The Devil: A Tragedy of the Heart and Conscience

by Joseph O'Brien (Creator)

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Genres: Plays

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1907

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, this was a disappointment. I am giving up after Act One. I need a play to capture me from the first line, and this one simply did not.

The plot is trite, even for its day, and nowhere near as captivating as Liliom, another play written by this author. That one eventually became the movie Carousel, and was stunning. This one is boring.

An artist, an old friend, her husband, and the Devil. Temptations, intrigues, the danger of losing wealth and security, not to mention (gasp) being embarrassed in front of Society. Sigh.

Not for me.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

This 1908 play by the author of The Play’s the Thing, The Devil lacks the latter’s charm. I don’t know if that’s because Molnár was still searching for his voice when he wrote The Devil or if this is an example of how much a translator / adaptor can make or break a work (I read the Oliver Herford translation), but The Devil doesn’t wear its age well.

The plot is more or less that the devil comes and mucks with a bunch of people’s lives. It’s a conflict that’s been done in other stories with more success, so I can’t say I’m shocked The Devil isn’t well known over a century later. Not recommended.