Henry Becque Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Freeman Tilden

Critical Essay by Freeman Tilden

SOURCE: Tilden, Freeman. “Introduction.” In The Vultures, The Woman of Paris, The Merry-Go-Round: Three Plays by Henry Becque, pp. 7-8. New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1913.

In the following essay, Tilden provides an overview of Becque's produced plays, commenting that without the help of a few notable friends these productions would not have been possible.

Henry Becque (1837-1899) was one of those men of letters to whom falls the ungrateful lot of giving the public what it does not want. In the very heyday of romanticism, Becque had the effrontery to hawk an entirely different line of wares in the Parisian theatrical markets. He boldly trespassed against the most sacred traditions built up and sustained under the guidance of Sardou. He flouted the “happy ending”; he questioned the infallibility of M. Sarcey; he even thought it possible to write a drama in five acts, when everybody knew that four acts must...
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