The Modern Debacle

Book excerpt: The period covered in this book ranges from the early part of the 20th century right through to its end-roughly from the death of Chekhov to that of Ted Hughes. The question is raised whether the vision of the modern world that opened up to the authors of this period does not still apply in our own time. The book's main theme is the finality of modern nothingness. What remains that is superhumanly possible, despite all appearances that nothing more and nothing new is left to man to break through with? Civilization for these authors had become denuded of all of its vital forces, and it is as if when faced with the prospect of hopelessness, they would have to invoke the help of the one Power on Whom humankind can rely to see them through the worst. This is the Great Mother or Goddess Who is directly associated with the experience of Nature as this comes down to us from before the straitened confines of the 20th century. It is the experience modern man would deny at the risk of cutting himself off from the one life-giving source that he has. Front Cover Illustration: From Jerome Robbins' 1963 Broadway production of Mother Courage, with Anne Bancroft as Mother Courage and Zohra Lampert as Kattrin. Back Cover Photo by A.F.