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The Dark Is Light Enough: A Winter Comedy
Excerpt from The Dark Is Light Enough: A Winter Comedy
Kassel. I? Mocking? Dear fellow, my dear boy, Nothing that doesn't mock me in return.
Jakob. Isn't it true that in more than twenty years She has only once before failed her Thursday, When her son Stefan was born?
Kassel. Not even once. 'good God', she said, 'i think the monkey Means to be born on Thursday evening.'
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Kassel. I? Mocking? Dear fellow, my dear boy, Nothing that doesn't mock me in return.
Jakob. Isn't it true that in more than twenty years She has only once before failed her Thursday, When her son Stefan was born?
Kassel. Not even once. 'good God', she said, 'i think the monkey Means to be born on Thursday evening.'
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
- GenresPlays
115 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1954
47 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 6, 2009
I really liked this play. It was smart and witty with likable (and enjoyably unlikable) characters saying smart snappy things to each other while in terrible situations which seem to have not way of producing a winning outcome.
Set during an Hungarian insurgency against Austria in the winter for 1848-49, Fry describes this as a "winter comedy" touching on the issues, of war, nationalism, allegiance, desertion, bravery and cowardice, loyalty, love, requited and otherwise, frivolous and deserving nobility, passivism, and death.
"The argument, philosophy, wit, and eloquence were all in the light of this end we come to. Without it there would have been very little to mention except the weather. Protect me from a body without death. Such indignity would be outcast, like a rock in the sea. But with death, it can hold more than time gives it, or the earth shows it. I can bear to think of this; I can bear to be this, Jakob, so long as it bears me."
Set during an Hungarian insurgency against Austria in the winter for 1848-49, Fry describes this as a "winter comedy" touching on the issues, of war, nationalism, allegiance, desertion, bravery and cowardice, loyalty, love, requited and otherwise, frivolous and deserving nobility, passivism, and death.
"The argument, philosophy, wit, and eloquence were all in the light of this end we come to. Without it there would have been very little to mention except the weather. Protect me from a body without death. Such indignity would be outcast, like a rock in the sea. But with death, it can hold more than time gives it, or the earth shows it. I can bear to think of this; I can bear to be this, Jakob, so long as it bears me."
July 31, 2011
This beautiful, lyrical play is one of Fry's best- a meditation on honor, love, bravery and regret. Each of the principal characters is well-drawn and complex, with some well sketched secondary figures providing a sense of the manor house's society, the invading Hungarian army, etc. It's almost like a darker, more dramatic ARMS AND THE MAN but while it might lack Shaw's wit it makes up for in pathos and moments of genuine, joyful humor scattered throughout, increasing the ultimate impact when the heroine, weakened by cold and strain and implied heart failure, makes her last stand, a female Cyrano filled with panache and charisma right to the end.
November 25, 2022
Written in 1954, about the Austro-Hungarian Empire, The Light is Dark Enough provides a commentary on the sometimes tenebrous nature of love, loyalty, and convictions for king and country.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews