Excerpt from The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. 18: Masterpieces of German Literature Hauptmann's interpretation and criticism of life, how ever, although so constantly shaped by the prevalent intels lectual currents of his age, have never been argumentative or direct. In that respect they have differed notably from the interpretation and criticism of other contemporary dra matists. Thus M. Paul Hervieu, for instance, began his career by a' brief series of telling arguments against the legal status of woman; he has recently used the stage in defense of the secular institutions of the social order. Brieux has never written a play but to attack some evil, unveil some hypocrisy, or scourge some definite injustice. Shaw has attempted to undermine the emotional bases of our civilization, and Galsworthy is devoting his admirable dramatic gift to the service of various causes. Haupt mann has had the larger, and surely the wiser vision; for all these evils are but accidental and transitory elements in the life of historic man. Man remains. And thus Haupt mann, abandoning more and more the brief social ardor of his youth, has fixed his eye primarily upon humanity amid conditions and conflicts which, however exactly defined in time and space, partake, by their very nature, of the recur rent and the enduring. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.