Iconoclasts: A Book of Dramatists Ibsen, Strindberg, Becque, Hauptmann, Sudermann, Hervieu, Gorky, Duse and D'Annunzio, Maeterlinck and Bernard Shaw — Reading Notes

The Individualist Lens

Huneker's first chapter, 'Henrik Ibsen: The Individualist,' sets the tone for the entire volume. He argues that Ibsen's dramas are 'first soul dramas,' with the human soul as 'the stake for which his characters breathlessly game.' This is not a neutral introduction; Huneker is already taking sides, praising Ibsen's 'technical genius' while acknowledging accusations of anarchic preaching. The reader will notice how Huneker uses recurring symbols—doors, missing walls—to link Ibsen's stagecraft to his philosophy. He quotes Ibsen's own remark that the stage should be 'a room with the fourth wall knocked down,' then adds his own gloss: 'A tragic wall is this missing one.' This blend of quotation and personal interpretation is Huneker's signature.

Gallic Logic and the Well-Made Play

In the chapter on Paul Hervieu, Huneker shifts from Scandinavian symbolism to French rationalism. He dissects The Enigma (also known as Cæsar's Wife), noting its 'long-winded discussions à la Dumas' and the presence of a raisonneur who turns the first act into 'a debating society.' Huneker is critical of Hervieu's 'too logical, too Gallic' approach, wishing the playwright had 'ended on an unresolved cadence' like Ibsen. Yet he also praises the play's 'tremendous indictment of the man who slays the woman on the plea of outraged honour.' The reader sees Huneker weighing form against content: he admires technical daring but demands moral complexity.

The Quartet and the Unknown Quantity

Huneker's plot summary of The Enigma reveals his storytelling skill. He describes a 'quartet instead of the eternal duo with the triangle hung over the door like a sinister horseshoe.' The two brothers, 'mighty Nimrods,' are 'absolutely lacking in humour,' while the young man Vivarce is 'the unknown quantity of this well-mixed combination.' Huneker's language is vivid and slightly sardonic: the brothers 'love their wives better, much better, than their dogs.' This passage shows how Huneker uses concrete details—the gamekeeper's report of poachers, the early-morning hunt—to ground his critical observations. He never loses sight of the play's mechanics even as he judges its ideas.

A Critic's Voice

Throughout Iconoclasts, Huneker's own personality is unmistakable. He refers to having seen performances ('Paul Mounet was excellent'), compares plays across national traditions, and does not hesitate to call a title 'pompous.' His judgments are sharp: Hervieu's Les Paroles Restent is dismissed for 'wordiness.' Yet he also acknowledges the difficulty of the playwright's task, noting that 'in their revolt against the so-called "well-made play," the newer Parisian dramatists have gone to the other extreme.' The reader should watch for these moments of balance—Huneker is never merely a partisan. He is a critic who demands that drama engage with 'something other and greater than life,' but he also knows that the stage must hold an audience.

Huneker's Iconoclasts rewards readers who approach it as a series of intellectual encounters rather than a systematic history. Each essay stands alone, yet together they build a portrait of European drama at a moment of radical change. The reader is advised to start with the dramatists they know least: Huneker's enthusiasm is most infectious when he is introducing unfamiliar work. His prose demands attention—every sentence carries weight—but the effort is repaid by insights that still feel fresh more than a century later.

Holding Huneker’s Iconoclasts, I remembered sitting up late with Strindberg’s corrosive dialogues, feeling that strange comfort of chaos given shape. That same quiet ache returned with Professor Tim & Paul Twyning — Context and Discussion, where the margins felt like a conversation I’d once had alone. Books that argue with themselves leave a particular warmth behind.