2o8 ITALIAN LITERATURE 



arism " in the theatre. But here, too, it remains for the future to show whether Wede- 

 kind's work has itself enough of the enduring qualities of literature to maintain its 

 place; his latest plays, Oaha (1908), Musik (1908) and Der Slein der Weisen (1909), 

 hardly, it must be confessed, justify very high hopes. By death the German drama has 

 lost in these years A. L'Arronge (May 26, 1908), Ernst von Wildenbruch (Jan. 15, 1909) 

 and Arthur Fitger (June 28, 1909). 



See K. Martens, Literatur in Deutschland (Berlin, 1910); A. Soergel, Dichtung und Dichter 

 der Zeit. Eine Schilderung der deutschen Literatur der letzten Jahrzehnte (Leipzig, 1911); 

 G. Witkowski, Die Entwicklung der deutschen Literatur sett 1830 (Leipzig, 1912). 



(J. G. ROBERTSON.) 



ITALIAN LITERATURE 



Italian literature has not been very prolific during the last few years, and while a 

 certain amount of good work has been produced, few books have appeared that are like- 

 ly to hold their own in the first rank. In the field of fiction the two most important 

 novels are the Leila of Antonio Fogazzaro (d. 1911), and the Forse die si forse che 

 no of Gabriele D'Annunzio (b. 1863, see E. B. ii, 78). The latter carries on the 

 author's studies of the psychologically abnormal and of sensual passion, but in 

 style and descriptive power it shows us D'Annunzio at his best; it is a novel of 

 ultra-modern life in which motoring and aviation loom large. The novel of local 

 colour, concerned rather with the ambiente than with character drawing or plot, maintains 

 its popularity; Grazia Deledda, the talented Sardinian authoress, has brought out several 

 new volumes belonging to this class of fiction, such as 77 nostro padrone, Sine al confine, 

 etc., in which the primitive customs and interesting life of her native island are admirably 

 rendered. The chief fault of. her tales is their almost unrelieved gloom and sadness, a 

 defect common, however, to a large part of modern Italy's literary output. It is there- 

 fore with relief that we turn to the reasoned optimism of Luigi Sicilian's Giovanni 

 Francisca, a novel of Calabrian life, in which the virtues and attractive qualities of the 

 people of Calabria are set forth as well as their faults; the conclusion is full of hope. 

 Dora Melegari, one of the leading personalities of the Italian feminist movement and 

 author of several novels, volumes of memoirs, literary criticism, etc., both in French and 

 in Italian, has in La citta del giglio the second of the series Le tre capitali produced a 

 picture of life in Florence at the time when it was the capital of Italy; she has drawn the 

 political and social milieu of the time as well as her characters with a steady hand and 

 charm of style which make us look forward with interest to the appearance of her next 

 volume on Rome. A young authoress who writes with an agreeable and straightforward 

 simplicity and with a high moral purpose is " Paola Stafenda " (Lina Trigona), 

 whose first novel La dritta via appeared in 1910. 



In poetry no new writers have risen to fame, but some well known poets continue to 

 produce. D'Annunzio has been inspired by the Turco-Italian war to write ten poems 

 collected in the volume Canzoni della gesta d'oltremare, which contain some of his most 

 admirable verse. Although at times unduly involved and too full of allusions to ob- 

 scure episodes, his poetry rises to a greater height of lyrical beauty and genuine inspira- 

 tion than anything which he has yet produced. The muse of Ada Negri (b. 1870; see 

 E. B. xix, 343) has become less melancholy and less bitter now that her life has been 

 happier, and in Maternita, a collection of songs of motherhood, she takes a more cheerful 

 view of life than she did in her earlier poems. Dialect fills an important place in modern 

 Italian literature, for it still holds its own among the people, and many poets have chosen 

 that medium of expression. Cesare Pascarella, the Romanesco poet, and one of Italy'ei 

 greatest writers, has produced very little of late, but his new cycle on the Risorgimento, 

 which his friends have been privileged to hear recited, will it is hoped soon appear. 

 " Trilussa " (Carlo Alberto Salustri), who writes in the same dialect, has published sev- 

 eral volumes of satires and fables, in the style of G. G. Belli, but his work is inferior to 

 that of Pascarella. The Neapolitan dramatist Roberto Bracco has brought out some 

 good verse in his native Neapolitan dialect, in which he paints the character of the 



1 See E. B. xiv, 897 ct srq. 



