LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1890. 



503 



number of others are named as having succeeded 

 fairly well. In history F. Martini has brought 

 out Giusti's " Memorie." which dates to the Tus- 

 can revolution of 1848. Signor Cappelletti has 

 given to the public, in three volumes, a history 

 of the first French revolution, painstaking, but 

 of small merit as to style, etc. Tivaroni, who is 

 called a radical, has worked in the same field, 

 and Prof. Franchetti has contributed some good 

 articles in the " Nuova Antologia." J. Ghiron 

 (recently deceased) left a work continuing the 

 annals of Coppi, entitled "Annali d'ltalia." 

 The book is of indifferent merit. The Historical 

 Institute is doing good work. Four highly in- 

 teresting volumes have been published in rela- 

 tion to Venetian chronicles, registers, etc. Pa- 

 oli's " Book of Montaperti " is really valuable, 

 containing statutes, deliberations, officers, and 

 the like, of the Florentine Guelphs in 1260. Very 

 numerous are the contributions to special histor- 

 ical points and topics, but the critics point out 

 the striking disproportion between historical re- 

 search and historical composition at the pres- 

 ent time. In lyric poetry Annie Vivanti's poems 

 (with preface by Carducci) manifest great liveli- 

 ness and genuine originality. The centenary of 

 Beatrice Portinari, the lovely young girl immor- 

 talized by Dante, was celebrated by publishing a 

 volurne,the articles in which were written en- 

 tirely by ladies. The gentler sex in Italy are al- 

 so imitating those of other nationalities by be- 

 coming lecturers. The critics thus far award 

 but faint praise to their new venture. 



Norway. General prosperity in Norway this 

 year appears plainly to have had its effect upon 

 literature and book publishing. Of novelists. J. 

 Hilditch gives good hope as to the future. His 

 book, "Under Norske Flag" ("Fortael linger og 

 Skitser"), is noted for hearty humor of the east 

 country folks of his native land. G. Finne is 

 said to' be the very opposite of Hilditch, a man, 

 no doubt, of industry and energy, but no humor, 

 or almost none. His stories, " The Philosopher " 

 and " Dr. Wang's Children," have come before 

 the public in the newspapers. Hjalmar Christe- 

 sen has made his debut with " A Freethinker, a 

 Picture of the Times." A young lady also, under 

 the pseudonym Anna Munch, has published a 

 tale of Christiania, entitled " Women : a Story of 

 Historical Development." It is said to be clever 

 and accurate, perhaps a little too bold. Bjorn- 

 stjerne Bjornson's novel " In God's Way " is 

 probably the best of the year. The critics find 

 some fault, but agree as to its great ability and 

 unflagging interest. Kristian Gloersen's new 

 story, " Drifting Streams," and Arne Garborg's 

 new novel, " With Mamma," are much praised, 

 the latter receiving 2,000 marks from the " Freie 

 Buhne," of Berlin. Kristofer Kristofersen has 

 added to his tales a " Picture from the Last Cent- 

 ury," entitled " Pram." Jonas Lie has pub- 

 lished this year only a small volume of poems. 

 " Poems and Sketches," by Th. Kierneff (recent- 

 ly deceased), have been brought out ; he was a 

 poet of what is known a.s the Welhaven school. 

 H. Sinding published nothing new this year, but 

 only an anthology containing many poems of 

 young authors. The new dramatists are criti- 

 cised severely, such as Holger, Sinding. Vetle 

 Viele, Bendix Lange, etc. Henrik Ibsen has not 

 contributed any dramatic work this year. N. 



Rolf sen's " Svein Urad " is pronounced to be 

 only so-so in merit, and G. Heiberg's "King 

 Midas " was brought out in the Royal Theatre 

 at Copenhagen, and later in Berlin and Vienna. 

 Great difference of opinion exists as to its real 

 merits. It is felt to be an attack on B. Bjorn- 

 son's school of thought, and has naturally aroused 

 opposition. In prose literature there are several 

 new books. S. Bugge, a genial philologist, spoken 

 of last year in this connection, has completed 

 the first series of his " Studies on the Legends 

 of Northern Gods and Heroes," begun some ten 

 years ago. Hans Ross's appendix to Aasen's 

 "Norwegian Dialect Dictionary" is also, after 

 long delay, making its appearance in print. Clara 

 Tschudi's " Life of the Empress Eugenie " and 

 W. Troje's book on "Thomas Carlyle, his Life 

 and Works," deserve some commendation at 

 least. H. Jaeger has written a book about Ber- 

 gen and its inhabitants, and has also published 

 a collection of his tales and sketches. Arne 

 Garborg has printed a volume of his critical and 

 controversial papers, and D. Meidell, a veteran 

 journalist, has also brought out additional con- 

 troversial and humorous essays. In philosophy 

 and theology the year 1890 "is almost a blank. 

 There is no work of sufficient value to require 

 mention in the present record. 



Poland. There is not much of moment in lit- 

 erature in Poland this year to which we can call 

 attention. Boleslaw Prus's three-volume novel 

 " The Puppet " is a rather remarkable work of its 

 kind ; ft has been criticised a good deal, but mani- 

 fests undoubted ability. Other novels are: "Count 

 Witold," by S. Brewuski ; " The Lotos Flower," 

 by Mile. Rodziewicz ; " The Counts of Starosta," 

 by W. Los ; and " Hessy O'Grady," by E. Maga- 

 nowski. In the way of historical romances there 

 are T. T. Jez's " The Christian Knight " and " In 

 the Morning," relating to the Southern Slavs ; 

 K. Kraszewski's " Bartochowski," a picture of 

 the habits and customs of the eighteenth cent- 

 ury; and T. Lusrezewska's "The Slaves of the 

 Tartars," in the dolorous days of the thirteenth 

 century. The novelette seems to be coming more 

 and more into vogue. Sienkiewicz, the poet Go- 

 malicki, Lentowski, Balucki, Lubowski, Gawale- 

 wicz, Sewer, and Dyyasinski, all good writers, 

 have freely contributed to this kind of fiction. 

 Lady writers are also numerous, and quite suc- 

 cessful on the whole. In the drama there has 

 been much activity, and some of the productions 

 of the year will probably survive. Among these 

 are E. Lubowski's comedy "The Wives' Confi- 

 dante," K. Zalewski's farce " Oh, those Men !," 

 Sewer's drama of popular life " For the Holy 

 Ground's Sake," and K. Glinski's tragedy "Al- 

 mansor," from Spanish history, In poetry very 

 little of consequence has been done. Several 

 new writers show traces of genuine talent. Ro- 

 doc's third series of satires is above the average 

 in style and wit. History this year has been 

 mainly confined to reproduction of documents 

 and sources of history, such as the " Town and 

 Country Acts," by Prof. Liske ; " The Laws, 

 Privileges, and Statutes of the City of Cracow," 

 by Piekosinski; and the like. "The History of 

 Poland," by E. Boguslawski. is criticised as lean- 

 ing too much to Panslavism. W. Lozinski's 

 " The Patricians and Citizens of Lemberg in the 

 Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries " is highly 



