430 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1873. 



that founded in memory of Grillparzer at 

 Vienna. Tho former may be won by a work 

 designed only for the closet: in accordance 

 with the sound theory of Grillparzcr, that u 

 play is intended to be seen not read, the latter 

 can at present be gained only by a piece which 

 has met with permanent success on the (icr- 

 iu:in stage. Still, our theatre produces nothing 

 but Offenbach's burlesques, and scores of hL'I.U 

 immoral, if highly effective, Parisian comedies. 

 Already on several occasions the Schiller prize 

 has not been awarded. In accordance with 

 the stipulations made at its foundation, tho 

 Grillparzer prize must always bo awarded; 

 but the judges, among whom aro DingeMedt 

 and Lanbe of Vienna and Dr. Hettner of Dres- 

 den, will have difficulty incoming to a decision 

 that shall not be open to objection. 



The terrible gaps which death has during 

 the last few years caused in the ranks of Ger- 

 man drii!iuti-ts ivmain. The places of Grill- 

 parzer, HcMicll, Halm, and Otto Ludwig, aro 

 not yet occupied. The " Shakespeare Studies " 

 of the last-mentioned, published posthumously 

 more than twelve months ago, shows, in spite 

 of tho unfair harshness they display toward 

 Schiller, the high standard that the writer put 

 before himself. Of seven plays which ho fin- 

 ished, bat two, " The Hereditary Forester " 

 ami "The Maccabees," have seen tho foot- 

 lights. The former tragedy, with its powerful 

 dialogue, and its ragged hero, who seems as if 



I oat of oak, has secured a permanent 

 place on the Gorman stage. Of thirteen other 

 pieces, there exist in some cases sketches of tho 

 plots, in others entire passages worked out. 

 Among them aro a " Tiberius Gracchus " and a 

 WallerM.-'m." which tho author wished to set 

 against Schiller's. 



Four-fifths of tho comedies presented on the 

 German stage aro of French origin, and yet 

 the comedies of a single German writer, Rodo 

 rick Benodix, who died in tho present year, 

 now that they arc published in a col! 

 form, fill twenty volumes. His Rhenish fcl- 

 low-coiintryiirin, Wolfgang Mttller. of Kciniirs- 

 winter, w' -h has occurred in l*7:i. 



composed one of which, a sketch in 



one act, " iound her Heart,'' is ro- 



markalilo for .>f tone and a noire 



plot: another, the political economy, "Above 

 tho Parties," obtained tho second prize, at the 



II e.i- : ,|,.-ti'j,,ii. A now accession to tho 

 list of those who write for the stage is Pan! 

 LimUn. tho witty author of "I . <!cr- 

 m.in Klcin.itiidtor" and "Literary In<l 

 tion." A one-act comedy of Ins. -On a 

 Diplomatic Mission," obtained the second <>(' 

 tho ; - yoar by the management 

 of the Vienna Stadt Theatre. Tho mo*r 

 eeef e.v.-vi-r, has been an entertain- 

 ing ami wcll-contrneted piece by \Vilbran. It, 

 whom I hsve already mentione 1. oatM "Tho 

 Painters." It is in the style of " Tho Jonrnal- 



by Freytog, which is not unreasonably re- 

 garded a* the best of recent German comedies. 



Tho most original romance of tho year, 

 Gustav Freytag's "lugo and Ingraban," is, as 

 Fricderich SpKdhagcn pointed out in tho lect- 

 ure he delivered iu Berlin on the function of 

 the novel, hardly to be. called a novel. The 

 first part, at all events, is rather an epic in 

 rhythmical prose. "Tho (iennaaia" of Taci- 

 tus, Homer, and tho "Lay of the Nibelun. 

 are in equal measun <le tor it. The 



work which isdedicated to in. ( 'rown-princess 

 of Germany, the Princess Royal of England, is 

 intended to be a glorification of the ancient 

 German race of princes, whoso present repre- 

 sentatives possess the throne of the German 

 Empire. While the author undertakes to de- 

 pict the romantic destinies of the family at 

 various periods, he endeavors also to write a 

 history of the growing strength and culture of 

 the German nation down to tbo present day. 

 Tho whole work, so different from 1'reytag's 

 former productions, may, in its way, bo called 

 classical, and attests the fine cultivation which 

 has enabled tho natural powers of this writer, 

 who is ever swayed by "tendencies," to reach 

 such a pitch of perfection. Tho second part, 

 "Ingraban," contains tho history of a descend- 

 ant of the hero of the first part. Ingraban is 

 described as living in Thuringia in the days of 

 the apostle of Germany, the Anglo-Saxon Win- 

 fried (Boniface), and as being killed, together 

 with the saint, by the heathen Frisians. This 

 second story is in isolated points equal to tho 

 first, but it is far from possessing tho same 

 urlistic finish. 



The scene of Froytag's novel is laid among 

 tho oaks of Tacitus. Tho actors In Sptolhagea'l 

 last tale, " Ultimo," tread tho slippery ; 

 in. -iit of the Exchange. Tho whole action is 

 confined to the events of little more than 

 twenty-four hours, the situations and charac- 

 ters are full of power, and tho ending, although 

 quite Justifiable and unforced, is a mirpr 



Another ex-member of tho Munich Hound 

 Table of King Max, Kr. Bodcnstcdt, the author 

 of " Mirza-Scliaffy,'' has al>omadc \i\sdebut as 

 a novelist this year. His "Chateau in tho 

 Ashwimd" is directed against tho Ultramon- 

 tane mo\cmcnt In Germany ; but, in the midst 

 of political and philosophical disijiiisit 

 which are spun nut to far too great lengths, 

 the portraits ot' many notabilities of the artistic 

 and learned worlds at Munich peep out. The 

 last novel of the former member of the F rank- 

 fort Parliament, Moritzllartmann, which ho left 

 incomplete at his death, has been finished by 

 his friend and fellow-countryman, Leopold 

 Kompert, known by his ' Tales of tho Ghetto." 

 It is called "The" Mother's Memorial." and 

 forms tho first, properly tho ninth, volume of 

 tho collected works of tho deceased. Hart- 

 mann, a Bohemian (icrimm, once called "der 

 sic Mann der 1'atilskirche," belonged to 

 thai, young Austria whose inflammatory \> 

 announced the revolution that was brewing 

 in tho very midst of Mott.-nneh's " Polizci- 

 Btoat." Tho publication of his collected works 



