SOUTH AMERICAN LITERATURE

This year the Dramatic Club is continuing its policy of producing foreign plays not likely to be seen in the United States. But the club is again avoiding the conventional by not going to Europe or the Orient for its material, but to South America. Our sister-continent, especially Argentina, its most progressive state, is rapidly passing the formative period and settling down into a stage of civilization in which the fine arts and literature find fertile soil. These dramas of the Argentine are among the first South American products of the new movement that have reached us. They show a rugged power that is characteristic of a young nation, yet have a finish and a careful technique that are promising for future development.

The Dramatic Club is to be congratulated on bringing one of these plays before North-American audiences. This is an era of more intimate relations in Pan America, yet we of the United States too frequently style ourselves "Americans", without remembering that there are others with an equal claim to that title. The knowledge of life and thought in South America, as portrayed in its drama, will help us to understand its character and ideals, and will create a more sympathetic attitude. With the Dramatic Club's usual careful production, supplemented by Coppee's delicate French play, the program is no less diverting than distinctively worth while.