R,CHARD MONCKTON MILNES was born in the year - OUDL Home

182 Harley Granville-BarkerOur tenacity of national impressions has caused the wordtheatre...to prod the Puritan nervous system like a satanicinstrument...and with some cause! He praises Congreve reservedly,Moliere without reserve, and puts Le Misanthrope on apedestal. He goes further afield, rounds in Menander,Aristophanes, Goldoni and the Spaniards; it is.a feastof sound criticism, brilliantly served. And the conclusionof the matter is thatOur traditions are unfortunate. The public taste is with the idlelaughers, and still inclines to follow them....Our bad traditions of comedy affect us not only on the stage,but in our literature, and may be tracked into our social life. Theyare the ground of the heavy moralizings by which we are outwearied....What would such a public make of a Moliere, or of sucha play as Le Misanthrope?The fable is thin. Our pungent contrivers of plots would see noindication of life in the outlines. The life of the comedy is in theidea. As with the singing of the skylark out of sight, you mustlove the bird to be attentive to the song, so in this highest flightof Comic Muse, you must love pure Comedy warmly to understandthe Misanthrope: you must be receptive of the idea of Comedy.And to love Comedy you must know the real world, and knowmen and women well enough not to expect too much of them,though you may still hope for good.Le Misanthrope, truly, was at first a failure in the theatre,butIt is one of the French titles to honour that this quintessentialcomedy.. .was ultimately understood and applauded.ForOne excellent test of the civilization of a country, as I havesaid, I take to be the flourishing of the Comic idea and Comedy;and the test of true Comedy is that it shall awaken thoughtfullaughter....A perception of the comic spirit gives high fellowship. Youbecome a citizen of the selecter world, the highest we know of inconnection with our old world, which is not supermundane. Lookthere for your unchallengeable upper class!