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LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1896. 



note. The prolific Boboruikin's usual timeliness is 

 lacking in " The Princess "; happier in its theme, 

 but coarse in literary workmanship, is Nemirovitch- 

 Dantchenko's " A Wolf's Prey " ; the veteran Gri- 

 gorovitch's " Folle-Journee " is a slight affair; the 

 posthumous " Unfinished Novel " of the poet Apou- 

 khin, depicting the old cultivated aristocracy dur- 

 ing the period of serfdom, surprised the public by 

 its elegant prose ; Potapenko has published " Sins " ; 

 TchekhoiT is not particularly happy in his short 

 stories " Murder," " Ariadne," and " The House 

 with the Maisonnette"; Vol. II of Garin's melan- 

 choly " Tales " gives a disagreeable picture of peas- 

 ant life ; " Youssilavo Farfara " and " The Enemy " 

 are two short tales by D. Mamin ; and a newcomer, 

 Melshin (a pseudonym), has been very successful 

 with " From the World of Castaways," sketches of 

 convict life. D. S. Merejkoffski's " The Apostate," 

 an extremely and disagreeably realistic picture of 

 society in the days of the Emperor Julian, is want- 

 ing in plot and coherence ; while the short stories 

 " New People " and the novel " The Chrysanthe- 

 mum," both by Madame Hippius (pseudonym 

 Merejkoffskaya) have been characterized as "hide- 

 ous " expressions of the " new aestheticism " of the 

 group of " new poets " whose decadence and sym- 

 bolism have been championed by the review " Sev- 

 erny Viestnik " and its chief critic, Volynski, who 

 has written a volume directed against veteran 

 " Russian Critics." One Russian critic in America, 

 speaking of the close connection between politics 

 and letters in Russia, says (January, 1896) : " The con- 

 fusion, uncertainty, and haziness of the political sit- 

 uation is fully reflected in the life of the country. 

 The land .-. . is now without a single definite lit- 

 erary school or movement." Another tells us that 

 " To-day in the field of belles-lettres there is not 

 practically a single noted name except Korolenko." 

 Spain. There is an increased interest in national 

 history, and the unearthing and publication of docu- 

 mentary authorities goes steadily on. Thus we have 

 the hitherto-unpublished memoirs of the Marquis 

 de Ayerbe ; " Documentos historicos del Archivo 

 municipal de San Sebastian " (1200-1813) ; " Docu- 

 mentos ineditos del Arxiu municipal de Barcelona " ; 

 the " Diario de Jovellanos " ; " Indice de los Privi- 

 legios y Franquicias de Mallorca " and " Informa- 

 ciones judiciales sobre los Adictes a la Germania," 

 both brought out by Quadrado ; " Monumenta His- 

 torica Societatis Jesu " (eighteenth part) ; the " An- 

 tigiiedades de Valencia " of Padre Teixidor, issued 

 by Chabas : Vol. X of the important " Bibliotheca 

 Arabico-Hispana" ; Padre Cobo's valuable "His- 

 toria del Nuevo Mundo," annotated and published 

 for the first time by Jimenez de la Espada ; " Refu- 

 tacion de D. Jeronimo V aides al Manifiesto de D. 

 Joaquin de la Pezuela, 1821," edited by Count de 

 Torata; " Noticia de las Fiestas en Honor de la 

 Marquesa de Denia " (given in Seville in 1599) and 

 other documents, published by Tenorio ; " Cancio- 

 ncro Catalan de la Universidad de Zaragossa," issued 

 by Baselga ; the " Testamentode Raimundo Lulio " ; 

 and three autograph letters of Antonio Tallander, 

 printed by Bofarull. New original works of his- 

 torical research are : J. Costa's " Estudios ibericos," 

 C. Fernandez Duro's " Armada espanola desde la 

 Union de . . . Castilla y Leon," both important. ; 

 Barado's " Sitio de Amberes " ; " La Separacion de 

 Guipuzcoa y la Paz de Basilea," by the Duke of 

 Mandas ; Alcazar's history of the Spanish posses- 

 sions in Oceania ; Padre Castellanos's " Apostolado 

 serafico en Marruecos 6 sea Historia de las Misiones 

 franciscanas en aquel Imperio " ; "Jansenismo y 

 Regalismo en Espafia " (interesting but polemical), 

 by Padre Miguelez ; Concas's curious narrative of 

 the " Combate Naval del Papudo ; " and, of publica- 

 tions relating to America, Padre Cappa's "Estudios 



onlieos" (Vol. XV), Sanchez Moguel's "Espana 

 y America," and "La Compania de Jesus en Co- 

 lombia y Centre-America," by Padre Perez. The 

 assiduous study of local history is not always ac- 

 companied by sufficient historiographic knowledge. 

 Important new works in this field are a history of 

 Vigo by Santiago y Gomez ; L. Ferreiro's ' Fueros 

 municipales de Santiago y de su Tierra " (throwing 

 light on the social history of the Middle Ages) ; 

 Montsalvatje's " Noticias historicas " (Vol. VI, re- 

 lating to the district of Camprodon) ; C. de Eche- 

 garay's " Provincias vascas a Fines de la Edad 

 Media"; Diaz Cassou's list of the bishops of Carta- 

 gena ; " Los Benedictines de Monforte," by L. 

 Pelaez ; Salva's " Burgos en las Comunidades de 

 Castilla " ; Grahit's account of the sieges of Gerona, 

 1808-'9 ; and Balari's "Historia de la Real Aca- 

 demia de Ciencias y Artes de Barcelona." There 

 are some biographies : Arigita's " El Doctor Navar- 

 ro D. Martin de Azpilcueta y sus Obras " ; Labay- 

 ru's " Vida del illmo y venerable Vizcaino D. Fr. 

 Juan de Zumarraga " : Padre Cornejo's " Santa Isa- 

 bel de Aragon, Reina de Portugal " (second edition, 

 revised and enlarged by Padre Coll) ; Vicente Orbi 

 y Brull's costly life of Dona Maria Manuela de 

 Aragon y Pignatelli, Duquesa de Villahermosa 

 (supplying interesting details regarding French 

 and Spanish society in the eighteenth century) ; 

 Mitjana's "Juan del Encina, Miisico y Poeta " 

 (giving new facts) ; and Araujo's sympathetic 

 " Goya." R. Guerrero supplies a " Cronica de la 

 Guerra de Cuba." " Bocetos ingleses " is of inter- 

 est among books of travel. The ex-Jesuit Padre 

 Mir's "Los Jesuitas de Puertas adentro, 6 un Bar- 

 rido hacia fuera en la Compania de Jesus," an at- 

 tack on the Jesuits, provoked a reply, " Los Jesuitas 

 y el Padre Mir," signed " El Bachiller Francisco de 

 Estepa." Antiquarian research has again resulted in 

 noteworthy works, such as Almagro's three volumes 

 on the museum of Arabian antiquities at Granada ; 

 " Las Ruinas del Monasterio de San Pedro de Ar- 

 lanzo," by A. de los Rios ; Villaamil's " San Fran- 

 cisco de Lugo ; " Bassegoda's " La Real Capilla de 

 Santa Agueda del Palacio de los Reyes de Aragon 

 en Barcelona" ; Montsalvatje's " Monasteries del an- 

 tiguo Condado de Besalu " ; Gispert's " Indumentaria 

 en los Crucifixes " ; D. de los Rios's Cathedral of 

 Leon ; Botet y Siso's work on the sculptured sar- 

 cophagi of Romano-Christian times extant in 

 Catalonia; La Torre and Aznar's "San Juan de los 

 Reyes " (in their " Biblioteca artistica ") ; Rodriguez 

 Marin's curious " Los Refranes del Almanaque " ; 

 Garcia Llanso's "Armas y Armaduras"; and Sa- 

 garra's description of the seals of Don Pedro IV of 

 Aragon. In philology there are an important vol- 

 ume on the peculiar jargon of Spanish criminals by 

 Salillas, Arana's etymological treatise on Basque 

 names, and two tracts on Catalan grammar and 

 phonology by Balari and Padre Nonell. Biblio- 

 graphical studies of interest are : P. Pastor's volumi- 

 nous catalogue, " La Irnprenta en Medina del Cam- 

 po"; " Bibliografia critica de las Obras de M. 

 Cervantes Saavedra," by Rius ; a monograph on 

 the Catalan manuscripts in the National Library, 

 by Masso Torrents ; Retana's "Archivo del Biblio- 

 filo filipino " ; F. Duro's " Algunas Obras desconoci- 

 das de Cosmografia y Navegacion " ; Churat's 

 " Apuntes para escribir una Bibliografia eucaristica 

 valenciana " ; and Rada's notes to the " Monumen- 

 tos arquitectonicos de Espana." Literary and ar- 

 tistic criticism is supplied by Balart's " Prosaismo 

 en el Arte " ; a volume of essays by Victor Bala- 

 guer ; the " Obras catalanas de Jose Ixart " ; 

 Palau's " Acontecimientos literarios," a kind of 

 literary annual, apparently rich in facts and poor 

 in criticism ; and Cascales's " Sevilla intelectual," 

 indiscriminately laudatory biographies of artists 



