WEAVERS, The. The misery of the Sile sian weavers of the second quarter of the 19th century inspired Heine to one of his most mov ing ballads and is a matter of common histori cal knowledge. Gerhart Hattpunana derived his intimate feeling for it chiefly from the bps of his grandfather, one of the actual sufferers; and in his work 'Die Weber' ((The Weavers') (1892) be has given to industrial revolution a stronger sanction than can be found in any other dramatic work whatever. 'Die Weber' is rather a series of five one-act dramas than a drama in five acts. Different grotips of per sons appear in five different places. But the persons belong to the same community, they pass to and fro, and the five acts, each a unit, with skilful exposition and a theatrical con clusion, constitute a greater whole, in which rebellion is carried to temporary success, but which is mainly impressive for the presentation of conditions that cry out far a remedy. There is no hero; every person is an integral char acter, every one a reality, and to the tragedy of starvation as the only reward for cod is added the pathos of vicarious atonement: an old weaver who refuses to leave his loom in order to join his fellows in rebellion is shot by a stray bullet. Hauptmann's method is unquali
fiedly naturalistic. The play was first written in the harsh Silesian dialect,, and the revised form in general circulation is only approxi mated to the literary language. It smacks of the soil. Its power resides in its apparent art lessness, in the impressiveness of truth naked and unadorned. There is, however, in a treat ment of squalor which arouses unmixed sym pathy a high degree of art, as there is also a preachment the more eloquent for being left to be inferred. Its text is the simple precept, give them their daily bread. Consult 'The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann' (tr. by Ludwig Lewisohn and others, New York 1913-13).
Wnwat G. Howasn.