476 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1882. 



Materialisme " ; Liard's manual of the philoso- 

 phy of Descartes ; and " Revues Scientifiques," 

 edited by P. Bert, are worthy of mention. 

 Gubernatis's "Mythologie des Plantes" is in- 

 teresting and valuable; as is also Marmier's 

 " Legendes des Plantes et des Oiseaux," besides 

 being instructive for general readers. 



GERMANY. Imaginative literature, or works 

 of fiction, have declined still further during this 

 year, and the complaint is largely made that 

 "realism" is invading and injuring all depart- 

 ments of education and literary culture. The 

 effect on poetry and poetic production has been 

 very marked ; only a few volumes, and these of 

 no great moment, having appeared. E. von 

 Wildenbruch has enriched dramatic literature 

 with three new works, "The Mennonites," 

 "Fathers and Sons," and "Harald," which are 

 highly praised for superior skill in construction, 

 and noble and effective sentiment, etc. Wag- 

 ner's " Parsifal " is a musical drama of the 

 middle ages type. It is regarded by the writer's 

 adherents as announcing a new epoch of salva- 

 tion and religion, destined to take the place of 

 a worn-out Christianity. Other plays of the 

 year are hardly worth mentioning. P. Heyse, 

 the Goethe of German story-tellers, has collect- 

 ed his Provencal tales under the title " Trou- 

 badour Novellen," and published a new gem 

 of a story, " Das Gltick von Rothenburg." 

 Steub, Keller, Von Saar, Fontane, and Put- 

 litz have also sent forth collections of stories, 

 more or less meritorious. Ebers, the author of 

 " Uarda " (which was a great success), has tried 

 his hand at a romance relating to scenes and 

 events on the Rhine, and Spielhagen has pub- 

 lished "Angela," the scene of which is laid on 

 the shores of the Rhine. The critics speak se- 

 verely of these books, as inferior in ability, skill, 

 etc. Historical and social novels are quite nu- 

 merous and successful. F. Gregorovius, in 

 his " Athenais " (i. e., the Empress Eudocia), 

 has furnished admirable vindication of that no- 

 ble lady against certain vile slanders upon her 

 reputation. 



In history, the venerable L. von Ranke's 

 "Weltgeschichte" makes steady progress, the 

 second volume having been published on his 

 eighty-sixth birthday. E. Schebech has endeav- 

 ored to clear the famous Wallenstein from the 

 charge of being a traitor, and it is said with some 

 fair success. Gindely's extensive " History of 

 the Thirty Years' War " has reached its fourth 

 volume, and Stacke's " Deutsche Geschichte " is 

 completed, and also highly esteemed. Mono- 

 graphs in history are numerous, asDumichen's 

 " History of Ancient Egypt," Justi's " History 

 of Ancient Persia," Stade's " History of Israel," 

 Kugler's "History of the Crusades," Stern's 

 " History of the English Revolution," Philipp- 

 son's " Age of Louis XIV," Hassel's " History 

 of Prussian Policy from 1807-75," etc. The 

 " Historische Taschenbuch," founded by Von 

 Raumer, fifty years ago, is continued with spir- 

 it and success. H. Breslau has in it an inter- 

 esting paper on the famous " Casket Letters " 



of Mary Queen of Scots. He considers the 

 more important letters to be forgeries. W. 

 Scherer's "History of German Literature " has 

 reached its sixth part, which brings the history 

 down to Lessing's time; and K. Goedeke's 

 " Introduction to the History of German Po- 

 etry " has been finished with the seventh part 

 of the third volume. The Lessing centenary 

 has called forth a deluge of new publications 

 and republications, such as the biographies of 

 Lessing by Danzel and Guhrauer, and K. Fisch- 

 er's Lessing Lectures. Goethe's and Schiller's 

 works have also occupied much attention of 

 German savants, and numerous publications are 

 the result, such as Vischer's "Old and New," 

 comments on Goethe's " Faust," explanations of 

 "Wahrheit und Dichtung," the poet's "Let- 

 ters," and J. Braun's " Goethe und Schiller im 

 Urtheile ihrer Zeitgenossen." Books of travel 

 have been quite abundant, and on the whole 

 good, as Rodenberg's "Belgium and the Bel- 

 gians," Bodenstedt's "From the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific," Knortz's "Pictures of Transat- 

 lantic Society," Gregorovius's " Corfu," Ka- 

 den's " Sketches and Pictures of Italy," etc. 



German philosophy is striving to hold its 

 own and make advances. Lotze's death is re- 

 garded as a great loss in this department, and 

 several important works of his are left unfin- 

 ished. Caspari, a pupil of Lotze's, has published 

 a capital historical and critical monograph, 

 " Hermann Lotze," and other pupils have been 

 editing notes and lectures on ethics and the 

 history of philosophy. Von Hartmann has 

 added to his works " The Religious Conscience 

 of Mankind in the Sequence of its Evolution," 

 containing a history of religions from the 

 earliest forms to what the writer considers the 

 future after Christianity is dissolved and gone 

 forever. F. Schulze attempts to furnish a me- 

 thodical " Philosophy of the Natural Sciences," 

 there being an evident necessity among men of 

 science for some consistent philosophy to meet 

 the wants of their position and principles. The 

 unsolved and, so far as can be seen yet, the in- 

 soluble, problems of mind and matter surround 

 men on all sides. 



The present year witnesses the publication 

 of the 2,000th volume of the Tauchnitz Library, 

 and the forming an association of German au- 

 thors in favor of spelling reform. The Govern- 

 ment also has given permission to publish the 

 confidential correspondence of Bismarck and 

 Manteuffel, 1851- ? 54. 



GREECE. There has been about the usual 

 activity in literature, but nothing of special 

 moment has resulted. Some respectable po- 

 etry, two or three plays, a few tales or novels, 

 and some creditable work in historical research, 

 are evidences of a fair share of life and interest 

 in literature. An interesting volume has ap- 

 peared on " Public Law of Greece under Turkish 

 Rule"; also, a small book on the " Taxation of 

 Crete during the First Years of Turkish Domi- 

 nation." Considerable good work has been done 

 in philology, archaeology, topography, church 



