LITER ATUJE. CONTI XKNTA L. IN 



413 



enthusiastic account of "Joseph do Mai-tre. pen- 

 dant la Revolution": 1'. Regnier's " Le Tartun"e 

 des Come'diens." an instructive edition from tlie 

 actor's point of view ; Un Roman d'Amour," a 

 ribution to Balzac literature ly Spu-lberch de 

 ;ij(iul: "Souvenirs et Correspondances ' 

 Mme. Octave Feuillet : Andre Thenriet's autobio- 

 graphical "Annees de Printemps" ; Nourri- 

 Voltaire et le Voltairianisme" : Henri Lion's con- 

 scientious " Les Tragedies et les Theories drama- 

 ti()iies de Voltaire"; " L'ltalie du XVI Siecle: 

 L'Aivt in." by Pierre Gauthiez; and Emile Gruck- 

 er's " Les.-in.ii." Collective literary biography and 

 criticism is supplied in T. de YVyzewa's " Ecrivains 

 etrangers"; " Penseurs et Poetes," by Gaston 

 Paris ; Vol. VI of Jules Lemaitre's '' Les C'ontem- 

 porains," composed principally of an appreciative 

 article on^ Laraartine ; and Rene Doumic's " Lr- 

 Jeunes : Etudes et Portraits." Of the " Journal des 

 Goncourt " (that curious document on the literary 

 life of France in the latter half of this century) Vol. 

 IX has appeared the last, for Ed. de Goncourt 

 is dead. Vol. IV of Coppees " Mon Franc-Parler" 

 contains excellent reading on Bourget, Les Parnas- 

 siens, and Alexandre Dumas. The Vioomte Eugene 

 iiior de Vogue's " Devant le Siecle" has note- 

 worthy pages on Heredia, Taine. Montegut, and 

 Can robe rt : the late Jules Simon's "Quatre Por- 

 traits " depicts Larnartine, Cardinal Lavigerie, Re- 

 nan, and William II; James Darmesteter's valuable 

 " Xouvelles Etudes anglaises " have been collected 

 by iiis widow; the" Lettres intimes 1842-'45" of 

 Ernest and Henriette Renan have seen the light. 

 O. Uzanne studies the " Physiologie des Quais de 

 Paris.'' Jules Martin writes interestingly of " Xos 

 Academiciens" and Comte de Francqueville traces 

 '' Le premier Siecle de 1'Institut de France.'' Note- 

 worthy publications on art subjects are : G. Larrou- 

 met's '" L'Art et 1'Etat en France " ; Andre Michel's 

 " Xotes sur 1'Art moderne " ; Edmond de Goncourt 's 

 monograph on the great Japanese painter " Hokou- 

 sai " : Gruyer's " La Peinture an Chateau de Chan- 

 tilly " ; " La Peinture en Europe." a series on the gal- 

 leries of Europe, begun by Lafenestre and Richten- 

 berger. E. Maindron has brought out a new volume 

 of " Les Affiches illustrees, 1885-'96." Of archzeo- 

 logical interest are Hamdy Bey and Theodore Rei- 

 nach's " Une Necropole royale a Sidon " and G. 

 Schlumberger's " Melanges d'Archeologie byzan- 

 tine.'' Gounod's "Memoires d'un Artiste'' and Ca- 

 mille Bellaigue's clever " Portraits et Silhouettes 

 de 'Musiciens" are interesting contributions to 

 musical biography; Adolphe Jullien has issued 

 "Musique : Melanges d'Histoire et de Critique mu- 

 sicale et dramatique." 



Of the always considerable number of novels, 

 many are ephemeral. Still, the noteworthy or even 

 readable ones are numerous. Zola's " Rome " has 

 naturally excited much varying criticism, the con- 

 sensus of which seems to be that the book, with its 

 commonplace historical and descriptive details, its 

 pessimistic view of Roman ecclesiastic-ism, its vari- 

 ous limitations and defects, yet shows a marvelous 

 power of observation and word painting. Bourget 

 lays bare his weak points in " Une Idylle tragique " ; 

 his power of analysis and description seems to wane 

 and his style to deteriorate. The irresistible charm 

 and beautiful language of Pierre Loiiys's " Aphro- 

 dite " are offset by unwarranted license. The psy- 

 chological method is exemplified in E. Estaunie's 

 L'Empreinte"; "L'Effort." by Paul Margueritte; 

 and Jean Bertheroy's interesting " Le Roman d'une 

 Ame." " Chernin 'fleuri," by Gaston Descharnps; 

 Georges Ohnet's forcible and bright " La Fille du 

 Depute " and " L'inutile Richesse " : ( Y-phise." by 

 Mine. Henry Greville; "O mon Passo." by Hugues 

 Le Roux ; R. Dombre's delightful and witty " Tante 



Rabat-Joie," are proof that "there are still i, 

 published in 1 ranee which a young girl may : 

 Further works of fiction arc: I he brillia'nt 

 Roi Apepi " and " Apivs Fortune faitc." In \'iet..r 

 Cherbuliez; "Dernier Refuge.'' by E. Rod ("wli 

 written al.-o - .Ic.-in 



Aicard's "Notre Dame d'Amour'' ("full of sun- 

 shine"); M. Piv\o.-t's Le Mariage de Juli' 

 and "Le Jardin Secret" (dealing with Parisian 

 femininity in high life); P. Hervii-u'> "Le p.-tit 

 Due"; J. Reibrach's "Par 1'Amour" and "La 

 Brise"; Jean Ricard's " Le Chemin de la Paix " ; 

 A. Daudet's "Sotitien de Famille"; E. Daudet's 

 ''Don Rafael" (one of his "slightly heavy but val- 

 uable historical romances ") and " Drapeaux enne- 

 mis'': H. Lavedan's "Petites Fetes" and Les pe- 

 tites Visites"; P. Capual's " Un noble Coeur " 

 ("healthy and clean"); "Miracle d'Amour "and 

 its " suite et fin." ' Le petit Charbonnier.'' bv 1'. 

 Sales : J. Rameau's charming and clean " Le Cceur 

 de Regine " ; " Une double Epreuve " (>hort stories), 

 by Mine. Blanc (Th. Bentzon); Jean Kermohr's 

 " Marcel Andres " (" interesting, spirited, highly 

 moral ") ; P. Mael's " Les derniers Homines rouges: 

 Roman d' A ventures" and "Petit Ange"; Ch. De 

 Rouvre's realistic " A deux " ; D. Lesueur's " A 

 Force d'aimer"; R. Maizeroy's "En Volnpte"; 

 Roujon's "Miremonde" (a "spirited picture of 

 Don Juan's remorse"); J. Richepin's " Flamboche" 

 (scourging society) and " Les Etapes d'un Refrac- 

 taire " ; J. H. Rosny's " Le Serment " ; the prolific 

 A. Theuriet's characteristic " Ca-urs meurtris"; 

 Paul Adam's " La Force du mal " (strong, though 

 at times repulsively naturalistic) ; " Le Chemin du 

 Coeur," " Gog." and " La Maison de la Vieille," by 

 Catulle Mendes, whose facile style and insincere 

 eroticism degrade his fine talent ; Paul Arene's 

 " Contes choisis " (some admirable, others common- 

 place) ; and " La Princesse sous Verre : Contes 

 pour Catherine Pozzi," by the decadent Jean Lor- 

 rain, who has given also his " Sensations et Souve- 

 nirs." There is little new poetry to speak of. The 

 late Paul Verlaine published " Confessions : Xotes 

 autobiographiques '' (1844-'71), and of his poems a 

 posthumous volume, "Invectives." has been issued. 

 Verlaine. it appears, has also edited the poems of 

 his friend Arthur Rimbaud, the " pocte maudite." 

 The Societe de 1'Ilistoire litteraire de France has 

 published "Les dernieres Poesies de Marguerite de 

 Navarre." which had remained unpublished for 

 over three centuries. In the dramatic field there is 

 little of note : Meilhac's " Grosse Fortune " : Mau- 

 rice Talmeyr's " Les Mufles " (substituting appar- 

 ently unstudied pantomime for monologues and 

 soliloquies) ; Pierre Valdagne's comely " La Blague " 

 (interesting, but lacking in the national quality in- 

 dicated by its title): and " Au Bonheur des Dames " 

 ' (after Zola's novel), by Charles Hugot and Raoul de 

 Saint Arroman. Josephin (Sar) Peladan's Roman- 

 esque drama " Prince de Byzane " has fine pas- 

 but is full of vague mysticism. At Vittel.the folk- 

 drama "Jeanne d'Arc " was given by peasants of 

 Dombasie and Menie. 



The Provencal success of the year was " Li Rouge 

 doii Miejour ("The Reds of the Midi") a vivid re- 

 cital of the doings of the Marseilles battalion dur- 

 ing the French Revolution, by Felix Gras, the official 

 head of the Felibrige, described in E. Lintil: 

 " Les Felibres : a travers leur Monde et leur Po> 

 Frederic Mistral, whose play "La Reine Jeanne" 

 was announced for performance, has completed 

 " Lou Pouemo dou Rose " i" Le Poeme du Rhc" 

 a 4.<H>0-line poem which he holds to be the crowning 

 effort of his life. 



O mi any. The late Ludwig von Giesebrecht's 

 thorough and readable '' Geschichte der deutschen 

 Kaiserzeit'' ("the best history of the German Em- 



