Maeterlinck Delphi Collected Works of Maurice Maeterlinck Illustrated

1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-80170-277-5
Verlag: Delphi Publishing Ltd
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, Band 22, 3294 Seiten

Reihe: Delphi Series Fifteen

A Belgian playwright, poet and essayist, Maurice Maeterlinck was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1911 in recognition of dramatic works 'distinguished by a wealth of imagination'. A prominent member of the Symbolist movement, Maeterlinck produced unique dramas, experimenting with poetic speech, gesture, lighting, setting and ritual, creating a profound and moving atmosphere. He was also a gifted writer of essays, offering remarkable blends of mysticism, occultism and an enduring interest in the world of nature - the typical Symbolist reaction against materialism, science and the mechanisation of the time. For the first time in publishing history, this eBook presents Maeterlinck's completed translated plays, with numerous illustrations, many rare texts and informative introductions. (Version 1)

Please note: there are no available translations of Maeterlinck's last 8 plays. When new works enter the public domain, they will be added to the collection as a free update.

* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Maeterlinck's life and works
* Concise introductions to the major texts
* All 20 translated plays, with individual contents tables
* Features many rare dramas appearing for the first time in digital publishing
* Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts
* Excellent formatting of the texts
* Contemporary translations by Richard Hovey, Alfred Sutro, Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, Bernard Miall and F. M. Atkinson
* Maeterlinck's rare poetry
* A wide selection of the author's non-fiction, with rare texts appearing here for the first time
* Ordering of texts into chronological order and genres

CONTENTS:

The Plays
Princess Maleine (1889)
Intruder (1890)
The Blind (1890)
The Seven Princesses (1891)
Pelléas and Mélisande (1892)
Alladine and Palomides (1894)
Home (1894)
The Death of Tintagiles (1894)
Aglavaine and Selysette (1896)
Ardiane and Bluebeard (1899)
Sister Beatrice (1901)
Monna Vanna (1902)
Joyzelle (1903)
The Miracle of Saint Antony (1904)
The Blue Bird (1908)
Mary Magdalene (1910)
The Burgomaster of Stilemond (1918)
The Betrothal (1922)
The Cloud that Lifted (1925)
The Power of the Dead (1926)

The Short Story
The Massacre of the Innocents (1895)

The Poetry
Poems (1915)

The Non-Fiction
Ruysbroeck and the Mystics (1891)
The Treasure of the Humble (1896)
Wisdom and Destiny (1898)
The Life of the Bee (1901)
The Buried Temple (1902)
The Double Garden (1904)
Death (1911)
Our Eternity (1913)
The Unknown Guest (1914)
The Wrack of the Storm (1916)
Gleanings from Maeterlinck (1917)
Mountain Paths (1919)
The Great Secret (1921)
The Life of the White Ant (1926)

Autoren/Hrsg.

Maeterlinck, Maurice

Leseproben

SCENE V. — PRINCESS MALEINE’S chamber.

PRINCESS MALEINE DISCOVERED motionless upon her bed, horror-struck and listening. Enter the KING and QUEEN ANNE. The storm increases.

KING.
I want to know what went out from the room....

ANNE.
Go on! go on!

KING.
Let me go see what went out from the room.

ANNE.
Be silent. She is there!

KING.
She is dead! — Let us be gone!

ANNE.
She is afraid.

KING.
Let us be gone! I hear her heart beat even here.

ANNE.
Go on; are you going mad?

KING.
She is looking at us. Oh! Oh!

ANNE.
Now, then! She’s but a little girl! — Goodnight, Maleine. — Do you not hear me, Maleine? We come to bid you good-night. — Are you sick, Maleine? Do you not hear me? Maleine! Maleine! [MALEINE nods.

KING.
Oh!

ANNE.
You are terrifying! — Maleine! Maleine! Have you lost your voice?

MALEINE.
Good... night!...

ANNE.
Oh, then! you are alive still. — Have you all you need? — Let me lay aside my cloak, though. [Lays her cloak on a piece of furniture, and draws near the bed.] Let me see. — Oh! this pillow is very hard. — Let me arrange your hair. — But why do you look at me so, Maleine? Maleine! — I have come to pet you a little. — Where is the pain? — You tremble as if you were going to die; why, you make the very bed tremble. — I have simply come to pet you a little. — Do not look at me so. One needs to be petted at your age; I will be your poor dear mamma to you. — Let me arrange your hair. — Now, then, lift your head a little. I will tie your hair with this. — Lift your head a little. So. [Passes a cord about MALEINE’S neck.

MALEINE.

[Jumping out of bed.] Oh! what have you put about my neck?

ANNE.
Nothing! nothing! It is nothing. Do not scream!

MALEINE.
Ah! Ah!

ANNE.
Stop her! Stop her!

KING.
What? What?

ANNE.
She is going to scream! She is going to scream!

KING.
I cannot!...

MALEINE.
You are going to... oh! you are going to...

ANNE.

[Seizing MALEINE.] No, no!

MALEINE.
Mamma! Mamma! Nurse! Nurse! Hjalmar! Hjalmar! Hjalmar!

ANNE.

[To KING.] Where are you?

KING.
Here! Here!

MALEINE.

[Following ANNE on her knees.] Wait! O! wait a little! Anne! Madam! King! King! King! Hjalmar! — Not to-day! — No, no, not now!...

ANNE.
Are you going to follow me about the world on your knees? [Draws the cord tighter.

MALEINE.

[Falling in the middle of the chamber.]
Mamma!... Oh! Oh! Oh!

[The KING goes to a seat.

ANNE.
She moves no longer. It is done already. — Where are you? Help me. She is not dead. — Are you sitting?

KING.
Yes, yes, yes!

ANNE.
Hold her feet; she is struggling. She is going to get up.

KING.
What feet? What feet? Where are they?

ANNE.
There! There! There! Pull!

KING.
I cannot! I cannot!

ANNE.
But do not make her suffer needlessly!

[Here the hail beats suddenly against the windows.

KING.
Oh!

ANNE.
What have you done?

KING.
The windows! Some one is knocking at the windows!

ANNE.
Knocking at the windows?

KING.
Yes, yes! With fingers — oh! millions of fingers! [Another downpour.

ANNE.
It is hail.

KING.
Hail?

ANNE.
Yes.

KING.
Is it really hail?

ANNE.
Yes; I have seen for myself. — Her eyes are glazing.

KING.
I want to go! I am going! I am going!

ANNE.
What? what? — Wait, wait! — She is dead.

[Here the wind violently blows open a window, and a vase on the sill, containing a lily, falls noisily into the room.]

KING.
Oh, oh! — and now! — What is the matter now?

ANNE.
Nothing; it is the lily. The lily has fallen.

KING.
Some one opened the window.

ANNE.
It was the wind. [Thunder and lightning.

KING.
Was it really the wind?

ANNE.
Yes, yes; you hear it well enough. Take away the other lily. It is going to fall, too.

KING.
Where? Where?

ANNE.
There! There! In the window. It’s going to fall; it is going to fall! Some one will hear it.

KING.

[Taking the lily.] Where must I put it? Where must I put it?

ANNE.
Where you choose, of course. On the floor; on the floor.

KING.
I do not know where; I do not know where....

ANNE.
Now, do not stand there with the lily in your hands. It shakes as if it were in the midst of a storm! It is going to fall!

KING.
Where must I put it?

ANNE.
Where you choose; on the floor — anywhere....

KING.
Here?

ANNE.
Yes, yes! [MALEINE moves slightly.

KING.
Oh!

ANNE.
What? What?

KING.

[Imitating MALEINE’S movement.] She has!...

ANNE.
She is dead; she is dead. Come here.

KING.
I?

ANNE.
Yes. Her nose is bleeding. — Give me your handkerchief.

KING.
My... my handkerchief?

ANNE.
Yes.

KING.
No, no! not mine! not mine!

[Here the Madman appears at the window, which has remained open, and suddenly chuckles.]

ANNE.
There is somebody there! There is somebody at the window.

KING.
Oh! Oh! Oh!

ANNE.
It is the Madman! He has seen the light. — He will tell all. — Kill him!

[The King runs to window and strikes the Madman with his sword.]

THE MADMAN.

[Falling.] Oh! Oh! Oh!

ANNE.
Is he dead?

KING.
He has fallen! He has fallen into the moat. He is drowning! Hark! Hark!...

[Sounds of water-splash audible.

ANNE.
Is there any one in the neighborhood?

KING.
He is drowning; he is drowning! Listen!

ANNE.
Is there any one in the neighborhood?

[Thunder and lightning.

KING.Lightning! Lightning!

ANNE.
What?

KING.
It rains! it rains! it hails! it hails! It thunders! it thunders!

ANNE.
What are you doing there at the window?

KING.
It is raining! It is raining on me! — it is pouring on my head! I wish I were on the lawn! I wish I were out of doors! it is pouring on my head! It would take all the water of the Flood to baptize me, now! The whole sky is shattering hail on my head! The whole sky is shattering lightnings on my head!

ANNE.
You are going mad! You will get struck by lightning!

KING.
It is hailing; it is hailing upon my head. The hailstones are like crows’ eggs.

ANNE.
You are going mad! You will get stoned to death. — You are bleeding already. — Close the window.

KING.
I am thirsty.

ANNE.
Drink, then. There is some water in this glass.

KING.
Where?

ANNE.
There; it is still half full.

KING.
Did she drink from this glass?

ANNE.
Yes; perhaps.

KING.
Is there no other glass?

[Empties the glass and rinses it.

ANNE.
No, — what are you doing?

KING.
She is dead. [Strange sounds of rubbing and a noise of paws against the door.] Oh!

ANNE.
There is a scratching at the door!

KING.
They scratch! they scratch!

ANNE.
Be quiet!

KING.
It is not a hand.

ANNE.
I do not know what it is.

KING.
Let us take care! Oh! Oh! Oh!

ANNE.
Hjalmar! Hjalmar! What is the matter with you?

KING.
What? What?

ANNE.
You frighten me! You are going to fall! Drink, — drink a little.

KING.
Yes, yes.

ANNE.
Some one is walking in the corridor.

KING.
He will come in.

ANNE.
Who will?

KING.
He — he — who —

[Makes a gesture of scratching.

ANNE.
Be quiet. — Some one is singing.

VOICES.

[In the corridor.] De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine: Domine, exaudi vocem meam!

ANNE.
It is the seven nuns going to the kitchen.

VOICES.
[In the corridor.] Fiant aures tuae intendentes, in vocem deprecationis mece.

[KING lets fall the glass and decanter.

ANNE.
What have you done?

KING.
It is not my fault....

ANNE.
They must have heard the noise.... They will come in....

VOICES.

[Retreating down the corridor.] Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine: Domine, quis sustinebit?

ANNE.
They have gone; they are going to the kitchen.

KING.
Let me go too! Let me go too! Let me go with them! Open the door for me!

[Goes to the door.

ANNE.

[Holding him back.] What are you about? Where are you going? Are you mad?

KING.
I wish to go with them! They are already on the lawn.... They are at the edge of the pool now.... There is a breeze; it is raining; there is water; there is air! — Oh! if you had at least put her to death in the open air! But here, in a little room! — In a poor little room! I am going to open the windows.

ANNE.
But it thunders! Are you going mad? I would have done better to come alone....

KING.
Yes!...