The Critic and the Drama

George Jean Nathan was the most feared and celebrated drama critic of his era, and this collection reveals why. Written with razor precision and literary flair, these essays dissect what makes theater endure and what makes criticism itself an art form. Nathan argues that the critic is not merely a judge but a creative collaborator with the playwright, that drama's power lies in its ability to hold a mirror not to society but to human consciousness itself. He dismantles sentimentalism, celebrates bold experimentation, and insists that true drama demands both intellectual rigor and emotional surrender. These are not dry academic treatises but passionate dispatches from the front lines of early 20th-century American theater. The essays range from close readings of Ibsen and Shaw to broad meditations on what constitutes theatrical truth. Nathan's prose crackles with conviction: he praises with precision and demolishes with elegance. For anyone who believes that criticism is itself a creative act, or that theater remains essential to how we understand ourselves, this book offers a masterclass in both.