A NOTE ON JEAN SANS TERRE
295
metaphysical than physical; the "adventures" are more the movements of
the spirit than of the body.
The poet looks upon a world, which, it is true, presents all the char–
acteristics of the nightmare. But he is not for a moment subdued or taken
in by it.
lean Sans Terre
becomes a picture of the man, equipped with
the most modern sensitiveness, thrown into a world in which there are no
values and little love; where suspicion and hatred come more easily than
understanding and tolerance; where the nonconforming individual can
find no place; where materialism will yield only to forces as limited,
brutal and harsh as itself. Ivan Goll has created a character which com–
bines mediaeval mysticism with an observation modern in the extreme. The
two faculties are applied to all aspects of our times. Jean Sans Terre
explores the modern city, as well as the eternal relationship between man
and woman, between dream and the dreamer, between "God" and the
pitiable human machine, made of dust hut housing the idea of the universe.
Jean Sans Terre,
in the three volumes already published in France, is
epically conceived. M. Goll has not, however, burdened his conception
with epic treatment. He comes before us, this John Landless, presented
by a lyric poet: a lyricist skilled in special effects of technique and Ian·
guage. M. Goll has been able to use the brilliant surrealist vocabulary,
while charging and weighting it in a manner unknown to surrealism. He
has gone beyond Apollinaire in making the "popular" form serve as vehi·
cle for philosophical and metaphysical ideas. He has perfected an instru–
ment which, at first glance, seems slight; and has given it, by a dazzling
mastery over effects, true depth and range.
