508 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1881. 



The professor and democrat, Rodrigues de Frei- 

 tas, has written a review of this book in which 

 Dotn Miguel, whom Senhor Martin describes 

 as a generous enthusiast, is proved to have 

 been a despot. The " Tracas do Historia Con- 

 temporanea," by Senhor Antonio Teixeira de 

 Macedo, founded upon the purliamentry me- 

 moirs of Passos Manoel, discourses upon the 

 revolution of September, 1836, and shows the 

 efforts of the house of Braganza to stifle the 

 national movement hi behalf of a constitution. 

 (Ionics de Amorim has published the first vol- 

 ume of a work on the writer Almeida Garrett. 

 Councilor Antonio de Serpa has published 

 a book called "Alexandre Herculano e seu 

 Tempo." 



There is now published a journal of carica- 

 ture, "O Antonio Maria," supported by the 

 admirable pencil of Raphael Bordalo Pinheiro 

 and the incisive pen of Ramalho Ortigao. 

 Gomes Leal has published a small poem in al- 

 exandrines entitled " A Traicao," which sati- 

 rizes King Dom Luiz with regard to the treaty 

 of Lourenco Marquez. It was much read and 

 applauded, and it was only after the issue of 

 the fourth edition that the Government or- 

 dered the apprehension of the writer; they 

 were, however, obliged to liberate him after 

 three months' detention, without bringing him 

 to trial. Leal also published two other poems 

 conceived in the same vein, "O Hereje" and 

 "ORenegado." 



The first volume of the " Portuguese Plu- 

 tarch " contains the biographies of the Infante 

 D. Henrique, Vasco da Gama, Camoens, Da- 

 miao de Goes, D. John IV, Padre Antonio Vi- 

 eira, Marquis de Pombal, Luiza Todi, Correa 

 de Serra, Bocage, Monsinho de Silveira, and 

 Herculano. The second volume contains the 

 biographies of Sa de Miranda, D. Francisco de 

 Almeida, Fernao de Magalhaes, Infanta D. Ma- 

 ria, D. Manoel, Felix de Avellar Brotero, Du- 

 que de Lafoes, Jos6 Anastacio da Cunha, Fer- 

 nandez Thomaz, Domingos Antonio Sequeira, 

 and Garrett. 



A large volume has just been published on 

 " Questoes de Litteratura e Arte Portugueza,-' 

 in which are treated the personality of Gran 

 Vasco, the Portuguese nationality of Amadis 

 de Gaul, and the artistic style of Gil Vicente, 

 founder of the Portuguese theatre. 



Teixeira Bastos, one of the most devoted 

 apostles of positive philosophy in Portugal, 

 has published " Cointe e o Positivismo." The 

 same writer publishes a series of "Estudos 

 sobre a Historia da Humanidade," a book of 

 verses, "As Vibrac.oes do Seculo," and a 

 book of political philosophy, " A Dissoluc.ao do 

 Regimen Monarchico Representative." 



Investigations regarding Portuguese folk-lore 

 are being prosecuted, and in numerous reviews, 

 such as the " Positivismo," the " Era Nova," 

 the "Pantheon," the " Vanguarda," and the 

 "Revista de Glotologia e Ethnologia," there 

 have appeared articles respecting the poetry, 

 traditions, and ethnology of the Portuguese 



people. F. Nogueira has published a volume 

 on " A Raca Negra," considered with respect 

 to African civilization. The "Archive dos 

 Azores " is a collection of historical docu- 

 ments, throwing light on the history of the 

 Azores. 



RUSSIA. Two of the most eminent of Rus- 

 sian novelists, Dostoyevsky and Pissyemsky, 

 died in January. Russia has but four first- 

 class novelists left : Gontcharoff, Leo Tolstoy, 

 Tourguenief, and Stchedrin, the last, how- 

 ever, more of a satirist than a novelist. The 

 two former maintained literary silence during 

 the year. Tourguenief published two small 

 sketches, entitled " Portraits of Former Days," 

 and a fantastic novelette, " The Hymn of Tri- 

 umphant Love." 



Russia's literary hero this year has been 

 Stchedrin, who has completed his satirical 

 epos " Beyond the Frontier," and commenced 

 a fresh series of satirical sketches under the 

 title of " Letters to my Aunt." Stchedrin for 

 more than twenty years has been a faithful 

 sentinel standing guard over Russian social life, 

 and at the least sign of danger threatening the 

 national liberty and happiness he has sounded 

 the alarum. For this reason Stchedrin's satiri- 

 cal sketches are read with avidity by the pub- 

 lic and cordially detested by the reactionary 

 press. Behind the thin veil of easy satire it is 

 not hard to discover the aching heart of the pa- 

 triot. Obliged to conform to the rigorous laws 

 enforced by a suspicious censorship, Stchedrin 

 has invented a style of his own, quite intelli- 

 gible to his readers, and yet proof against the 

 scrutiny of the censor. 



The satirico-realistic school, founded by Go- 

 gol, has met with favor. Among the more 

 remarkable novels belonging to this type is S. 

 Atava's " Growing Poor," a series of sketches 

 from the life of a country gentleman, who 

 wishes to improve the condition of the peas- 

 ants and the value of his land, but is deceived 

 by swindlers and ruined in speculations. The 

 same subject is treated by Stakhy6eff in " On 

 the Decline." In Saloff's novel, "The Young 

 Squire of Olshana," a land-owner commences a 

 career of improvement, but finding himself, as 

 well as the people, a victim to deception, he 

 loses his faith in humanity and himself takes 

 to cheating. "What has thus been done for the 

 squirearchy, Gleb Ouspyensky has done for the 

 peasantry in "Rural Disorganization." Other 

 novels of the year are by Lyeskoff, Severin, 

 Avsy6enko, Byelinsky, Snitko, Kouststchev- 

 sky, Boborykin, Stcheglof, Madame Olga Slia- 

 pir, and others. Markyevitch has tried to con- 

 nect the plot of his novel "Crisis" with the 

 origin of Nihilism. "W. Krestovsky has de- 

 voted " Egyptian Darkness " to a gloomy de- 

 scription of the life of the Jews for the last 

 two generations in Russia. 



Russian poetry has been very poor. A few 

 unpublished poems of Pushkin and Nekrassoff 

 have been given to the world. Madame A. 

 Lyoff s poems promise a fair future. Nyemiro- 



