American Playwright Robert E. Sherwood -The Title Third Version of Acropolis （1937），an Incomplete and Unpublished Work-

Author(s) 依田,里花

Citation 明治大学国際日本学研究, 12(1): 169-182

URL http://hdl.handle.net/10291/21055

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Issue Date 2020-03-31

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Type Departmental Bulletin Paper

DOI https://m-repo.lib.meiji.ac.jp/

Meiji University 169 169

[Articles 】

American Playwright Robert E. Sherwood: The Third Version of Acropolis (1937), an Incomplete and Unpublished Work

YODA, Rika

Abstract Abstract This This study focuses on one of the most prominent American dramatists of the mid-20th Century. Robert Robert E. Sherwood. whose work is now little known to readers and audiences. A survivor of the trench trench fighting of World War I. Sherwood focused in his writing on how human beings can face with with dignity the darkness of war and work never to give up on the individual and collective quest for for peace and the realization of the concept of democracy. The present study looks in particular at the the third version of his unpublished work Acropolis. a play to which he constantly found himself returning. returning. While the two earlier versions of this play are not currently available. the writer refers to to a carbon copy of the third version which contains Sherwood's handwritten notes in the margins. The writer compares this third version with outlines of and quotations from the earlier versions provided provided in Meserve・s 1970 study of Sherwood's work. Arguing that the differences between the two earlier versions and the third help to clarify Sherwood's philosophy, the writer then goes on to show how the core themes that preoccupy Sherwood in the 1937 version are clearly reflected in his first first published work The Road to Rome (1927), as well as in his three major plays: Idiot's Delight (1936). (1936). Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1938) and There Shall Be No N,ht (1940).

Keywords: 20th century American drama, American antiu』•ar drama, Robert E. Sherwood

1. 1. Prologue Robert Robert Emmet Sherwood (1896-1955) was a prominent American playwright of the mid-20th century century and three-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for his plays, Idiot's Delight (1936). Abe Lincoln Lincoln in Illinois (1938) and There Shall Be No Night (1940). His biographical work Roosevelt 170 170 『明治大学国際日本学研究』第 12 巻第 1 号 and Hopkins: An Intimate History (1948) brought him another Pulitzer Prize for biography. Some of his works were made into films. Waterloo Bridge (1930). starring Robert Taylor and Vivian Vivian Leigh, was a major hit. and its Japanese adaptation. Kimi No Na l-Va (1953), also enjoyed great great success in Japan. The Petnfied Forest (1935) was brought to the screen in 1936 with Bette Davis. Davis. Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart in the leading roles. Both Howard and Bogart also performed performed in these roles in stage productions. Abe Lincoln in Illinois was also made into a film m 1940. with Raymond Massey in the leading role. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). which was wntten for the screen. won Sherwood the 1947 Academy Award for Writing (Screenplay). Sherwood's Sherwood's writing was passionately imbued, throughout his entire career, with the theme of of world peace, a preoccupation that was rooted in his experiences of fighting in the trenches in World War I. As a Harvard University undergraduate, he had enlisted in 1917 in order to "make the the world safe for democracy" by fighting in "the war to end all wars" - familiar rallying cnes that that appealed to many idealistic young men of the time Rejected Rejected by the American army due to his being both too tall in proportion to his weight (6 feet feet 6½ inches, 167 pounds). he joined the Canadian Black Watch and was sent to the front lmes in in France. There he was wounded and subsequently hospitalized for a long period, first in France and then England. The experience of meeting and talking with fellow soldiers from all kinds of of different background, first as fellow combatants and subsequently as hospital companions, was radically transformative. From someone who used to see himself as someone special, "100 percent percent American - and a Harvard man, at that- I was superior." (There Shall Be No Night, p. 5) he he came to see himself as just a human being. He wrote of this transformation as "the revelation of of the narrowness and shallowness of my own mind" (Ibid.) He resolved that he would "debunk the the history books that glamorized war, that he would put his future efforts into bringing peace, a lasting peace to the world." (J. Gould, pp. 101-102) After After graduating from Harvard and embarking on a career first at Vanity Fair and then

Life Life magazines, he made his debut as a playwright in 1927 with The Road to Ro 加 e. "one of the first first clear post-World War I antiwar voices to be heard on the stage" (Alonso, p. 95). He was to suffer, suffer, until his death in 1955 of a heart attack at the age of 59, from the long-term effects of a poisonous poisonous gas attack that he had been a victim of in the trenches. It It is with the above background in mind that I focus. in this paper. on the third, 1937 version of of his unpublished play Acropolis. Sherwood's struggle to seek ways of bringing about world peace peace was to be with him all his life. including through yet another,vorld war. This play clearly had a special meaning for Sherwood. as we sec here・

felt I felt that I knew at last what it is that has made me so absorbed in the play. 畑 crican Playwright Robert ~- Shenvood: The T切rd ¥"e 巧 ion oi Acropolis 119 図）， an Incomplete and しnpublished Work 171

Acropolis. Acropolis. what it is that has made me go back to that play again and again and slave on it although it had once been branded as a failure. (Brown, p. 307).

The third version of Acropolis is a two-act play, with the story taking place in Athens just before before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War (431-401 B.C.). a war which was to result in the defeat defeat of Athens by Sparta. All the characters are actual historical figures, and the play opens in in the house of Aspasia, where a number of prominent Athenian figures are gathered. She is the mistress mistress of Pericles, a statesman who played a major role in the flourishing of democracy and culture culture in ancient Greece in the latter part of the 5th century B.C.. but who does not appear in the the play. Aspasia's guests are the intellectual Socrates. the playwright Aristophanes. the sculptor Pheidias. Pheidias. the military commander Alcibiades (who is also the nephew in the play of Pericles). the merchant Hyperbolus and the demagogic politician Cleon. who was to rise to power following the death death of Pericles. It is through these characters that the play tells us of the decline of the period of of democracy and great prosperity in ancient Greece. a decline that culminates in war. ironically just just as construction of the Parthenon, the great symbol of freedom. is reaching completion. Sherwood's Sherwood's play is built on contrasts of love. beauty and intelligence with authority, power and lust lust for money. It is a dramatic depiction of the inner conflict and confusion of human beings as they they struggle at the crossroads of war and peace. Sherwood's Sherwood's own struggle with the material is reflected in the fact that there are three different different manuscript versions of Acropolis. produced in 1932. 1933 and 1937. In a letter to his mother in 1937. he wrote of his experience of seeing the physical Acropolis on his first visit to Greece: Greece: "It is the feeling that this is what I was born of. for and by [... ]." (Brown. p. 307). The Acropolis Acropolis was. both physically and spiritually, central to his entire life. and an understanding of what it meant to him is key to understanding all his plays. The purpose of this paper is to identify the core that is at the heart of Sherwood's works by analyzing the 1937 version of Acropolis (I possess a carbon copy of the original manuscript. with with penciled notes by Sherwood). I am approaching this task in two ways. First. I make a comparison comparison of my own analysis of the 193, manuscript with Walter J. Mescrve・s 1970 analysis of the the 1933 version. The second approach is to compare the basic messages that run through the

1937 1937 version with those seen in The Road to Ro 加 e, as well as his Pulitzer-winning plays Idiot's Delight, Delight, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, and There Shall Be No Night.

2. 2. A Comparison of the 1937 Acropolis with Meserve's Analysis of the 1932 and 1933 Versions Having been granted permission by Sherwood's widow, Madeline Sherwood, to study the 172 172 『明治大学国際 u本学研究』第 12 巻第 1 号 second second unpublished 1933 manuscript. Meserve devotes an entire chapter of his book to the second. second. 1933 version of Acropolis. Neither the 1932 nor the 1933 versions are currently accessible. so so my companson with the 193, version is constrained to references only to the lines he quotes from the 1933 script. his outline of the play and his background comments on both versions.

2.1. 2.1. Differences between the 1933 and 1937 versions of Acropolis Meserve identifies one line in the 1933 version of Acropolis as particularly significant for Sherwood: Sherwood: the point in the play where Socrates. whom Meserve sees as "Sherwood's spokesman," poses poses this question: "Let us ask ourselves whether optimism or pessimism is the breeder of the ultimate ultimate contentment." (Meserve, 90). Socrates then expounds on this question thus:

The pessimist needs no such narcotic [optimis 叫 for behind his tragic mask is is the strength of supernal confidence. He knows that all will be undoubtedly for for the worst. but that man can meet the worst. and resist it and survive it." (Acropolis (Acropolis 1933 Act II Scene 1)

About this line. Meserve says that "it was obviously very important to Sherwood as he looked at man in general." He comments also that "it has serious weakness," as it is ・・not well worked into the the plot of the play" (l¥.Ieserve. p. 91). Indeed. the fact that this "optimism-pessimism argument" (Ibid.) (Ibid.) is completely absent in the 1937 version of Acropolis suggests that Meserve is right in in speculating that it might be "extremely relevant to Sherwood's uncertainty at this time" (Meserve. (Meserve. p. 90). On the other hand. more careful attention to this line may yield important insights insights into Sherwood's overall work. a point which I explore further below. While While Meserve does not refer at all to the historical context at the time of his writing of the the 1933 version. we can assume that the world situation, especially that in Europe and in Asia. will will be helpful in understanding the work. 1933 was the year in which Hitler became Chancellor of of Germany, and fascism was on the rise in Europe. In Asia. Japan was embracing militarism and had invaded part of China. It is not hard to imagine that this unfolding world situation must have both shocked and troubled Sherwood: these events were taking place only 15 years after the the end of World War I, and domestic upheaval was also taking place. with the joyous optimism of of the roaring twenties and the Jazz era being brought abruptly to an end by the onset of the Great Great Depression. These realities must have caused a man such as Sherwood. whose m1ss1on in in life was to educate the public about the folly and horrors of war. to doubt his own idealism

Democracy was now more threatened than ever before. and the dream that World War Iw 叫 d be be the war to end all wars was evaporating. It is a combination of hope and despair that must 知 erica.1 Piaywrigl:t Robert E. Sherwocd "i'he Third ¥・e 応10n of.-lcmpo/is 11937). an Incomplete and,."np 幽 shed Work 173 have engendered in Sherwood the debate between "optimism or pessimism." and led him to have Socrates Socrates answer with these words. as Meserve notes. "[... ]pessimism is really the highest form of of optimism." (!¥Iese 匹 e. pp. 90-91). When you know that nothing is going well. you will never feel feel disappointed. whereas optimism leads to self-deception. to hiding behind a "tragic mask"' (Meserve. (Meserve. p. 91). Pessimism is therefore more likely to help you to be able to see the world realistically, realistically, while optimism acts as a drug. Pessimism fosters the strength in human beings to rise rise to the challenge of defeating what is wrong or unacceptable.

2.2. 2.2. Points of comparison between the 1933 and 1937 versions Act 1 Scene 1 of the second version (the 1933 version) of Acropolis takes place in front of the Parthenon. Parthenon. which is in the process of being constructed on top of the hill of ..¥cropolis. ¥lcscrve (p. (p. 87) notes in this scene the following questions asked by the demagogue Cleon of the artisans working on the Parthenon, "Can we eat beauty?" ℃an we win battles with beauty?" ℃an we build build an Athenian empire on a foundation of beauty?" After all the characters have left. Socrates delivers delivers a monologue toward the audience. Almost all the following words appear again in the 1937 1937 version of Acropolis

[... [... ]Cleon says that you can't cat beauty, you can't win battles with beauty, you can't can't build an Athenian empire on a foundation of beauty. But I say that food is something ¥vhich ends in a sewer. and a battle is something which ends in the lime lime pit. and an empire is !1Q.JI!Qie----1lli!!:!.._h~Qfil!_Q__t~. But beauty beauty is that which has no end - men or no men - gods or no gods... Even m spite of its champions. it endures... This is what I say. fellow citizens. but I don't don't ask you to listen... (Acro/Jolis 1937 1-2-40. じnderline added)

The apparently minor differences between the 1933 and 1937 versions of this speech in Acropolis Acropolis are indicated by the underlined ヽvords above. In the 1933 version, the underlined words are are expressed as "something which ends in dust" Cvleserve. p. 87). 1937 was a year that saw the world world move closer to a global war. War between China and Japan broke out with the Lugou Bridge Bridge Incident. and the indiscriminate bombing of Guernica by the German and Italian air force m the Spanish Civil War by the German Luftwaffe on Guernica was an ominous step toward war m Europe as a whole. It would be natural for Sher ヽ1.-・ood to see nation states as the source of of chaos in the world and to then ask,vhere human beings can find an eternal truth. It was m 1937, 1937, the year in which the third version oi Acropolis was written, that Sherwood climbed up to the the top of the Acropolis hill, and was so moved there by the timeless spiritual beauty he found 174 174 f明治大学国際日本学研究J 第 12 巻第 1 号 in in the Parthenon, the symbol of democracy. John Mason Brown expresses it thus:"[... ] it was the embodiment of what Athens had offered to the world. It was not art for art's sake but for the sp1rifs. sp1rifs. the fruit which justified the orchard." (Brown. p. 304) The significance of the above ℃ !eon says... " speech as a whole is emphasized by its position in in the 1937 version. In the 1933 version it comes at the end of the scene 1 of Act 1, which had three scenes. In the 1937 Acropolis, however, was placed at the end of Act 1, which has two scenes. In other words, it is given far more weight the closing words for the Act 1. which underscores underscores the importance of the monologue spoken by Socrates. And they are all the more important important for being spoken by Socrates. who we have seen to speak for Sherwood himself. It should should be noted too that the small changes made to the words of the speech can be considered all all the more significant by virtue of the speech itself being given greater prominence in the 1937 version. version.

3. 3. Identifying the core of Sherwood's thinking and its presence in his major works This This section aims to show how the core themes that preoccupy Sherwood in the 1937 version version of Acropolis are to be found even in his very first work. The Road to Rome (1927), as well as as in the three plays for which he is best known: Idiot's Delight (1936), Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1938) (1938) and There Shall Be No Night (1940).

3.1. 3.1. The Road to Rome As Sherwood's first published anti-war play, The Road to Rome (1927) takes its theme from the Second Punic Wars of around 3 B.C., between Carthage and the Roman Republic. The core core theme is peace without the need to conquer. Why did the Carthaginian general Hannibal, who had led some 40,000 soldiers and 40 military elephants over the Pyrenees, choose not to invade invade Rome itself? This would have been a natural ultimate goal after more than ten years of of harsh marching and fighting. This fact historical intrigued Sherwood, from the time he first came across it as a child, well into his thirties. Hannibal was Sherwood's "Pet Hero" (Brown, pp. 211-212). 211-212). Sherwood dramatized the mystery of why and how the war was avoided in The Road to to Rome. As a key person who solves the mystery, beside the General Fabius Maximus of the Ancient Ancient Rome and Hannibal, Sherwood created an imaginary woman. Amytis, who is Fabius' wife wife and stops the war and the brings peace without victory to both country: Ancient Rome and Carthage. Carthage. The Road to Rome was written five years before the first Acropolis script, so there is a 10-year 10-year gap between this play and the third version of Acropolis. However, there are intriguing correspondences correspondences between this play and the 1937 version of Acropolis. In this version of Acropolis, Amencan Amencan Playwright Robert E. Sherwood: The Third Version of Acropolis (1937), an Incomplete and じnpublished Work 175

Socrates Socrates explains how human beings should co-exist on earth, referring to Anaxagoras'theory with with these words.

Socrates: Socrates: [... ] You know his [Anaxagoras'] cardinal theory - that the earth is not not saucer shaped, as men have believed. It is a round body, which neither rises rises nor falls, nor deviates from its fixed course through space. Earth. sun. stars stars go on their various ways with majestic rhythm. nor ever conflict nor trespass trespass on each other's rights - for all are subject to the supreme equability of of the heavens. And what is equability, but another name for law? (Acropolis, 1-5-29) 1-5-29)

Indeed, Indeed, Anaxagoras (c. 500-428 B.C.), a philosopher of Ancient Greece, explains that spirit and reason reason combined to bring order out of chaos. This is why it is that planets follow their own orbit without without interfering with each other. thereby creating an almost perfect order in the universe. This This theory must have provided part of Sherwood's question about how it is possible for human beings beings to create peace in the world without the need for offense and defense against each other. Related Related to this. his own unique idea of "the human equation" is introduced in the play. The character character Amytis. daughter of a Roman officer and Athenian mother, is a cultivated and gracious young woman who embodies the best of both cultures.

AMYTIS: Someday, you'll realize that there's a thing called the human equation. equation. It's so much more beautiful than war. HANNIBAL: The human equation does not interest me. AMYTIS: Because you don't know what it is. If you could ever find it, you'd know that all your conquests - all your glory- are only whispers in the infinite stillness stillness of time - that Rome is no more than a tiny speck on the face of eternity eternity - that the gods are the false images of the unimaginative... and then you'll you'll wish that all that you've done could be undone HANNIBAL: Where can I go to this find human equation? AMYTIS: It is here - on earth - not on the heights of Olympus. (Road to Rome, p. 323)

Based on the principle of equality between human beings, this human equation calls neither for for subjection nor subordination. for neither masters nor servants, ruler nor ruled. It is the eternal eternal truth that we search for on this earth, and in a world of peace there are no winners 176 176 「明治大学国際日本学研究」第 12 巻第 1 号 or or losers. Sherwood dramatized the mystery of Hannibal's choice not to pursue Rome to its complete complete defeat as his awareness of this "human equation," taught by Amytis.

3.2. 3.2. Idiot's Delight Idiot's Idiot's Delight (1936) was Sherwood's first Pulitzer Prize winning play. The plot unfolds m a small but somewhat up-market resort hotel in Italy, close to the border with Switzerland and Austria. Austria. with a view of the Alps. The plot unfolds from the situation of a trainload of passengers. including including Italian soldiers, being forced by a border blockade to stay temporarily in the hotel. We thus find thrown together in this fascist country a newly-wed couple. British a French communist. communist. a German doctor of medicine, a French arms dealer with a beautiful female companion. companion. an American vaudeville promoter with his six young dancers and a group of Itahan soldiers. soldiers. Gathered together in this one place. they are a microcosm of the world situation in 1936 Each gradually expresses their thoughts and feelings about war, exploring the question of what 1s 1s worth figh じng for. At the end of the play Harry, an American promotor and a mouthpiece for Sherwood, who asks asks an Italian captain whose men are about to go and serve their country, "Who is it that did this dirty dirty trick [war] on a lot of decent people?" (Idiot's Delight, p 162) Irene. the female companion of of the capitalist and now abandoned by him since she came to recognize his corruption. is with Harry in the now empty hotel lobby. Watching the aerial bombardment taking place outside with its its beautiful alpine backdrop and the thundering of bombs and machine gun fire, she says, "Here we are on top of the world-." (Ibid.. p. 184) and "Oh, you must see this! It's superb!" (Ibid, p. 185) Harry, Harry, who used to say "I remain an optimist" (Ibid., p. 67), now says "[... ] I've stopped trying to figure figure it out" (Ibid.. p. 186). referring to the reason why "the whole world has gone to war." (Ibid .. p. p. 186) This This final scene of Idiot's Delight overlaps with the last scene of the third version of Acropolis (1937). (1937). Aspasia, Pericles'wife. is now with Aristophanes. an Ancient Greek comedy playwright. As they stand together. looking down on the Spartan attack from the top of Acropolis. she says, says, "Let them attack. and gain what they can from it." (Acropolis, 2-7-43). Sherwood then has Aristophanes Aristophanes respond with following words

Aristophanes: Aristophanes: Yes! Let them attack! That's the only advice we can take now Come on. Spartans. arm yourselves and advance for delivery of the death blowl Forward. Forward. [... ] Forward. Spartans [... ]-- on to the final massacre! The fires have been kindled. Now let them spread and burn until the fuel that feeds them is exhausted -- when there are no more Athenians and no more Spartans American American Pla'j¥vright Rohen E. Sherwood: The Third Version of Acropolis (1937). an Incomplete and Unpublished Work 177

-- nothing but the ashes of men and the ruins of their works. (Acropolis. 2-7-43)

Both in Acropolis of 1937 and Idiot's Delight. we hear Sherwood voicing in his writing his sense of of the imminence and inevitability of war and his acceptance of this reality. There is no longer in him Harry's question of "why?" However. in terms of "the argument of optimism or pessimism" touched touched on above. his optimism with regard to human beings is still alive. At the finale of Acropolis Acropolis (1937). Aspasia says to Aristophanes"[...) And you shall live to see the new men. rising from the ashes. and wondering. And you shall talk to them and tell them..... (Ibid.. 2-7-44) On the very last page of the manuscript of this play. Sherwood has added in pencil some lines lines in the margin of the page as alternative words for Aspasia as follows: "[... ] You may tell them that here on earth there is no evil that the spirit of man may not conquer - no good that the mmd of man may not conceive" (Ibid.. 2-7-45). Sherwood trusted "the strength of virtue" withm human beings and "the strength that will outlive time and defeat death" (Ibid.. 2-7-44. 2-7-15). In this this sense. accepting the reality that human beings cannot stop war. which could easily have led to to pessimism. he never gave up his belief in and hope for the strength that resides within human beings beings Sherwood was essentially an optimist

3.3. 3.3. Abe Lincoln in Illinois Abe !,incoln in Illinois, produced in 1938. gave Sherwood the second Pulitzer Prize. As the title title suggests. the story is about the life of Lincoln from his young days until the day he leaves for for Washington D.C. to give his inaugural address. Embodied here in the figure of Lincoln. torn by the fierce confrontation between north and south. is Sherwood's own struggle between the desire desire for there to be a clear choice between war or no war and the confrontation between this desire desire and reality. When Sherwood describes Lincoln as "a man of peace who had to face the issue issue of appeasement or war" (A 如 Lincoln in JIiin りIs. Foreword. 1938). he is speaking about himself. himself. American public opinion in 1938 was roughly divided between the isolationists who wanted to avoid war and those who were willing to go to war to protect democracy in the world. especially especially from the Nazis and Hitler. This situation was similar to that when Lincoln gave his "House Divided" address in June 1858 The plot of this play is developed around a series of actual speeches given by Lincoln. In the last last scene of the play. where Lincoln addresses the people of his home town in Illinois, in what 1s 1s called his "Parting Words at Springfield" (1861) before leaving for Washington D.C.. Sherwood made some changes of the words in the speech. The following is the or 如nal address Lincoln made on February 11th, 1861. in Illinois 178 178 「明冶人学国際日本学研究」第 12 巻第 1 号

:¥ly :¥ly friends. no one. not in my situation. can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this this parting. To this place. and the kindness of these people. I owe e¥・erythmg Here I have lived a quarter of a century. and have passed from a young to an an old man. Here my children have been born. and one is buried. I now leave.

not not knowing when. or whether ever. I may return. ~屯こ grcatcr grcatcr than that which rested upon ¥VashIngton ¥¥,Ithout the aSSIStance of the Divine Divine Being who ever attended him l cannol Succecd. With that assistance I cannot cannot fail TrustIng in HIm who can go with me. and remain with vou. and 択 evcrvwhere for good, let us gnfidcntlv hope that all will vet be well. To HIS care care commending you. as I hope in your prayers you will commend me. I bid

you you an affectionate farewell. （じ nderline added)

In In the play Sherwood rewrites the underlined part above with his own words. which arc much longer than those of the original address

ABE: [... ] And I believe that it was not the mere matter of separation of the the colonies from the motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence,vhich Independence,vhich gave liberty to the people of this country and hope to all all the world. This sentiment was the fulfillment of an ancient dream. which men have held through all time. that they might one day shake off their chams and find freedom in the brotherhood of life. We gained democracy. and now there there is the question whether it is fit to survive. Perhaps we have come to the dreadful dreadful day of awakening[... ]. Perhaps we should admit that. and the dream is is ended. [... ]I have heard of an eastern monarch who once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence which would be true and appropriate in all times and and situations. They presented him the,vords. "And this too shall pass away ..

[... [... ]. ..¥nd yet- let us believe that it is not true'Let us live to prove that we can can cultivate the natural world that is about is. and the intellectual and moral wor;d wor;d that is within us. so that we may secure an indi¥・iduai. sociai and poiitical prosperity[... prosperity[... ] which. while the earth endures. shall not pass away [

(、 ,lbc Lincoln in Illinois. Three Plays, pp. 185-186)

•「 he point to be emphasized here is how much Sherwood focuses on the meaning of democracy, democracy, especially for Americans. who hold dear the founding principles embodied in the Declaration Declaration of Independence, and whose country has never been occupied by foreign forces. In ¥merican ¥merican Plarnri~ht R 心 ~t E Shml'ood. The :り ird ¥'m1on oi Aero 炉／： s11937) 叩 bcomplete and rn~ublished ¥¥'ork 179 the the midst of the debate over appeasement and war that raged through the whole country in the late late l930s. he saw the need to understand the core of democracy: the notion that the pursuit of of life. freedom. and happiness are a flame that can never be extinguished. Sherwood believed in in peace and in the spirit of democracy. and that these values could never be allowed to be subordinated. subordinated. It is a conviction that was further deepened by his visit to Greece for the tirst time in in 1937. During this visit he saw the Acropolis for the first time. when he was working on the play play of Abe Unco!n in Illlnnis. Sherwood wrote the follO¥¥'ing in a letter to his mother about this v1s1t v1s1t to the A.cropohs

[... [... -] standing up there and looking toward all points of the compass - the main feeling feeling I had was one of a queer sort of patriotism: ior I felt that in my country. more than in any other that has existed since the :¥gc of Pericles. has been realized realized the ideal which the Parthenon symbolizes - and that is democracy. which the ．-¥ge oi Pericles invented. I felt that I knew at last what it is that has has made me so absorbed in the play..-lcropolis. what it is that has made me go back to that play again and again and slave on it although it had once been branded as a failure. It is the feeling that this is what I was born of. ior and by - which is what leads me Lincoln. [... I

(Brown p. 3( ）7)

[:-; [:-; :he :h:rd ¥・c:・s:on oi.--lcmP9!is. :¥le え)::aces. ncp:iew o: ?er:c:es. cor:¥・eys to :he demagog: 」 e Cieor:. w::o w::o has successfully ;J'.ottcd tt:e dm¥・:1fa:i oi Pericles・ gowr:1:ner::. a message fror.: Pericles

[... [... [ he has promised that the works of Pheidias ¥¥・ill be brought to compleuon. and he will fulfill that promise 、:vith his life. I...]"" (Acropolis. 1-5-28)

The.. The.. ¥¥・orks of Ph 巳dias" that Pericles refers to are Pericles・ lifelong project to build the Parthenon.

託 is a sy:r 恥 io:- bea.l ：y. w::ic:1 S

..¥:1ci ..¥:1ci for Sherwooc. w:10 was so pro:o こncily irr.pac:cd ::iy てhe sight oi the ?ar:::e:-:0:1 a:op t::e :¥cropolis. :¥cropolis. it 1s the symbol of "patriotism" or loyalty. as an :¥mcrican. to democracy. This is the sentiment sentiment that led Sherwood to produce Abe Lincoln's line in the play: "All I am trying to do[... J 1s 1s to state and restate the fundamental virtues of our democracy." (Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Three Plays, Plays, p. 164) Sherwood's visceral experience of the.:¥cropolis was also a realization of the spmt of of democracy that is written into the Declaration of Independence as follov...-s・ 180 180 ・明冶大学国際 l.:l 本学研究-•第 12 巻第 1 号

¥Ye ¥Ye hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men arc created equal. that they they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights. that among these these are Life. Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

Sherwood clearly saw democracy as the key to peace which, though it may not have been possible possible in the present. was ever alive as a possibility for the future

3.4. 3.4. There Shall Be No Night The outbreak of World ¥¥"ar II was. despite Sherwood's sense of its imminence. a brutal shock shock for him. It was the radio news of the Soviet invasion of Finland in particular that pushed him to complete. in just a couple of ¥¥-eeks. There Shall Be :Vo.¥.ight. It was to bring him his third third Pulitzer Prize. The story is based around the central figure oi Kaarlo ¥"alkonen. a pacifist and Nobel Prize winning psychiatrist. and his American wife Miranda. The ordinary life of these these good-hearted people and their family in a small democratic country has suddenly been threatened threatened by invasion. Kaarlo decides to remain in his country. as he is unable to abandon the ordinary ordinary people who are standing up to fight to save their country. Kaarlo and Miranda's only son son also decides to go to war. is wounded and dies in hospital. leaving behind his fiancce and their their unborn baby. Kaarlo. who has decided to do whatever he can as a doctor. goes to the front m uniform. wearing the Red Cross arm band ●t the end. sensing that the enemy is appr()achmg. he he gives his last lecture to his fellow soldiers in a little schoolhouse....¥fter receiving the news of his his son's death and writing a letter to his wife. he is killed. Miranda remains in the family home with with Kaarlo's uncle. knowing her son and husband will never come back. ¥Ve see them awanmg the the enemy's invasion in "a kind oi peace... (There Shall Be :Vo Szj.[ht. Three Plays, p. 281) Sherwood says in the Preface to There Shall he.Vo Sight. that Kaarlo is his O¥v・n spokesman I There Shall Br.Yo Xight. p. 29). In Scene 7. the last scene of the play. :t¥Iiranda reads aloud to Dave. Dave. an American journalist. a letter she has received from Kaarlo. Kaarlo has already heard the the ne¥¥・s oi his son・s death. and knows that he himself is about to be killed. It says:

tvlIRA~DA [... ] ・・r have often read the words which Pericles spoke over the bodies bodies of the dead. in the dark hour when the light of Athenian democracy was being extinguished by the Spartans. He told the mourning people that he

could could not give them any of the old words which tell how fair and noble It 1s to to die in battle. Those words were old. even then twenty-four centunes ago Bur he urged them to find revival in the memory of the commonwealth which they they together had achieved: and he promised them that ~o~r ,.¥mer.car. ,.¥mer.car. Playwright Robert E. Shc:-wood: :he Third Version oi A.cropolis (1937). an Ir.co::ipiete and じ:ipublished Work 181

commonwealth would never die but would live on. far awa woven into 也旦

fabric fabric oi othcr mens lives. I believe that these words can be said now oLo 旦L own dead. and our own commonwea 血[... ] (There (There Shall be No M 炒 t, Three Plays, p. 280. Underline added)

The underlined words are taken from the third version of ilcropolis, as Aspasia's words to Aristophanes, Aristophanes, just before the ending of the play (Acropolis, 2-7-42). The unborn baby of Kaatn. their their son・s fiancee. can be "one little link with the future" (There Shall Be No Night, Three Plays, p. p. 262). as she was made to escape to America where Miranda's hometown was. Facing Facing the outbreak of the second world war. Sherwood still never give up the hope - the light light in his mind. Kaarlo says. as the last words. closing his life: "Then you won't die believing ifs hopeless. hopeless. That's the point. my friend. You have lived in faith - the light is in you - and the light which gives the strength that defeats death. [... ]" (Ibid.. p. 268). Kaarlo's words. which speak for Sherwood himself, are for all those facing the impending darkness of war: when the light is in you, you, there shall be no darkness.

4. 4. . CConclusion Harriet Harriet Hyman Alonso. a former professor of history at The City College of New York. writes writes in her book Robert E. Sherwood - The Playwright in Peace and War. describes Sherwood in in these words: "In many ways, his life was shaped by the larger world - by his involvement in international international affairs. his passion for human rights. and his desire for world peace." (Alonso, p. S). S). Underlying all the plays he worked on and produced is the theme of peace, and throughout his his career Sherwood wanted people to be aware not only of the importance of peace but also of how its attainment is inextricably linked with democracy. That is his belief and the belief is all the the basis of Acropolis. Even though the work has never completed and published. its essence breathes breathes through all his major works, from his maiden play. The Road to Rome, to the three Pulitzer Pulitzer Prize winning plays: Idiot's Delight, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, and There Shall Be No Night. Night. The Road to Rome reflects Sherwood's pacifism and his desire to always remain one However. he could not look away from the reality of the fascist takeover of democratic countries. He agonized over the questions of whether to opt for peace or war. how to resolve the conflicts between desire and reality, optimism and pessimism. This agonizing quest is easily traced through through Idiot's Delight, Abe Uncoln in Illinois, and There Shall Be No Night. His His desire to establish "a lasting peace to the world" (Gould. pp. 101-102), born of his war experiences experiences as a young man. was kept alive by hopeless hope through World War IL The 182 182 ：明治大学国際日本学研究i 第 12 巻第 1号

Parthenon, Parthenon, the symbol of democracy atop the Acropolis in Athens continues to exist. even after being being attacked by Sparta. It symbolizes also the indestructibility of the desire for peace. The message that lies at the heart of Robert E. Sherwood's Acropolis. that indeed runs through his entire entire oeuvre, is that the desire for peace and democracy are an expression of the imperishable spirit spirit of humanity.

References References Alonso. Alonso. H. H. (2007). Robert E. Sherwood:The Playwright in Peace and War Amherst and Boston: Boston: University of Massachusetts Press. Brown. J.M. (1962). The Worlds of Robert E. Sherwood: Mirror to His Times 1896-1939. New York: York: Harper & Row. Publishers.

伽 uld. J. (1966). Modern American Playwrights: New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. Meserve. Meserve. W. J. (1970). Robert E. Sherwood: Reluctant Moralist. New York: Pegasus. Sherwood, Sherwood, R. E. (1927). The Road to Rome. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Sherwood, Sherwood, R. E. (1936). Idiot's Delight. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Sherwood. Sherwood. R. E. (1937). Acropolis. Manuscript. Sherwood. Sherwood. R. E. (1938). Abe Lincoln in Illinois.]¥.ew York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Sherwood. Sherwood. R. E. (1940). There Shall Be No Night. :¥'ew York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Sherwood. Sherwood. R. E. (1948). Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History. New York: Harper & Brothers. Sherwood, Sherwood, R. E. (1984). Robert E. Sherwood, Three Plays. Pennsylvania: The Franklin Library.

Shuman. R. B. (1964). Robert E. Sher む ood. New York: Twayne Publishers. Inc.