LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1882. 



477 



history, etc., for the description of which our 

 present limits do not furnish space. 



HOLLAND. As regards Dutch literature there 

 is not much more to be said than was supplied 

 by Greece in 1882. Novels appear to have 

 been numerous as well as lively, some of the 

 very best having been written by women. 

 Hofdyk's "History of the Dutch" is highly 

 commended by competent judges, as are also 

 Pierson's " Philosophical Investigations, i. e., 

 Critical Prolegomena of ^Esthetics." Fruin's 

 " Contributions to Dutch History and Antiqui- 

 ties " is a work of much merit. Besides these 

 there are other valuable contributions to his- 

 tory by Dutch scholars. The Leyden school in 

 theology is as busy as ever in its advanced ra- 

 tionalism, but with no special progress. Kern's 

 " History of Buddhism in India," Volume I, 

 is a work of real value, and so recognized by 

 critics. 



ITALY. Some efforts of authors and publish- 

 ers to popularize science and spread literary 

 culture in Italy do not seem to meet with much 

 success. Various manuals have been issued 

 and new periodicals started, but the mass of the 

 people are hardly educated enough to appre- 

 ciate these at their true value. Creditable ad- 

 ditions have been made to literary biographies, 

 as Cantu's "Alessandro Manzoni," Favaro's 

 monograph on " Galileo and the University of 

 Padua," Carducci's " Letters of Guerrazi," etc. 

 Novelists are said to be on the increase, both 

 male and female : of the former are G. Rovetta, 

 author of " Mater Dolorosa," Ciampoli's " Tale? 

 of the Abruzzi," Castelnuovo's " Sorrisi e La- 

 grima," Barille's " II Ritratto delDiavolo," etc. 

 Of female writers of fiction Matilde Serao, in 

 her "Legende Napolitane," takes high rank, as 

 do also Cesira Siciliani and " Emma " (nom de 

 plume). History and philology hold their 

 place as in past years. The third volume or 

 Villari's " Machiavelli " has appeared ; also, the 

 "Letters of Cavour," documentary "History 

 of the Reformation," " History of the Italian 

 Kingdoms established by Napoleon," critical 

 study on the " Life and Times of Dante," etc. 

 In poetry, Carducci's " Nuove Odi Bar bare" is 

 much praised ; G. D'Annunzio sends forth 

 " Canto Nuovo," and G. Manzoni is highly com- 

 mended for his volume, " Poesie." Carcano's 

 translation of Shakespeare, in twelve volumes, 

 has been completed. 



NOEWAT. Political topics occupy a large 

 share of the attention of people in Norway, 

 and literature proper suffers in consequence. 

 Ibsen's new drama, " A National Enemy," is 

 highly approved, and gives more satisfaction 

 than his last year's "Ghosts, or Apparitions." 

 Jonas Lie maintains his popularity in his latest 

 sailor - story, "Go ahead." A. Kielland ad- 

 vances in public favor in his " Skipper Worde," 

 and other tales ; and K. Janson sends forth an 

 excellent historical romance, " Our Grandpar- 

 ents." Several reprints of older authors, some 

 works on natural history, an edition of the 

 mathematical works of N. H. Abel, under the 



care of S. Lie, the great mathematician of the 

 day, are worthy of note. 



POLAND. Brief notice is all that Poland re- 

 quires this year. Considerable discussion of 

 early Polish history, and the publication of a 

 number of books on the subject, are to be 

 noted. Korzon's " Internal History of Poland 

 in the days of Stanislaus Poniatowski " (the last 

 king) is a very creditable production, and the 

 Academy of Sciences at Cracow has published 

 several volumes of documents and valuable his- 

 torical material. Kraszewski is the chief writer 

 of historical romances and stories. Something, 

 not much, has been done in lyric and narrative 

 poetry, and in the drama. A " History of Uni- 

 versal Literature, with Illustrations," has been 

 begun, and promises well as to the subsequent 

 volumes. 



RUSSIA. In this vast empire, which is in so 

 unsettled and unsatisfactory a state, the cen- 

 sorship of the press bears heavily on literature, 

 and consequently the year has in its record 

 little that is remarkable or important. Tour- 

 guenief, Tolstoi, Boborykin, Vallnieff, and some 

 others, have contributed novels and stories, and 

 Stchedrin, in his " Letters to my Aunt," has 

 produced a capital satire on the servility, hy- 

 pocrisy, and the like, in Russian society. In 

 native poetry little has been accomplished, 

 while on the other hand numerous translations 

 of German and English poems have appeared. 

 Several volumes of merit on modern Russian 

 literature have taken the form of biography, 

 such as biographies of Lermontoff, of Pushkin, 

 of Schevtcheuko, etc. In history, the Histor- 

 ical Society contributes a number of volumes 

 of documents and material. Kobeko's " Caesare- 

 vitch Paul Petrovitch " (Paul I), the strange 

 and wild despot, Troussevitch's " History of the 

 Diplomatic and Commercial Relations of Rus- 

 sia with China," Drygalshi's " Russian Army 

 in War and Peace," and Volume XI of the late 

 Metropolitan Makari's " History of the Russian 

 Church," are deserving of mention here. As 

 is natural, social, political, religious, and na- 

 tional questions excite much interest, and 

 accordingly (as far as the censorship rules per- 

 mitted) several clever books have been published 

 on these topics, such as, "Woronzoff's "Fate 

 of Capital in Russia," Youzoff's "Sociological 

 Studies," Tchitcherin's "Property and the 

 State," Daneffski's " Systems of Political Equi- 

 librium and Legitimism, and the Origin of 

 Nationality," Buslaiev's " Development of Re- 

 , ligious Beliefs in Russia," etc. A number of 

 good books of travel have also appeared. 



SPAIN. There has been little activity in 

 letters and science in Spain this year. A few 

 works on historical topics, publications of the 

 several academies, a goodly number of novels 

 and tales, some efforts in poetry and the drama, 

 with books on social, statistical, and econom- 

 ical questions, are about all that the literary 

 record can show. Translations from standard 

 English and American writers have been made, 

 and three different works on "bull-fighting," 



