sighs and groans. In the scene with Ojiielin we fancy the real Ham let would preserve more indifference, for there is no evidence that he cares for her at all. "Where Hamlet is ironical, or expends his wit, Kccne plays avcII, but in his subtle moods, not so successfully. The character of Horatio seemed to us a wretched piece of acting. Wc expected something different. The calm, well balanced, finely-tempered Horatio of. Shakespeare ought not to be slandered by such insipidity as the representation would reflect. Perhaps the day of stage-playing is passing away. Wc have become too intellectual in our tastes to care for it so strongly. More pleasure is derived from reading a drama like Hamlet than seeing it acted. drcd feet is any better than that on the surface. It is no more valuable. To our exchanges, wc say then, don't do so much, fruitless digging. The most natural enquiry after reading the "JSostonians" would be if Henry James Jr. was reared and educated on the moon, supposing that planet to be as cold, bleak, unfriendly to life as generally reputed. The style and execution may be unobjectionable, but there is no more human interest in it than in deriving the Trigonometrical formula for the sine and co -sine. It requires the same cold, calculating, methodical spirit. James seems to delight in putting .humanity tinder a microscope, following closely all he paths and by-ways its spirit leads, as far as a critical observer can determine. He has the true scientific spirit The only trouble is that this invades his characters and he gives us scientific abstractions rather than human beings. They arc in ingenious and com plex enough to be real men and women, but they lack the merit of being alive, at least not enough, so that they make any definite impression on us. One would find it very disa greeable to meet his characters in real life. A cold, clammy feeling would steal over him at any near approach of thenu They may be objects of curiosity as psychological phenom ena, but as people to associate with, they arc decidedly un comfortable. For ourselves wc cannot get over the impression that James is devoid of human sympathy and feeling: that he brings no higher motive to the study of man, than a vulgar curiosity to sec how it acts, as if it were no more sacred than a toy puzr.lcbox. There is something in the tone of hislatcr writings that is repugnant. They produce a dreary feeling as if one were traversing the Siberian Avastcs of the mental Avorld. James' novels will become classics if avc accept a recent crit ics theory of classics that "they are to be admired, not read.1 "Wc can admire his literary style; for simplicity and purity, it takes rank Avith our best prose. Put the Avorld he introduces us to as a novelist is decidedly uninteresting. An exchange takes us to task for not having a literary depart ment. That is the very thing Ave have been trying to avoid, and if we have been successful it is truly gratifying. "Wc want some place as a Tcfuge from the all-devouring spirit of learning that hangs so continually over us in our college life. Wc prefer even commonplace locals to heavy, pedantic lit erary articles that are as remote from a student's actual life and experience, what he really sees and feels, as the ends of the universe. We venture to speak of matters that have some connection with occurrences in our college life, rather than to get up laborious articles on the Reformation and Renaissance. To be called commonplace, is not so grave a charge. Many things fall in this category that are quite essential. Honesty is quite common, yet we are always glad to meet with it Avhen genuine. Wc would even prefer that some of our exchanges should contain matters of more com mon interest. It is not -so serious a crime as they imagine. Gray, the poet, is called commonplace, yet we all like to read him much more than some avIio are called profoundcr. There are many -places on the earth where you can dig very deep and only ibring up sand. The mental world Is similarly constructed. "We'florilt know that sand at a depth of twojhun- "Conccntration is the secret of strength in politics, in Avar, in trade, in short, in all management ofhuman affairs." As an evidence of the increasing respectability ofuhe HiiS I'KKIAX we arc pleased to note that it is rapidly taking prece dence of the University library in the esteem of exchanges. The Scientific Americnithns now ceased to arrive at the library table and may be found on ours. Gen. Beauregard gives a history of the Shiloh Campaign in the January number of the North American Review. He claims that Gen. Algernon Sydney Johnson acted only as a corps commander at Shiloh. Gen. Beauregard emphatically asserts (contrary to the common belief) that he was sole com mander on both days, and without naming them, controverts the reports of Grant and Sherman as to the nation's forces bit ing taken by surprise. , The Lawrtntian calmly enumerates the following uses to which a mortar-board may be put: They are good to catch gophers in. They will serve for a table at a picnic. They make capital snow shovels. They are admirably adap'cd for cake baskets. They would make both a useful and ornamental -work bas ket for a lady's sewing table. By the use of a little Avhite chalk 'thqy 'may be 'transformed into beautiful checker boards. " ;;: iln.fdctfthey are in finvaluablefarOclcofJiuusehdld furniture;, mo 'house can well .afford itobewitho'ut -one. '
