CHAPTER IV.

Influence of German pessimism; the forerunners of the new optimism, or futurism, of Maeterlinck and Verhaeren; "La Princesse Maleine" hailed as a work of the first rank; influence of the Pre-Raphaelites and of Shakespeare; the new elements in the book; Maeterlinck's invention, or adaptation from Ibsen, of interior dialogue; Maeterlinck's methods of suggesting mystery; the helplessness of man in the power of Fate; the questions of characterisation and of action