Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/764

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SUDERMANN. 662 SUECA. Sorge (1888; trans, as Dame Care, 1892). He followed these up with the novel Der Katsensteg (ISS'.I; trans, as Rcgina, 1898); the stories Im Ztciclicht and a sensational drama, Hodoms Ende (18110); the humorous novel lolauthes Hoch- zcit (1893); and his greatest drama, Hciuiut (1893; trans, as Magda, 1895) ; a fine novel of moral psyehologj', i's iiMr (1894); an inferior drama. Die Hchmtttcrlingsschladit (1S94); and Diis Oliick im Wittbcl (189(i), a strong but unpleasant play. Then came three one-act dra- matic scenes in verse collected under tlie appro- priate title ilorituri (1896); Johanxes (1897), a realistic dramatic presentation of the story of John the Baptist; Die drei Keiherfedern (1898), an ethical and literary mystery in dramatic form. Es Ithe das Lcheii (1902, translated The Joy of Living, 1902), is a powerful drama of the struggle between soul affinity and marital obligation. His work since 1894 shows failing power and has been much interrupted by sickness, but that for the six years pre- ceding is, with the dramas of Hauptmann, the most significant in contemporarj' Germany, powerful in conception, admirable in technique, virile in its grasp of humanity in the more som- bre aspects, and with occasional touches of deli- cate humor, though Sudermann is more skilled with the sterner weapons of satire. Fruu Sorge is a pathetic Odyssey of duty with some romantic aberrations; Kulzensicg is a declaration of 'naturalism;' lolnnthcs Hoch:eit breathes the serener realism of common life; Es war is a protest against the fruitlessness of brooding re- pentance. The dramas Die Ehre, Sodoms Ende, and Heimat are all social satires and militant democratic protests. By comparison the later dramas are increasingly out of touch with mod- ern life. In Die drei keiherfedern the evolution has become complete transformation. To some it seems a deepening, to others a sinking of his dramatic power. All Sudermann's greater works are translated into English. Consult; Brandes, Menschen und Vt'erke (2d ed., Frankfort. 1895) ; Litzmann, Das deutsche Drama (Hamburg, 1896). SUDET'IC MOUNTAINS (Ger. Sudeten). A mountain system on the southwestern border of Silesia, Germany. Avhicli some of its ranges separate from Bohemia and Moravia (Map: Germany, G 3 ) . It extends in a south- east direction from the water gap of the Elbe to the Moravian depression through which the Oder passes, and which separates the system from the Carpathian Mountains. The system is composed of a number of short, broken, more or less i.solated and partly parallel ranges, consist- ing chiefly of crystalline slate, serpentine, and granite. These ranges inclose a niunber of large valleys. The best defined as well as the highest of the ranges, the Eiesengebirge, lies near the centre of the system, and attains an average altitude of about 4000 feet, culminating in the Schneekoppe, 5266 feet above the sea. The higher ridges have an alpine flora, appearing above the large pine forests which cover the slopes. Many of the slopes afford fine pastur- age and the foothills are well cultivated. The Sudetie Mountains are very rich in minerals, especially iron, zinc, lead, and copper, and in the southeastern portion there are large coal deposits. SUDRA, shuo'dra (Skt. sudra ; possibly con- nected with Lith. s;m(?os, excrement). The name of the fourth caste of the Hindus. See Caste. StJDRAKA ( shfio'dra-ka ) . A Hindu king to whom tradition attributes the Sanskrit drama Mricchakaliku (cpv.), which was pi'obably com- posed in reality by Dandin (q.v. ). The name Sudraka is not found in the liistorj' of India, and he seems to have been altogether mythical. He was, however, the centre of a number of legends, according to which he reigned eitlier at 'idr4a, or Sobhavati, or Vardhamana. He is said to have been saved from death by a Brah- man who killed himself to insure the king a life of a hundred years. According to another tra- dition he was the minister of a king named .Satavahana, who gave him half of his kingdom. Sudraka was the hero of two poems, the t^udra- kakathu of Ramila and Soimla, and the Sudra- kavadha, as well as of a drama, the VikrHnta- indrakUj all of which have been lost. Consult Levi, Thmre Indien (Paris, 1890). STJE, S1.I, M.'VRIE Joseph (known as Eug£ne) (1804-57). A French novelist, born in Paris. He studied medicine, became an army surgeon, was transferred to the navy, cruised in the East, re- signed in 1829, having inherited wealth, and gave himself successively to literature, dissipa- tion, and socialistic agitation, writing feuille- tons that rivaled those of Dumas in rapidity of production, fertility of imagination, and care- lessness of execution. In 1831 he published Plick et Ploek, the success of which led to Atar-Giill (1831), a novel of the sea, suggested by his own experience and by the American novels of Cooper. It revealed a gift of story-telling, but showed a reckless mingling of tragic and comic, pathetic and grotesque. Debts and disgust at his equivo- cal social position turned him into a socialist and convert to the propagandism of Fourier and Proudhon. His work in this spirit con- sists of long novels printed in cheap news- papers, but winning such hold on the masses and so swaying democratic opinion that the Government actually sought to check or di- vert his activity. As a critic of that day said. Sue was entering on an unexplored path when he began the Mysteres de Paris (1842). As the novelist of the people he was undertaking to paint the sufferings, the needs, the possibilities of the working class with the intent of influenc- ing their political action, and in doing this he won for the novel a new audience and a new interest. He entered on the task with an enthu- siasm that fired his genius to the creation of types of character that still have power to hor- rify or charm. Both the Mysteres de Paris and Le Juif errant (1844-45) were dramatized by Sue, and both have attained world-wide circula- tion. He wrote an Histoire de hi ynarine fran- caise (1835-37) and two historical novels. La- treanmont (1837), and Jean Cavalier (1840). The later work of Sue is vast. He was elected to the Assembly in ISoO, and was exiled in Decem- ber, 1851. He died at Annecy in Savoy. Consult Mireeourt, Eugene Sue (Paris, 1858). StXECA, sw.a'ka. A town of Spain, in the Province of Valencia, 23 miles south of the city of that name, on the left bank of the Jucar (Jlap: Spain, E 3). It is in a fertile valley. Population, in 1900, 14,422.