LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1885. 



543 



tions in the body. F. Jungersen writes on 

 " What is Truth ? " A. 0. Larsen supplies a 

 timely volume, " The New Testament and His- 

 torical Criticism," and E. Brandes contributes 

 to political economy two popular treatises called 

 " Social Questions." 



France. The death of Victor Hugo, the na- 

 tional idol in French literature, is noteworthy 

 as bringing to a closo a literary era, that of 

 Romanticism. Hugo was long regarded as the 

 recognized symbol of French literature ; yet 

 independent critics (like F. de Pressense) main- 

 tain that " Victor Hugo, as a literary power, 

 died long before the Pantheon closed its doors 

 over his pompous obsequies. Romanticism in 

 France has ended in one of the most notori- 

 ous failures ever experienced by any literary 

 school." As a vivifying influence Romanticism 

 has long been extinct in France, and though 

 Hugo was absolute sovereign through exagger- 

 ated sentiment of deference and veneration, 

 yet criticism is reasserting itself and its right 

 of free judgment. There will be no attempt 

 to deprive him of his legitimate glory, but 

 rather a seeking to draw up a faithful and just 

 inventory of what this great genius has be- 

 stowed upon his country and mankind. Nov- 

 els take the lead this year, and Zola stands at 

 the head of French novel-writers. His last 

 work, " Germinal," is the most powerful since 

 the famous " L'Assommoir." His imitators and 

 followers are very numerous, and carry out the 

 realistic scheme of story-telling to an abomi- 

 nable and disgusting extent. Hundreds of nov- 

 els of this sort have appeared, all cast in the 

 same mold, and, while pretending to reproduce 

 life, systematically repudiate all that ennobles 

 it, all that illumines the daily horizon, all that 

 warms and perfumes the atmosphere, and take 

 up only that which wounds and repels, which 

 is ugly and mean and vile. There are some 

 signs of a reactionary spirit, but not yet to any 

 great extent. What may be called psychologi- 

 cal novels are gaining favor. Daudet, Theu- 

 riet, Maupassint, and others are doing good 

 service in this respect. Novels also of the 

 Dumas type are quite numerous, mostly ap- 

 pearing as serials in the newspapers and hav- 

 ing myriads of readers. Poetry presents no 

 record of success or encouragement. The crit- 

 ics are very severe upon the productions of 

 the year as being a triumph of mere form and 

 harmony rather than as indicating living fire 

 from above. Possibly this judgment is too 

 severe ; but, as there is no dissenting voice, it 

 may be regarded as substantially correct. Crit- 

 icism as an art has declined since the death of 

 St. Beuve. M. Scherer, however, is doing good 

 work in this department, as also are P. Bour- 

 get, in his " Essays on Contemporary Psycholo- 

 gy," and his " Cruelle Enigme," and E. Hen- 

 nequin, who is perhaps the best furnished and 

 ablest French critic of to-day. Other names 

 might be mentioned, but space does not per- 

 mit. M. Renan has written an ambitious drama, 

 entitled " Le Pretre de Nemi." It completes 



the trilogy with " Caliban " and " Fontaine de 

 Jouvence," and is an attempt to equal and rival 

 Shakespeare. Of course, Renan can not ac- 

 complish any such end, but he uses the present 

 as the vehicle for reasserting and emphasizing 

 his doubts and difficulties, not only in religion, 

 but in regard to the moral, political, and social 

 problems that have beset France since the sad 

 waking up from the Annee Terrible. Renan 

 is not a born dramatist, but puts forth philo- 

 sophical dissertations in the shape of dialogues. 

 Contributions to history and philosophy have 

 been of excellent quality. The "Letters of 

 Quinet," the " Correspondence of Madame de 

 Remusat " and her son, an anonymous work 

 on the latter years of the consulate and estab- 

 lishment of the Empire, M. Simon's " Thiers, 

 Guizot, Remusat," are works of merit and 

 value. M. Rambaud has written a clever 

 " History of French Civilization," and M. So- 

 rel has published a learned and important work 

 entitled "Europe and the Revolution." The 

 critics give Sorel's volume very high praise, 

 affirming that nothing since de Tocqueville's 

 latest essay on the old regime can compare 

 with it. The Comte de Martel, in his " His- 

 toriens Fantaisistes," has reviewed with terri- 

 ble severity Thiers's " History of the Consulate 

 and the Empire." Numerous other historical 

 essays and contributions have been published, 

 but we can not here go into details. Several 

 volumes on science and philosophy may be 

 named, as Berthelot's "Origin of Alchemy," 

 Reville's "Religions of Mexico, Central Amer- 

 ica, and Peru," Janet's noble tribute to the 

 memory of Victor Cousin, Joubert's Louis de 

 Clermont, Sieur de Bussy d'Amboise, in the 

 time of Henry III, etc. The literature of travel 

 and exploration has received attention from 

 Perret, Janvier, Tissot, Daryl, and others. 



Germany. The general literary production of 

 1885 in Germany maintained about its usual 

 level, and books in large numbers in various 

 departments were published. In biography 

 the record is good ; in history, quite strong ; in 

 philosophy and science, of small account ; in 

 criticism, fair ; and in fiction and light litera- 

 ture, rather weak. In history the venerable 

 Von Ranke continues his labors, despite his 

 advanced age, and still writes with calm and 

 steady vigor. Mommsen. the famous Roman 

 historian, whose work is well known by its 

 translation into English, has published his fifth 

 volume. This appears in advance of the fourth, 

 and is specially devoted to the provinces rather 

 than to Rome itself. Several noteworthy con- 

 tributions to history have appeared, as F. A. 

 Specht's " History of Education in Germany, 

 from the Oldest Times to the Middle of the 

 Thirteenth Century," H. Baumgarten's " His- 

 tory of Charles V," and A. Huber's compre- 

 hensive "History of Austria," two volumes, 

 which bring the record down to 1437. In 

 biography there has been considerable activity. 

 " The Life and Times of Voltaire " and " The 

 Life of Rousseau " are treated of with care by 



