Excerpt from The Social Significance of the Modern DramaIN order to understand the social and dynamic significance of modern dramatic art it is necessary, I believe, to ascertain the difference between the functions of art for art's sake and art as the mir ror of life.Art for art's sake presupposes an attitude of aloofness on the part of the artist toward the com plex struggle of life: he must rise above the ebb and tide of life. He is to be merely an artistic conjurer of beautiful forms, a creator of pure fancy.That is not the attitude of modern art, which is preeminently the re¿ex, the mirror of life. The artist being a part of life cannot detach himself from the events and occurrences that pass pan orama-like before his eyes, impressing themselves upon his emotional and intellectual vision.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.