M. MAETERLINCK, DRAMATIST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15252, 15 March 1913, Page 5 (Supplement)

M. MAETERLINCK, DRAMATIST.

♦ — ; THE .BELGIAN SHAKESPERE. Maurice Maeterlinck, the author of the "Blue Birdj" was born on August 29,1862, in the city of Ghent, Belgium. He was educated for the law, and became a barrister in his native city when he was 24 years of age.. But he does not appear to have devoted much time to his profession. His chief interest was literature, and in the year that he was called to the Bar he also made his first contribution to the famous Paris journal, Pleaide.ln 1889 he published a volume of poems entitled " Series Chaudes,'' and at the same time he had in hand the work which was to bring him a greater measure of literary recognition than is usually accorded to the young writer of genius. This was the play called "La Princesse Maleine." It is said, that this was limited to an edition of 25 copies, all-of which were printed on a hand press by the author himself and a friend. It* merits were, however, quickly discovered. The Paris Figaro published an article by M. Octave Mirbeau entitled "A Belgian Shakespere," in which the following passage occurred: l "M. Maeterlinck has given us the greatest work of genius that has been produced in our time, and the most extraordinary and tho most naive, too, comparable (dare I say superior, in beauty to what is most beautiful in Shakespere . '■.... more tragic than "Macbeth," more extraordinary in thought than 'Hamlet.' And thus he started on that remarkable literary career which has now in all probability reached its zenith in the world-wide fame of the "Blue Bird." In the September of the following year, he w'as introduced to English readers in an article in tho Fortnightly Review headed *"A Pessimist Playwright." On. January 27, 1892, 'L'lntrose'' appeared at the Haymarket Theatre. Though a most, careful and fastidious writer, he has, in the last twenty years, produced a great number of works. His best-known play before the "Blue, Bird,' :s " Pelloas and Molisande," while some of his books of Ohs-ays, -uch as " The Treasure of the Humble," and 'Wisdom and Destiny," have achieved a wide circulation. He is a good fisherman, a lover of dogs, a fencer, and a motorist. As to. personal appearance, Mr. A. Sutro describes him as "a tall, burly figure, with blue eyes, and silver-grey hair, end a sudden smile that makes his face boyish."