LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1881. 



503 



genuine specimen of the sentimental eccentric- 

 ity and fantastic enthusiasm of the day. The 

 accounts of the travels of another student are 

 an illustration of the cosmopolitan sentiments 

 and revolutionary enthusiasm for the young 

 French republic that prevailed among the con- 

 temporaries of the First Consul. The author, 

 Carl Hase, was a Jena philologist, who im- 

 agined that Greek liberty was about to reap- 

 pear in France. He wandered on foot to Paris 

 with twenty thalers and his Homer in his 

 pocket. There the young Grecian, owing to his 

 knowledge of languages, finding friends among 

 the most distinguished scholars, obtained a 

 post in the National Library, and was after- 

 ward tutor to the subsequent Emperor Napo- 

 leon III. Hermann Rollett's splendid collec- 

 tion of the authentic portraits of Goethe is 

 accompanied by full and critical remarks by 

 the editor. The portraits are not unfrequently 

 very different from the usual conception of the 

 poet. This year's number of the Goethe an- 

 nual, edited by Ludwig Geiger, contains among 

 other contributions an interesting article on 

 Goethe's relations to Denmark, from the pen of 

 the eminent literary historian Georg Brandes. 



The last volume of Vischer's critical essays, 

 " Altes und Neues," contains a vindication of 

 his disputed opinion about the second part of 

 Goethe's " Faust." The same writer also con- 

 tributes a critical study on the Swiss novelist 

 Gottfried Keller, whose strange romance en- 

 titled " Green Henry," after the manner of 

 "Wilhelm Meister," has this year re-appeared 

 remodeled and with an entirely different ending. 

 In Buchner's "Life of Freiligrath," in letters, 

 we are presented with a view of the real life 

 of a man whose poetic flame showed itself 

 early, and, in spite of all outward hindrances, 

 burst forth on the volcanic soil of his native 

 Rhineland. 



Leopold von Ranke has begun an extensive 

 work on universal history. While this work 

 gives history in a cosmopolitan form, others, 

 such as Arnold's " Early Teutonic Period" and 

 Dahn's " Teutonic Peoples and Tribes," pre- 

 sent history in a national form ; others, again, 

 such as L. von Gonzenbach's " Life of Hans 

 Ludwig von Erlach," present it in a local shape. 

 Arnold has set himself the task of bringing 

 Tacitus's account of the Germans again into 

 repute in opposition to Caesar's derogatory re- 

 ports. Dahn is acknowledged one of the best 

 authorities on the Teutonic tribes. 



The travels of Baron von Hubner, late Aus- 

 trian statesman and embassador, which were 

 first published in French, have appeared as a 

 German original. Ludwig Stenb's pleasant 

 pictures "From Tyrol" and Martin Schleich's 

 " April Days in Italy " are interesting descrip- 

 tions of European scenes. 



An artist's work on Leonardo da Vinci has 

 recently appeared, by the painter Ludwig, in 

 Rome. Among the works relating to music the 

 most noteworthy are E. Hanslick's " Musika- 

 lische Stationen," a series of new critical es- 



says, and a collection of unpublished " Mozart- 

 iana," by.Gustav Nottebohm. 



Among the political works Franz von Loher's 

 " Russland's Werben und Wollen " occupies a 

 prominent place. Conspicuous also are the 

 somewhat dogmatic "Essays" of Ed. Lasker, 

 the leader of the National Liberal party ; note- 

 worthy also is the series of speeches of the 

 Chancellor (1871-79). 



German philosophy again stands, as it did a 

 hundred years ago, under the influence of Kant. 

 Kant hoped to establish human knowledge on 

 a new and indestructible foundation by giving 

 proofs of the unalterable a priori elements in 

 man's capability of knowledge. This discovery 

 was first made public by him in his inaugural 

 address in 1770, and the proofs were given in 

 his three principal works, "The Critique of 

 Pure Reason," "The Critique of Practical 

 Knowledge," and "The Critique of the Power 

 of Judgment." The first of these, which is the 

 starting-point for all modern German philoso- 

 phy, as Locke's essay is that of all modern 

 English philosophy, appeared in 1781. It has 

 become necessary to form a special system of 

 Kantian philology, and it is also necessary to 

 have special commentaries on Kant on account 

 of the obscurities and contradictions that orig- 

 inally existed in the work or have gradually 

 crept into it. Hans Vaihinger, a pupil of the 

 late Albert Lange, the founder of the Neokant- 

 ian school, has come forward to meet this 

 want with an able and exhaustive commentary 

 on Kant's " Critique of Pure Reason," in which 

 he compares the text of the manuscript version 

 with all the other editions, and offers, in con- 

 .tinued succession, an explanation and compar- 

 ison of these together with the main substance 

 of all Kant's other works. Another admirer 

 of the Konigsberg sage, Karl Kehrbach, has 

 reprinted another work of Kant's, "Toward 

 Everlasting Peace " ; it is a small work, but one 

 which, considering the dangers impending, ia 

 doubly important at present. It appeared first 

 in 1795, amid the hue and cry of the war of 

 the Revolution. Kant's sermon on peace, in 

 which he expresses the hope to see the dis- 

 putes of nations settled by a supreme interna- 

 tional law court, was unfavorably received by 

 his contemporaries, who thought it contained 

 " too glaring an amount of democratic senti- 

 ment." Of the other philosophical writings 

 of the year, some follow the path struck by 

 Kant, such as Otto Kaspari's treatise " On the 

 Certainty of Knowledge," and Robert Zimmer- 

 mann's " Outlines of Anthroposophy " ; the 

 latter offers the first encyclopedic conclusion 

 of Herbart's realism. Other works, such as 

 "The Visible and Invisible World," by the 

 spiritualist Perty, and " On the Prejudices of 

 Mankind," by another spiritualist, Hellenbach, 

 who, in spite of an otherwise unprejudiced 

 mind, seems prejudiced in favor of mediums 

 and spirit-rapping, are a proof that Kant has 

 not proved sufficient to enlighten all. 



GBEEOE. The first collected edition of the 



