LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1871. 



467 



volume of which has just been published by 

 the Academy. M. D. Antonio da Costa, for- 

 merly Minister of Public Instruction, has 

 published a " History of Public Instruction." 

 The author comprises within his range of view 

 the political existence of Portugal since Al- 

 fonse I. down to the present day, and is, as 

 he has shown himself in action, a warm friend 

 of education. 



RUSSIA. The progress of Russian literature 

 can certainly not be judged by the number of 

 books printed, for, if we are to trust to the 

 statistics of a collector, the publications of the 

 past year are very few. For the year ending 

 with July, 1871, it is said that 1,359 works 

 were published in the Russian language, in 

 thirty-one different cities of the empire. Of 

 these books, 85 were of a theological character, 

 83 were children's books, 133 concerned juris- 

 prudence, the political sciences, and trade, and 

 109 technology and husbandry; 153 were on 

 language, chiefly grammars and school-books ; 

 72 on mathematics ; 62 on geography and eth- 

 nology; 88 on natural history; 91 on medi- 

 cine, and 29 on art ; 118 were historical works 

 (69 of them on Russian history), and 242 were 

 novels, poems, and essays. Twenty-three per 

 cent, of the whole number (313) were transla- 

 tions', of which 153 were from the German, 

 consisting in great part of scientific works, 95 

 from the French, principally novels, and 38 

 from the English. 



Even as it is, the number now published 

 would be greatly swollen, were it not for the 

 practice of printing so many works in the 

 journals and miscellanies, which never appear 

 in a separate form. The great novelists have 

 been silent. A new volume of Tourguenief s 

 lias appeared the eighth of his collected 

 works but it contains nothing new. Uspen- 

 sky has published two or three small volumes 

 of sketches of life and society in this transi- 

 tional period, but they are hardly of permanent 

 value ; and the novels of Avdeief, Vitniakof, 

 Omulefsky, Blizhnef, Boboruikin, and Leskof- 

 Stebnitzky, are hardly worth reading. The 

 one good novel of the year is " The Great She 

 Bear," written by Madame Khvostchinsky, 

 who conceals herself under the pseudonym of 

 V. Krestovsky (the name also of a tenth-rate 

 novel-writer), which, begun last year in the 

 Messenger of Europe, and stopped on account 

 of the illness of the author, has only lately 

 been finished. Madame Krestovsky published 

 two novels ten and fifteen years ago, but this 

 last book is by far her best, and gives her a 

 place but little below Tolstoi and Tourguenief. 

 The analysis of character is very fine, and the 

 story is full of touching and tender scenes. 



In poetry, Count Alexis Tolstoi and Nekras- 

 sof have published a few short poems, quite 

 unworthy of them; and Minaief has written 

 some poor verses, which are thoroughly worthy 

 of him, as well as a comedy, "The Liberal," 

 which, though not without good points, proved 

 a respectable failure on the stage. There is 



also a large volume of "Poetry of the Sla- 

 vonians," edited by Gerbel. It is a collection 

 of popular songs and ballads, and the best 

 lyric pieces by the chief poets of the various 

 Slavonic peoples, in translations, by Russian 

 authors. It is curious and interesting to all 

 who are acquainted with the Slavonic races, 

 and its publication is one of the consequences 

 of the Pan-Slavonic movement, which this last 

 year has left its mark on literature. 



The "History of Russian Literature" is a 

 work by Polevoi, designed for popular use, and 

 filled with extracts, on the plan of Chambers's 

 " Cyclopaedia of English Literature." Bibliog- 

 raphers and librarians will be more interested 

 in a " Chronological Index of Slavonic and 

 Russian Books printed by the Church Press 

 between 1491 and 1864," and in the " Second 

 Supplement to Bazunof's Systematic Catalogue 

 of Russian Books," for the year 1870, by V. 

 I. Mezhof. The list of translations, criticisms, 

 and reviews of the books there mentioned, as 

 well as of those included in the previous vol- 

 umes, is brought down to September of this 

 year. Among other things, Mr. Mezhof gives 

 curious lists of the articles and books published 

 in commemoration of Lomonosof, Karamzin, 

 and Krylof, at their recent centennials. In 

 honor of Krylof there were 63 articles and 

 books, of Lomonosof 129, and of Karamzin 173. 

 The centenaries of Speransky and of Peter 

 the Great, which occur during the next year, 

 will probably give occasion to a still greater 

 number of such commemorative works. 



It is pleasant to note the great progress 

 made by Russia in political literature works 

 marked by solid thought and sound principles. 

 Not only the large reviews, but the more se- 

 rious daily newspapers, and especially the 

 Golos, the Russian World, a new paper of 

 great ability, and the Moscow and St. Peters- 

 burg Gazettes, have devoted an unusual share 

 of their space to questions of finance, educa- 

 tion, and internal reform. Prof. A. Gradofsky, 

 of the University of St. Petersburg, has pub- 

 lished, under the title of "Politics, History, 

 and Administration," a collection of essays he 

 has written at different times, many of them 

 for the Golos, which are distinguished by many 

 good qualities, and especially by excellent criti- 

 cism. He treats of the Russian Commune, 

 Popular Representation, the structure of the 

 Russian State in the old times, the Freedom 

 of the Press, and other subjects of the day. If 

 any needed enlightenment as to the real state 

 of the peasantry and landed proprietors, unless 

 they belong to that class who seem to think 

 the Government exists solely for itself, they 

 will find abundant information in the work of 

 Skaldin " In the Waste, and in the Capital." 

 The author who assumes this nom de plume is 

 evidently a moderate Liberal, or would be if 

 there were parties in Russia, and during four 

 summers, from 1866-'69, spent in the country, 

 has investigated with great pains and care the 

 condition of the peasantry and the proprietors, 



