To those content with convenient superficialities the plays of a dramatist such as Heijermans are easy of definition. He is dismissed as "a realistic writer," "a playwright of the naturalistic school," a follower of Ibsen, or Hauptmann, or Tolstoy, or Zola. Even then, perhaps, the definitions are not exhausted. They spring from the encyclopedia of commonplaces, and are as chaotic as the minds of their authors. There is the adjective "meticulous," for example,--invaluable to critics. And "morbid,"--equally indispensable, in the form of "morbid psychology." "Photographic" and "kinematographic" must not be forgotten; the latter an almost brand-new weapon of offence. For the rest, "grey," "faith…
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