times he goes even too far, as when
he murders Polonius. . . . "
" . . . . Thinking he is killing the
King.... Yes, indeed, he does act,
but in a quasi-spasmodic manner.
And I believe that even from a
clinical, a medical point of view,
the condition of semi-aboulia, or
partial loss of will-power,
is
ad–
mirably indicated. As soon as he
has left his ruminations behind, he
goes berserk. He is so badly ad–
justed to reality that each one of
his decisive acts is preceded by a
kind of trial act, a flash-in-the-pan.
And nothing appears more bafHing,
more daring, more skillful than
this time-lag, this lagging and list–
ing that continues from scene to
W
hat it is like to live in
SOCIALIST
BRITAIN
The background, the pre–
sent, and an estimate of its
future is honestly presented
for the first time in this
"hard-hitting volume, full of
facts and inside anecdotes
. . . admirably fitted to en–
lighten Americans on the
British revolution."-ALLAN
NEVINS,
N.Y. Times Book
Review.
$3.00
By
Francis Williams
THE VIKING PRESS
220
scene, from one end of the play to
the other. And
it
is already present
at the very beginning, in the con–
versation with the ghost; then in
no matter what business in which
Hamlet engages, with his mother,
with the King, with Ophelia....
He first rough-hews the act. . . .
Doubtless there have been Hamlets
in all ages; and therefore he ap–
pears to us as the most modern of
Shakespearian heroes. But now I
would only be repeating what has
already been said, many a time."
When a few days later I called
for Gide's approval of my transla–
tion, his secretary gave me the
neatly-typed envelope containing
the French and English versions.
Gide had a cold that day and
stayed in his room, but when he
heard my voice saying goodbye at
the door, he entered in his bedroom
slippers. He looked like a grand–
father, but, with that admirable
head, not just anybody's grand–
father, but one conceived by the
mind of Virgil or Henry J ames.
"Don't go before I tell you this
little story," he said. "Once I bade
an American goodbye, hoping to
see him again. The American never
returned. Meeting
him
in the street
one day, I asked him why. 'Oh,'
said he, 'goodbye is goodbye.' 'But,'
I said, 'you have no word in Eng–
lish for
au revoir.'
'Yes,' said the
American, 'we say So long'."
So
Gide shook my hand, and said:
"So long!"
Philip Roddman
