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LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1888. 



has not been more brilliant than in other years, 

 but rather less so. The best novelists, Farina, 

 Matilde Serao, and Capuana have produced 

 nothing new or remarkable, and novels by 

 Rovetta, Giuriati, Caponi, and Martini are 

 hardly above the average. In poetry, Car- 

 ducci brought out last year a volume of "Rime 

 Nuove," which contains some new pieces, with 

 others before printed. lie ranks among the 

 best of the Italian poets. 



Norway. Literature in the larger sense of 

 the word does not seem to have flourished in 

 Norway this year. The social and ethical 

 questions as to the relations of the sexes have 

 aroused much discussion, and a number of 

 volumes have been published advocating fre- 

 quently very strange and even immoral doc- 

 trines. Bjornstjerne Bjornson has entered the 

 field against Bohemian doctrines and practices, 

 and during the first half of the year he trav- 

 eled over Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, 

 lecturing on "Monogamy and Polygamy," with 

 great success. Jonas Lie has published "Mar- 

 ried Life," which is much praised as being, on 

 the whole, sound in principle and capitally 

 worked out. It abounds in genial humor, and 

 is widely read in Norway. A. Kielland bases 

 his stories on the newest political development, 

 but they are not esteemed to be of much ac- 

 count. Other works of fiction are Amalie 

 Skram's " Two Friends," Per Sivle's " Bundle 

 of Stories," A. Balle's " Young Ladies," K. 

 Janson's "Norwegians in America," Mrs. Jan- 

 son's " A Young Girl," K. Winterhjelm's 

 u Countess Sissi," and Kristofer Kristofersen's 

 new story, " Toilers of the Soil." He is now 

 settled in Copenhagen, and in this story de- 

 scribes the hard conditions of life under which 

 the crofters labor. Numerous tales and sketches 

 have been published, mostly relating to home 

 topics and of average merit. A few poems 

 have been published, viz., K. Rander's "Nor- 

 wegian Scenery, Impressions, and Pictures," 

 N. C. Vogt's "'Poems," and Sigurd Bodker's 

 erotic verse, entitled " Elskov " i. e., " Love." 

 These two latter have made promising debuts, 

 and it is hoped that they will in time enrich 

 the scanty lyric poetry of Norway. Several 

 important historical works have appeared, 

 among which we note Prof. Ernst Sars's '"His- 

 tory of Norway" (1319-1532), interesting, well 

 written, and valuable ; and Prof. A. C. Bang's 

 " History of the Norwegian Church under 

 Catholicism," instructive and fairly wrought 

 out. J. B. Halvorsen's excellent "Dictionary 

 of Norwegian Authors" is making steady prog- 

 ress, and has reached half-way into the letter 

 H. Art criticism has been enriched by Prof. 

 L. Dietrichsen's history of the origin and growth 

 of the National Picture Gallery, and literary 

 history has been increased by II. Jaeger's 

 pleasant picture of the literary life and work 

 of " Ilenrik Ibsen," on the sixtieth anniversary 

 of the poet's birth. This distinguished son of 

 Norway, Bjornson's twin-brother, stands in 

 the very front rank of the authors of his native 



land. A cheap popular series of standard au- 

 thors has recently appeared under the title 

 " Library for the Thousand Homes." Periodi- 

 cal literature does not flourish in Norway, two 

 of its chief representatives having failed for 

 want of support. 



Poland. Polish literature has suffered much 

 during the past year and a half by death among 

 men of letters. The great humorist, Jan Lam, 

 has passed away, as have also the historian, W. 

 Kalinka, leaving his masterpiece, " The Diet of 

 Four Years, " incomplete, and J. L. Kraszew- 

 ski, renowned as a voluminous writer of ro- 

 mances, poems, dramas, etc. A number of 

 books, novels, a sort of autobiography, and a 

 popular history of Poland, by the aged writer, 

 have been published since his death. T. T. 

 Jez, a contemporary of Kraszewski, still re- 

 mains, and is very industrious. Madame Or- 

 zesko, H. Sienkiewicz, and B. Prus are in their 

 prime, and are expected to do good service to 

 literature. A new writer, Adam Szymanski, 

 gives promise of large success, judging from 

 his "Sketches," which are taken from the life 

 of the Polish exiles in Siberia. Two historical 

 novels have appeared, viz., "The Knights of 

 King Albert," by S. Kaczkowski, and "M. 

 Wolodyjowski," by Sienkiewicz. Humorous 

 literature seems to flourish in Poland in tho 

 hands of Jordan, Junosza, Wilczynski, and 

 Balucki. Historical stories and tales have been 

 published by Bykowski, Rawita, and Rapacki. 

 Rogosz's stories, "Upon the Waves of Des- 

 tiny " and " Richard Gozdawa," are well writ- 

 ten and interesting ; Gawalewicz's tales are 

 much admired, as are also Dygasinski's studies, 

 in story form, of the character of the Polish 

 peasantry. Madame Orzesko's new novel, " On 

 the Niemen," is pronounced to be one of her 

 very best. A few other contributions in this 

 line may here be named: " By Sunlight and 

 Gaslight," by W. Gomulicki; "Heroes of To- 

 day," by F. Lentowski ; and " The Mistake," 

 by B. Prus. In the drama something, but not 

 much, has been done. K. Zalewski's comedy, 

 " Apfel, the Wedded Couple," is very popu- 

 lar; Mankowski's comedy, "The Eccentric," 

 has been applauded ; and J. Blizinski's two 

 farces are very laughable. In poetry Madame 

 Maria Konopnicka has published a third series 

 of " Poems," and Gomulicki has made his first 

 collection on an important scale. Some new 

 names may be mentioned : Otawa, Orlowski, 

 and Londynski, men of ability, the critics say. 

 The fine productions of Adam Asnyk, the first 

 lyric poet of the day, have been translated into 

 German. Historical studies have been prose- 

 cuted with zeal. T. Korzon has brought out 

 the concluding volume of his monumental work 

 on the internal condition of Poland under its 

 last kings. M. Semkowicz obtained a prize 

 from the Polish Society of Paris for a mono- 

 graph subjecting J. Dlugosz's " History of Po- 

 land " to a thorough critical analysis. Several 

 other volumes have been published, among 

 which may be named here W. Zakrzewski's 



