ANATHEMA

A Tragedy in Seven Scenes

BY

LEONID ANDREYEV

AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION BY

HERMAN BERNSTEIN

New York

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1910

"I myself shall bring them bread and milk....Children are so tender.... They need so little;they eat a little crust of bread and they haveenough, they drink a cup of milk and they know nothirst any longer. Then they sing...."—DAVID LUIZER.

To

NATHAN STRAUS

WHO SO GENEROUSLY SAVED THE LIVES OF
THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN
THE TRANSLATION OF THIS WORK
IS HEARTILY DEDICATED
BY
HERMAN BERNSTEIN

CHARACTERS

GUARDIAN OF THE ENTRANCES
ANATHEMA
DAVID LEIZER
SARAH, his wife
NAUM } their children
ROSA   }
IVAN BEZKRAINY }
SONKA ZITRON     } tradespeople
PURIKES
DANCING-MASTER
YOUNG MAN
PALE MAN
ORGAN-GRINDER
WANDERER
ABRAHAM KHESSIN
WEEPING WOMAN
WOMAN WITH CHILD IN HER ARMS
DRUNKARD
SONKA'S LITTLE GIRL
LEIBKE

Musicians, Blind People, Crowd

ANATHEMA

PROLOGUE.

The scene represents a wild, deserted place, the slope of a mountainrising to infinite heights. In the rear of the stage, halfway up themountain, huge iron gates, tightly closed, indicate the boundary ofthe world as we conceive it. Beyond the iron gates, which oppress theearth with their enormous weight, in silence and in mystery, dwells theBeginning of every being, the Supreme Wisdom of the universe.

At the foot of the Gates stands Someone guarding the entrances,leaning upon a long sword, perfectly motionless. Garbed in wideclothes, which are like stone in the motionlessness of their folds andcreases, He hides His face beneath a dark cover, and is Himself thegreatest of mysteries. Standing on the boundary separating two worlds,he is dual in his make-up;—in appearance a man, in reality a spirit.An arbitrator between two worlds, He is like unto a huge shield, whichgathers all bolts,—all looks, all entreaties, all expectations,reproaches, and curses. The bearer of two elements, He wraps his speechin silence, which is like the silence of the iron gates, and sometimesin human words.

Amidst the rocks, looking around on all sides strangely and shyly,appears Anathema, someone accursed. Clinging to the grey rocks,himself grey, cautious and flexible, like a serpent seeking a hole,he goes stealthily and quietly to the Guardian of the Entrances,desiring to strike him with an unexpected blow. But he is frightenedby his own audacity and, jumping to his feet, laughs defiantly andmaliciously. Then he sits down on a rock, with an air of freedom andindependence, and throws small cobblestones at the feet of the Guardianof the Entrances;—cunning, he conceals his fear beneath the mask ofraillery and slight audacity. In the faint, grey, almost colorlesslight, the head of the accursed one seems enormous; especially largeis his high forehead, which is furrowed by wrinkles of fruitlessreflections and unsolvable eternal problems. Anathema's thin beard isperfectly grey; his hair, once jet black, is also greyish, rising onhis head in disordered tufts. Restless in his movements, he is vainlytrying to conc