The Foundations Of A National Drama A Lecture

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Excerpt from The Foundations of a National Drama: A Collection of Lectures, Essays and Speeches, Delivered and Written in the Years 1869-1912 Huxley tells us that at the outset of his career he asked himself what was the best thing he could wish for himself in life: and that after much pondering he could think of no gift so desirable to beg from fortune as the courage always to speak the truth upon any matter of public concern, with perfect fearlessness and sincerity, taking no heed of personal consequences. The record of that great clear thinker and writer shows that the fairies granted him his request. Indeed what better thing could any man ask for himself at the beginning of life; or wish to hold fast through the struggles and confusions of his midway years; or find a greater satisfaction and pride in cherishing as his dearest possession at the close? I may claim that a desire to know and to speak the exact truth about the matters dealt with in the following papers has been the only motive that has urged me, often against my interests and inclinations, to write them. My one wish has been to gain for myself and to spread amongst playgoers a knowledge of those facts and conditions and rules which will help to develop an intellectual drama in England, and to make our theatre an object of national pride and esteem, the admiration instead of the contempt of Europe. And I could be well content to learn that the knowledge of those facts and conditions and rules has so far advanced into practice on our actual stage, that already these essays and lectures have become obsolete and needless. But have we reached such a goal? 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.

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