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LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1891. 



brilliant novelist, as is shown in his last volume, 

 " Hallali ! " M. R. de Bonnieres depicts a corner 

 of the old Faubourg St. Germain in his "Le 

 Petit Margemont," and M. A. Hermant shows 

 his delight in psychological studies in his 

 " Amour de Tete " and his ' Coeurs a Part." In 

 the " Derniers Reveurs " M. Paul Perret paints, 

 in a lively way, people who despise money and 

 refuse to bow to Mammon. " Le Cure d'Au- 

 chelles," by Madame G. Peyrebrune, relates the 

 struggle of a young parish priest against the 

 fascinations of the female sex. The journalist 

 M. Paul Fouchet has published a tasteful novel, 

 " Monsieur Bien-Aime," which is ironical and 

 severe against hypocrisy and selfishness. Under 

 the suggestive title "Les Larrons," M. H. Le 

 Roux gives a series of painful pictures of the 

 very lowest depths of Parisian society. An old 

 diplomatist, M. de St. Quentin, has brought out, 

 in form of a novel, an interesting description of 

 contemporary Persia, containing new and useful 

 information. Gen. Tcheng-Ki-Tong (residing 

 in Paris) has tried his hand at a novel, depicting 

 French life and manners. The critics bestow 

 praise upon his effort. We name a few other 

 novels, but have not space for particulars : M. 

 J. Normand's "Contes a Madame," M. Sutter- 

 Laumann's "L'Histoire d'un Trente-Sous," 

 Madame Rachilde's "Sanglante Ironie," M. P. 

 Adam's supernatural " L'Essence du Soleil," M. 

 J. Dargene's "Sous la Croix du Sud," M. H. 

 Conti's " Gris et Rose," M. P. Zaccone's " Le 

 Crime de la Rue Monge," Comte de St.-Aulaire's 

 " La Vocation d'Angele," M. H. Lavedan's '' Noc- 

 turnes " and " Petites Fetes." Only a small 

 number of dramatic publications can be named 

 as of any importance. M. Georges Duruy, in a 

 work entitled " Ni Dieu ni Maitre," has tried to 

 prove that society can not exist without religion, 

 but in the opinion of most critics with indiffer- 

 ent success. M. M. Sand's well-intended pieces 

 are collected in " Le Theatre des Marionettes de 

 Nohant." Reprints have been made of the com- 

 plete dramatic works of Messrs. P. Meurice and 

 F. Dugue, and a beautiful Provencal play, " La 

 Reine Jeanne," has been published, M. F. Mis- 

 tral being the author. The record in respect to 

 science, philosophy, theology, and kindred topics 

 is necessarily brief, there having been only scant 

 attention to works of the kind during the year. 

 Germany. Political changes in the new em- 

 pire, consequent upon Bismarck's resignation 

 and the reforming zeal and forwardness of the 

 young Emperor, have had marked influence upon 

 literature in Germany this year. Wildenbruch, 

 one of the chief poets, has offered homage to the 

 new lord and been decorated for his work " Der 

 Neue Herr." A pamphlet entitled " Rembrandt 

 als Erzieher, Von Einem Deutschen " has had a 

 wide circulation, and has roused public opinion 

 and public expectation as to an intellectual re- 

 cuperation in the empire. Whether this is to 

 come from the people or elsewhere is a question. 

 The present Emperor, with more audacity than 

 discretion, has written himself down as " the 

 only lord in the land," and many hence expect 

 reform to come from above, as Wildenbruch 

 holds. Others, like the writer of the pamphlet . 

 above named, expect results to follow in the use 

 of natural means and setting aside traditional 

 and conventional Idws and rules. " Young " 



Germany is quite on fire with this view. The 

 matter at present is too unsettled to predicate 

 anything certain in the near future. Time alone 

 will determine which view is to prevail. Real- 

 ism has made rapid progress in Germany this 

 year, as is shown in numerous published dramas, 

 containing a large amount of drastic power and 

 pungency. The position of Berlin as the capital 

 city (in the sense of Paris being the capital of 

 France) will have much to do with the future 

 of literature, to which it now gives direction. 

 Munich alone retains power in the domain of 

 art. The realistic drama and novel are in the 

 fore-front, as is made evident by Wildenbruch's 

 " Haubenlerche," the scene of which is laid in a 

 modern Berlin paper mill. The critics speak of 

 the book with much disapproval. As noted last 

 year, dramatists of the " free stage " prefer pain- 

 ful, shocking subjects, such as inherited vices 

 and physical and moral diseases, and they bring 

 forward physiological motives instead of psycho- 

 logical. A man under the curse of fate can 

 find no salvation ; for him there is only the in- 

 evitable price, the catastrophe. Gerhart Haupt- 

 mann's " Friedenfest " is quoted in illustration 

 of the fashion of designating plays as family 

 catastrophes. H. Sudermann, who is said to be 

 the ablest writer of this school, in his effective 

 drama " Ehre " deals with the question of honor 

 as between patrician and plebeian classes, but 

 not very satisfactorily. In this writer's latest 

 play, " Sodom's Ende," the catastrophe naturally 

 excited much sensation, seeing that the Sodom 

 referred to is Berlin of the present day. Critics 

 complain, and not unreasonably, that Suder- 

 mann has here gone far beyond nature, and has 

 substituted a pathological diagnosis for a picture 

 of real life, and, further, that " this materialistic 

 tendency to replace psychology by physiology is 

 in danger of converting the action of the stage 

 into that of a sick-room." Hauptmann's latest 

 work, " Einsame Menschen," avoids this substi- 

 tution, and brings about the catastrophe in the 

 more regular artistic way. The same remark is 

 true of " Schuldig," by R. Voss, author of " Eva " 

 and "Alexandra" (noted last year). The cen- 

 tennial anniversary of the birthday of F. Grill- 

 parzer occurred on the 15th of January. He 

 was one of the class of writers of fate-tragedies. 

 Though of Viennese origin and Austrian tenden- 

 cies, the centenary celebration has shown that as 

 a dramatist he belongs to the whole German na- 

 tion. H. von Kleist, the Prussophile author of 

 the Prussian Hohenzollern drama " Prinz von 

 Homburg," and Grillparzer, the Austrophile 

 author of the Austrian drama "Koenig Otto- 

 car's Gliick und Ende," are regarded as having 

 come the nearest to the ideal of national histori- 

 cal drama set up by Schiller's " Wallenstein." 

 Besides Grillparzer, the poet L. Anzengruber 

 (died last year) deserves special mention. His 

 works have been collected and published, with a 

 biography, by A. Bettelheim. The critics refer 

 to his powerful play (written in 1877) " Das 

 Vierte Gebot " as going the round of the thea- 

 tres, and as illustrating a peculiar view of the 

 meaning and force of the fifth commandment, 

 quite opposed to the usual teaching of the pul- 

 pits. H. Bulthaupt's "Bine Neue Welt," F. 

 Spielhagen's "Aus Eiserner Zeit," and Oscar 

 Blumenthal's comedy " Das Zweite Gesicht " 



