LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1881. 



507 



discernment. More pleasant, although not so 

 well written, is " Farlige Folk " (" Dangerous 

 Folk"), by Kristian Elster, who died in 1881. 

 A selection of his earlier productions appeared 

 under the title of " Solskyer." The third of 

 these pessimist novels is " Norsk Provinsliv " 

 (" Norwegian Provincial Life "), by John Paul- 

 sen. 



A new drama by Henrik Ibsen produced an 

 extraordinary sensation. In a literary respect 

 this drama, which is in three acts and is enti- 

 tled " Gjengangere " ("Ghosts"), is remarka- 

 ble for naturalism. 



" En Valkyrie," by Nordahl Rolfaens, is a 

 domestic play based on an historic foundation. 



Among the scientific productions of the year 

 must be included the last part of Professor O. 

 Rygh's " Norske Oldsager," as well as Dr. Y. 

 Nielsen's " History of the Development of Civ- 

 ilization in the Rural Districts of Norway in 

 the Later Centuries," and Dr. A. C. Bang's 

 " History of Julian the Apostate." 



POLAXD. Among the notable historical 

 works are Stan. Smolka's " Miecislaus the Old 

 and his Times"; Joseph Szujski's "The Re- 

 naissance and the Reformation in Poland," 

 which shows erudition and gives a detailed ac- 

 count of that period ; and Fr. Piekosinski's 

 book " On the Rise of the Polish Common- 

 wealth," in which the author offers a new hy- 

 pothesis about the origin of the Polish nation 

 and the first organization of its estates. Of 

 Bobrzynski's " Outlines of the History of Po- 

 land " an enlarged edition was issued. " The 

 Life of Count Adam Czartoryski," by Bron. 

 Zaleski, remains unfinished. T. Wojciechow- 

 ski's "Kasimir the Monk," one of the early 

 kings of Poland, develops an historical hypothe- 

 sis. Among the works of the essay species are 

 W. Przyborowski's " The Country Folk Here 

 and Eslewhere," and A. Kraushar's " Albrecht 

 Laski." The publication of the historical writ- 

 ings left by J. Bartoszewicz has reached its 

 eleventh volume. In this class of literature 

 also fall Pawinski's " Finance System in Poland 

 in the Days of Stephan Batory," J. Falkowski's 

 ' Close of the Polish Insurrection in 1831," and 

 " The Neapolitan Debt," by K. Kantecki. 



Kraszewski during the past year has pub- 

 lished no less than twenty-one volumes of new 

 novels. German translations of some of his 

 novels have recently been published in Vienna. 

 Next to Kraszewski in ability comes T. T. Jez 

 (properly Sig. Milkowski), who has published 

 two historical novels, " Hard Times " and " The 

 Grandson of Ohoronzy." His earlier novels 

 have been translated into French, and Milkow- 

 ski has since been applying his pen to French 

 literature. Among humorous writers the best 

 are J. Lam, the author of " Wonderful Ca- 

 reers," a cutting social satire, and Boleslaus 

 Prus (properly Glowacki). 



In the domain of dramatic poetry comedy 

 predominates. A. Fredro, the younger, does 

 not possess his father's eminent talent, yet in- 

 herited the gift of being able to excite laughter. 



One of his comedies (" The Mentor ") was per- 

 formed with success in Hamburg. Blizinski 

 during the year published a collection of his 

 comedies, and wrote a new one, called '' The 

 Shipwrecked," which is quite equal to his old- 

 er ones. One of Balucki's best works is his 

 last comedy, "Brilliant Matches" (" Grube 

 Ryby "). In the way of theatrical success all 

 these have been outstripped by the patriotic 

 piece "Kosciuszko at Raclawice," by W. La- 

 sota (a nom de plume), excelling in delinea- 

 tion of character and stage effects. In the 

 domain of serious drama belong W. Szyma- 

 nowski's " The Statue " and A. Urbanski's " Un- 

 der the Roof," which treats of a painful epi- 

 sode from the insurrection of '63. S. Weclew- 

 ski has translated the tragedies of Euripides, 

 and Swiecicki three of Lope de Vega's come- 

 dies. The dramatic fragments by Mrs. R. Ko- 

 nopnicka, entitled " From the Past," are, in 

 fact, poems of a liberal tendency. The author 

 has won more fame by her lyric poems, which 

 are distinguished by their artistic form, while 

 the subjects are generally connected with so- 

 cial questions of the day. Other lyrics are J. 

 Chamiec's " Autumn Songs." Dr. A. Weisz 

 has published in Leipsic a German translation 

 of Mickiewicz's masterpiece, " Thaddaus." P. 

 Soboleski has rendered similar service to the 

 national literature by a work published by 

 him in Chicago, in English, entitled " Poets 

 and Poetry of Poland : a Collection of Polish 

 Verses, including a Short Account of the His- 

 tory of Polish Poetry." 



From the other branches of literature should 

 be mentioned a work by the critic P. Chmie- 

 Jowski, " Outlines of Polish Literature during 

 the last Sixteen Years," W. Spasowicz's stud- 

 ies on the two Polish poets Pol and Syrokomla, 

 and his admirable history of Polish literature 

 contained in the " History of the Slavonic Lit- 

 eratures." A. Reman, a botanist and traveler, 

 has published " Sketches from a Journey to 

 South Africa in 1875-'77 ; and J. Finkelhaus, 

 " Pictures from Life in Northeastern Africa." 

 The collected works of J. Kremer, the philoso- 

 pher, and those of L. Siemienski, the aesthetic 

 writer and poet, have appeared. The Counts 

 Przezdziecki have completed the publication of 

 the works of the old Polish historian Dlugosz 

 (fifteenth century). 



POBTUGAL. The only symptoms of vitality 

 apparent in Portugal are those evoked by the 

 conflict between the aspirations of the people, 

 the power of the Government, and the insti- 

 tutions of the country. Many of the publi- 

 cations of the year demonstrate the exist- 

 ence of the struggle which is going on be- 

 tween opinions and institutions, and various 

 works of history and poetry attest intellectual 

 independence. Oliveira Martins's "Portugal 

 Contemporanea " gives a complete picture of 

 Portuguese history from the death of Dora 

 John VI in 1826 to the present time, and ex- 

 hibits new democratic and socialist aspirations 

 in opposition to effete monarchical principles. 



