Chapter 2

Edvard Munch¹, the Norwegian, is a much bigger man and artist. The feminine note, despite his sensibility, is missing. He has control of his technical forces and he never indulged in such nervous excesses as Kubin. Besides, he is sincere, while the other is usually cynical². He deals with the same old counters, love and death, debauchery and consequent corruption³. He is an exponent⁴ of feverish⁵ visions, yet you never feel that he is borne down by his contact with dwellers⁶ on the threshold. A border-lander, as is Maurice Maeterlinck, Munch has a more precise vision; in a word he is a mystic, and a true mystic always sees dreams as sharp realities.

It was Mr. Saintsbury who first called attention to the clear flame of Flaubert's visions as exemplified by his Temptation of St. Anthony. So Munch, who pins to paper with almost geometrical accuracy his personal adventures in the misty⁷ mid-region of Weir⁸. And a masculine soul is his. I can still recall my impressions on seeing one of his early lithographs⁹ entitled, Geschrei. As far as America is concerned, Edvard Munch was discovered by Vance Thompson, who wrote an appreciation¹¹ of the Norwegian [Pg 232] painter, then a resident of Berlin, in the pages of M'lle New York (since gathered to her forefathers). The "cry" of the picture is supposed to be the "infinite cry of nature" as felt by an odd-looking individual who stands on a long bridge traversing an estuary¹² in some Norwegian harbour. The sky is barred by flaming clouds, two enigmatic men move in the middle distance. To-day the human with the distorted skull¹³ who holds hands to his ears and with staring eyes opens wide a foolish mouth looks more like a man overtaken by seasickness¹⁴ than a poet mastered by cosmic emotion.

In 1901 I visited Munich and at the Secession exhibition at the Glass Palace I saw a room full of Munches¹⁵. It was nicknamed the Chamber¹⁶ of Horrors, and the laughter and exclamations¹⁷ of disgust indulged in by visitors recalled the history of Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe and the treatment accorded it by Parisians (an incident utilised by Zola in L'?uvre). But nowadays, in company with the Neo-Impressionists, the Lampost Impressionists, Cubists, and Futurists, Munch might seem tame, conventional; nevertheless he was years ahead of the new crowd in painting big blocks of colour, juxtaposed, not as the early Impressionists juxtaposed their strokes of complementary colour to gain synthesis by dissociation of tonalities, but by obvious discords¹⁸ thus achieve a brutal¹⁹ optical impression.

His landscapes were those of a visionary in an Arcadia where the ugly is elevated to the tragic²⁰. [Pg 233] Tragic, too, were his representations of his fellow men. Such every-day incidents as a funeral became transfigured in the sardonic²¹ humour of this pessimist²². No one had such a quick eye in detecting the mean souls of interested mourners at the interment of a relative. I possess an original signed lithograph¹⁰ called, The Curious Ones, which shows a procession returning afoot from a funeral. Daumier, himself, could not beat the variety of expressions shown in this print. The silk hat (and Goya was the first among modern artists to prove its value as a motive) plays a r?le in the Munch plates. His death-room scenes are unapproachable in seizing the fleeting²³ atmosphere of the last hour. The fear of death, the very fear of fear, Maeterlinck has created by a species of creeping dialogue. (The Intruder is an example), but Edvard Munch working in an art of two dimensions where impressions must be simultaneous, is more dynamic. The shrill²⁴ dissonance in his work is instantly reflected in the brain of the speaker. In his best work—not his skeletons dancing with plump girls, or the youthful macabre²⁵ extravagances after the manner of Rops, Rethel, De Groux, or James Ensor—he does invoke²⁶ a genuine thrill.

Psychologic, in the true sense of that much-abused word, are his portraits; indeed, I am not sure that his portraits will play second fiddle²⁷ to his purely²⁸ imaginative work in the future. There is the Strindberg, certainly the most authoritative²⁹ [Pg 234] presentment of that strange, unhappy soul. The portraits of Hans J?ger, the poet (in oil), the etched head of Doctor A., the etched head of Sigbjorn Obstfelder, poet who died young, as well as the self-portraits and the splendidly constructed figure and eloquent³⁰ expression in the portrait of a woman, an oil-painting now in the National Gallery, Christiania, these and many others serve as testimony³¹ to a sympathetic divination³² of character. His etched surfaces are never as silvery as those of Anders Zorn, who is a virtuoso³³ in the management of the needle. Not that Munch disdains³⁴ good craftsmanship³⁵, but he is obsessed³⁶ by character; this is the key-note of his art. How finely he expresses envy, jealousy³⁷, hatred³⁸, covetousness³⁹, and the vampire⁴⁰ that sometimes lurks⁴¹ in the soul of woman. An etching, Hypocrisy⁴², with its faint leer on the lips of a woman, is a little masterpiece. His sick people are pitiful, that is, when they are not grotesque⁴³; the entire tragedy of blasted childhood is in his portrait of The Sick Child.

As a rule he seldom condescends⁴⁴ to sound the note of sentimentality. He is an illustrator born, and as such does not take sides, letting his parable⁴⁵ open to those who can read. And his parable is always legible. He distorts, deforms⁴⁶, and with his strong, fluid line modulates⁴⁷ his material as he wills, but he never propounds⁴⁸ puzzles in form, as do the rest of the experimentalists. The human shape does not become [Pg 235] either a stovepipe or an orchid⁴⁹ in his hands. His young mothers are sometimes dithyrambic (as in Madonna) or else despairing outcasts. One plate of his which always affects me is his Dead Mother, with the little daughter at the bedside, the cry of agony arrested on her lips, the death chamber exhaling⁵⁰ poverty and sorrow. By preference Munch selects his themes among the poor and the middle class. He can paint an empty room traversed by a gleam of moonlight and set one to thinking a half day on such an apparently⁵¹ barren theme. He may suggest the erotic, but never the lascivious⁵². A thinker doubled by an artist he is the one man north who recalls the harsh but pregnant truths of Henrik Ibsen.

1 munch   

v.用力嚼，大声咀嚼

参考例句：

• We watched her munch through two packets of peanuts.我们看她津津有味地嚼了两包花生米。
• Getting them to munch on vegetable dishes was more difficult.使他们吃素菜就比较困难了。

2 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。

3 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

4 exponent   

n.倡导者，拥护者；代表人物；指数，幂

参考例句：

• She is an exponent of vegetarianism.她是一个素食主义的倡导者。
• He had been the principal exponent of the Gallipoli campaign.他曾为加里波利战役的主要代表人物。

5 feverish   

adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的

参考例句：

• He is too feverish to rest.他兴奋得安静不下来。
• They worked with feverish haste to finish the job.为了完成此事他们以狂热的速度工作着。

6 dwellers   

n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 misty   

adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的

参考例句：

• He crossed over to the window to see if it was still misty.他走到窗户那儿，看看是不是还有雾霭。
• The misty scene had a dreamy quality about it.雾景给人以梦幻般的感觉。

8 weir   

n.堰堤，拦河坝

参考例句：

• The discharge from the weir opening should be free.从堰开口处的泻水应畅通。
• Big Weir River,restraining tears,has departed!大堰河，含泪地去了！

9 lithographs   

n.平版印刷品( lithograph的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The etchings, drypoints, lithographs, and engravings together formed his graphic work. 蚀刻画、铜版画、平版画以及雕刻构成了他书画刻印的作品。 来自互联网
• These historic works of art will be released as limited editions of signed lithographs. 这些艺术历史作品是以有限的单一的平版版本发行。 来自互联网

10 lithograph   

n.平板印刷，平板画；v.用平版印刷

参考例句：

• Lithograph was introduced from China to Europe.印刷术是从中国传入欧洲的。
• Cole printed 1,000 of the cards on a lithograph stone before having them hand-colored.科尔随即用石版印刷了1000张，之后又让人给这些卡手工着色。

11 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

12 estuary   

n.河口，江口

参考例句：

• We live near the Thames estuary.我们的住处靠近泰晤士河入海口。
• The ship has touched bottom.The estuary must be shallower than we thought.船搁浅了。这河口的水比我们想像的要浅。

13 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

14 seasickness   

n.晕船

参考例句：

• Europeans take melons for a preventive against seasickness. 欧洲人吃瓜作为预防晕船的方法。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He was very prone to seasickness and already felt queasy. 他快晕船了，已经感到恶心了。 来自辞典例句

15 munches   

v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He tried to talk between munches on the sandwich. 他试图在吃三明治的当间儿讲话。 来自互联网
• A flying squirrel munches a meal on terra firma. 一只鼯鼠在地上贪婪的咀嚼着它的食物。 来自互联网

16 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

17 exclamations   

n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词

参考例句：

• The visitors broke into exclamations of wonder when they saw the magnificent Great Wall. 看到雄伟的长城，游客们惊叹不已。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After the will has been read out, angry exclamations aroused. 遗嘱宣读完之后，激起一片愤怒的喊声。 来自辞典例句

18 discords   

不和（discord的复数形式）

参考例句：

• There are many discords in this family. 在这个家庭里有许多争吵。
• The speaker's opinion discords with the principles of this society. 演讲者的意见与本会的原则不符。

19 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

20 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

21 sardonic   

adj.嘲笑的，冷笑的，讥讽的

参考例句：

• She gave him a sardonic smile.她朝他讥讽地笑了一笑。
• There was a sardonic expression on her face.她脸上有一种嘲讽的表情。

22 pessimist   

n.悲观者；悲观主义者；厌世

参考例句：

• An optimist laughs to forget.A pessimist forgets to laugh.乐观者笑着忘却，悲观者忘记怎样笑。
• The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity.The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.悲观者在每个机会中都看到困难，乐观者在每个困难中都看到机会。

23 fleeting   

adj.短暂的，飞逝的

参考例句：

• The girls caught only a fleeting glimpse of the driver.女孩们只匆匆瞥了一眼司机。
• Knowing the life fleeting,she set herself to enjoy if as best as she could.她知道这种日子转瞬即逝，于是让自已尽情地享受。

24 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

25 macabre   

adj.骇人的，可怖的

参考例句：

• He takes a macabre interest in graveyards.他那么留意墓地，令人毛骨悚然。
• Mr Dahl was well-known for his macabre adult stories called 'Tales of the Unexpected'.达尔先生以成人恐怖小说集《意料之外的故事》闻名于世。

26 invoke   

v.求助于(神、法律)；恳求，乞求

参考例句：

• Let us invoke the blessings of peace.让我们祈求和平之福。
• I hope I'll never have to invoke this clause and lodge a claim with you.我希望我永远不会使用这个条款向你们索赔。

27 fiddle   

n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动

参考例句：

• She plays the fiddle well.她小提琴拉得好。
• Don't fiddle with the typewriter.不要摆弄那架打字机了。

28 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

29 authoritative   

adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的

参考例句：

• David speaks in an authoritative tone.大卫以命令的口吻说话。
• Her smile was warm but authoritative.她的笑容很和蔼，同时又透着威严。

30 eloquent   

adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的

参考例句：

• He was so eloquent that he cut down the finest orator.他能言善辩，胜过最好的演说家。
• These ruins are an eloquent reminder of the horrors of war.这些废墟形象地提醒人们不要忘记战争的恐怖。

31 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

32 divination   

n.占卜，预测

参考例句：

• Divination is made up of a little error and superstition,plus a lot of fraud.占卜是由一些谬误和迷信构成，再加上大量的欺骗。
• Katherine McCormack goes beyond horoscopes and provides a quick guide to other forms of divination.凯瑟琳·麦考马克超越了占星并给其它形式的预言提供了快速的指导。

33 virtuoso   

n.精于某种艺术或乐器的专家，行家里手

参考例句：

• He was gaining a reputation as a remarkable virtuoso.作为一位技艺非凡的大师，他声誉日隆。
• His father was a virtuoso horn player who belonged to the court orchestra.他的父亲是宫廷乐队中一个技巧精湛的圆号演奏家。

34 disdains   

鄙视，轻蔑( disdain的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He disdains going to the cinema/to sit with people like us. 他不屑于去看电影[与我们这等人同席而坐]。
• Ideology transcends limits, eschews restraints, and disdains tolerance or conciliation. 意识形态越出界限，避开遏制，蔑视宽容或和解。

35 craftsmanship   

n.手艺

参考例句：

• The whole house is a monument to her craftsmanship. 那整座房子是她技艺的一座丰碑。
• We admired the superb craftsmanship of the furniture. 我们很欣赏这个家具的一流工艺。

36 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

37 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

38 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

39 covetousness   

参考例句：

• As covetousness is the root of all evil, so poverty is the worst of all snares. 正如贪婪是万恶之源一样，贫穷是最坏的陷阱。 来自辞典例句
• Poverty want many thing, but covetousness all. 贫穷可满足；欲望却难填。 来自互联网

40 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

41 lurks   

n.潜在，潜伏；（lurk的复数形式）vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Behind his cool exterior lurks a reckless and frustrated person. 在冷酷的外表背后，他是一个鲁莽又不得志的人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Good fortune lies within Bad, Bad fortune lurks within good. 福兮祸所倚，祸兮福所伏。 来自互联网

42 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。

43 grotesque   

adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物）

参考例句：

• His face has a grotesque appearance.他的面部表情十分怪。
• Her account of the incident was a grotesque distortion of the truth.她对这件事的陈述是荒诞地歪曲了事实。

44 condescends   

屈尊，俯就( condescend的第三人称单数 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲

参考例句：

• Our teacher rarely condescends to speak with us outside of class. 我们老师很少在课堂外屈尊与我们轻松地谈话。
• He always condescends to his inferiors. 他对下属总是摆出施惠于人的态度。

45 parable   

n.寓言，比喻

参考例句：

• This is an ancient parable.这是一个古老的寓言。
• The minister preached a sermon on the parable of the lost sheep.牧师讲道时用了亡羊的比喻。

46 deforms   

使变形，使残废，丑化( deform的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Bad rheumatoid arthritis deforms limbs. 严重的类风湿性关节炎会造成四肢变形。
• The specimen deforms under a tensile stress applied parallel to the fibres. 试样在平行于纤维的张应力作用下发生变形。

47 modulates   

调整( modulate的第三人称单数 )； （对波幅、频率的）调制； 转调； 调整或改变（嗓音）的音调

参考例句：

• At this point the music modulates from C to G. 在此处音乐从C调转到G调。
• Modulates the level of adrenaline to relieve stress and fatigue. 剌激肾上腺素的分泌，有助纾缓压力、消除疲劳。

48 propounds   

v.提出（问题、计划等）供考虑[讨论]，提议( propound的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

49 orchid   

n.兰花，淡紫色

参考例句：

• The orchid is a class of plant which I have never tried to grow.兰花这类植物我从来没种过。
• There are over 35 000 species of orchid distributed throughout the world.有35,000多种兰花分布在世界各地。

50 exhaling   

v.呼出，发散出( exhale的现在分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气

参考例句：

• Take a deep breath inhaling slowly and exhaling slowly. 深呼吸，慢慢吸进，慢慢呼出。 来自互联网
• Unclasp your hands and return to the original position while exhaling. 呼气并松开双手恢复到原位。 来自互联网

51 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

52 lascivious   

adj.淫荡的，好色的

参考例句：

• I was there to protect her from the importunities of lascivious men.我在那里保护她,不受那些好色男子的纠缠不休。
• In his old age Cato became lascivious and misconducted himself with a woman slave.到了晚年,卡托沉溺于女色,跟一个女奴私通。