Prophets of Dissent: Essays on Maeterlinck, Strindberg, Nietzsche and Tolstoy
The collocation of authors so widely at variance in their moral and artistic aims as are those as- sembled in this little book may be defended by the safe and simple argument that all of these authors have exerted, each in his own way, an influence of singular range and potency. By fairly general consent they are the foremost literary expositors of important modern tendencies.
It is, therefore, of no consequence whether or not their ways of thinking fit into our particular frame of mind; what really matters is that in this small group of writers more clearly perhaps than in any other similarly restricted group the basic issues of the modern struggle for social transformation appear to be clearly and sharply joined. That is viewing them as indicators of contrarious ideal currents due to allowance must be made for peculiarities of temperament, both individual and racial, and, correspondingly, for the purely "personal equation" in their spiritual attitudes, does not detract to any material degree from their generic significance.
The collocation of authors so widely at variance in their moral and artistic aims as are those as- sembled in this little book may be defended by the safe and simple argument that all of these authors have exerted, each in his own way, an influence of singular range and potency.
By fairly general consent they are the foremost literary expositors of important modern tendencies. It is, therefore, of no consequence whether or not their ways of thinking fit into our particular frame of mind; what really matters is that in this small group of writers more clearly perhaps than in any other similarly restricted group the basic issues of the modern struggle for social transformation appear to be clearly and sharply joined.
That is viewing them as indicators of contrarious ideal currents due to allowance must be made for peculiarities of temperament, both individual and racial, and, correspondingly, for the purely "personal equation" in their spiritual attitudes, does not detract to any material degree from their generic significance.
Contents:
I Maurice Maeterlinck: a study in Mysticism 3
II August Strindberg: a study in Eccentricity 71
III Friedrich Nietzsche: a study in Exaltation109
IV Leo Tolstoy: a study in Revivalism 161
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