440 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1891. 



These have done well. Works in verse are but 

 poorly represented. Bjornstjerne BjOrnson's 

 ' Digte og Sange " is said to be the only book 

 of its kind worth recording. The " Samlede 

 Skrifter " of the romantic lyrist Andreas Munch, 

 lately deceased, is at length completed. The 

 sixth and last volume of A. 0. Vinje's " Skrifter 

 i Utval " came out this year. Vinje (died some 

 twenty years ago) was a sort of Norwegian Hein- 

 rich Heine, and a stanch advocate of national 



Eirism. The volume has been well received, 

 rnst Sars, the historian, has published Vol. IV 

 and last of his great work " Udsigt over den 

 Norske Historic." It was begun twenty years 

 ago, and is a work of permanent value. 0. Over- 

 land's illustrated " Norges Historic," Vol. IV, 

 has appeared ; another volume will complete the 

 work. Literary history offers little of any mo- 

 ment this year. A collection of brief biogra- 

 phies has been published by J. Utheim, entitled 

 " Otte Forfattere." L. Dietrichson has begun to 

 publish a work dealing with the history of art ; 

 it treats of that peculiar type of Norwegian 

 wooden architecture common in the Middle 

 Ages, and known as Stavkirker. Prof. M. J. 

 Monrad has published Vol. II of his " .ZEsthe- 

 tik," treating of art and artists from the tra- 

 ditional German metaphysical point of view. 

 Two youthful philosophers, C. A. Bugge and II. 

 C. Hansen, have contributed to the literature of 

 the year. The former has dealt with the moral- 

 ity of the theory of development, and the latter, 

 under the title " Moral, Religion og V'idenskab," 

 has published a treatise to which had been pre- 

 viously awarded the Crown Prince's gold medal. 

 A biography of Ole Bull, known throughout 

 Europe and America as the Norwegian violinist, 

 has been published by Oodmund Vik. Dr. S. Ib- 

 sen (son of the poet) has contributed a political 

 treatise on " Unionem Mellem Norge og Sver- 

 ige," and H. Pettersen has produced a biblio- 

 graphical work, entitled "Anonymer og Pseu- 

 donymer i den Norske Literatur, 1678-1890." 



Poland. Something more than a year ago 

 the remains of Mickiewicz, the greatest of the 

 Polish poets, were brought from Paris and in- 

 terred in the cathedral at Wawel, near Cracow. 

 A year later, i. e., May 3, 1891, the centenary of 

 the so-called Constitution was celebrated with 

 much rejoicing (except in Russian Poland). The 

 native critics speak of these occurrences as not 

 only important, but also as having had an influ- 

 ence for good on the literary activity of the 

 year. The services of the great poet were freely 

 commented upon, and the labors of those noble 

 men who sought to infuse new life into their 

 country were gratefully remembered. The vol- 

 umes, tracts, and pamphlets which were issued 

 fully substantiate this statement. Henryk Si- 

 en kiewicz, eminent among Polish writers, has 

 written a psychological romance, li Without 

 Dogma." 1 he book is attractive, the style mas- 

 terly : but the expected effect in molding public 

 opinion has not yet been attained. A. Mankow- 

 ski, in his " Count Augustus," deals with the 

 same theme, and with less success. The Poles 

 do not seem to take kindly to what is felt to be 

 an imitation of. foreign writers. Madame Or- 

 zeszko treats of a profound ethical sentiment in 

 her tale " The Worshipper of Might," and her" 

 " Fury," from an artistic point of view, is the 



best thing, the critics say, she has ever produced. 

 Marian Gawalewicz, another novelist, has secured 

 at an early age a high position among writers of 

 fiction in a book entitled " The Second Genera- 

 tion." Adolf Dygasinski has given, in his " M 

 Andre Piscalski," a truthful and original por- 

 trait of life among the nobility. The same 

 writer was sent out to South America to investi- 

 gate the condition of the Polish emigrants there, 

 and in his " Letters from Brazil " he gives a 

 gloomy picture of what he saw and met with. 

 A very gifted and prolific writer, Mile. Rodzie- 

 wicz (noted last year), has published, besides 

 " Tales " and " Silhouettes," two larger works. 

 " The Grey Dust " and Blue Blood." The lat- 

 ter is charged with being an exaggerated pict- 

 ure of aristocratic circles. Similar complaint is 

 made of A. Krzyzanowski's " Two Streams," 

 which, however, evinces genuine faith in the ideal 

 and in sincere patriotism. Szymanski's second 

 volume of Siberian " Sketches " is pronounced 

 to be hardly equal to the first. Madame Ko- 

 nopnicka's tales " My Acquaintance " are excel 

 lent in spirit and sympathy with the weak. A 

 few other writers are spoken of with approval, 

 as J. Turczynski, who tells about the Herculi 

 in East Galicia ; Naganowski, who gives a glori- 

 fication of " Mighty England " ; and A. Krecho- 

 wiecki, who- furnishes a story of the fourteenth 

 century entitled " The Grey Wolf." The 

 drama has not flourished this year. A few nov- 

 elettes have met with success, such as Sewer's com- 

 edy " M. le Marechal," Walewski's " The Grass- 

 hoppers," Koziebrodzki's "The Representative of 

 Messrs. Milller & Co.," etc. Poetry seems to be 

 in a more flourishing condition than the drama. 

 There are several young aspirants for fame. Of 

 these, Franc Nowicki has won praise for his vol- 

 ume of "Poems." Another young author has 

 done real service in translating the " Lusiads " of 

 Camoens. W. Wysocki's volume " Oksana " is 

 marked by lively feeling and good principle, and 

 Kasprowicz's tales of peasant life are excellent. 

 Stefan z Opatowka has brought out " Elegies 

 and Sonnets," and a Jew at Warsaw has published 

 the first part of a rather queer mixture, entitled 

 " The New Messiad." In history we note the 

 " Heraldic Studies " of Anton Malecki, an able 

 writer, and Prof. W. Abraham's " Organization 

 of the Church in Poland." The " Proceedings " 

 of the second congress of Polish historians, 

 held at Lemberg last year, contain valuable ma- 

 terial for historical purposes. A. Szezepanski 

 has written a lively sketch of the national hero 

 Kosciusko. The first volume of the " Biography 

 of Adam Mickiewicz," by his son, has appeared 

 and been well received. Count Lanckoron- 

 ski has given an account of a journey in Asia 

 Minor for archaeological and ethnographical 

 purposes, under the title of " The Cities of Pam- 

 phylia and Pisidia," and Count Joseph Potocki has 

 narrated his experiences, such as they were, in 

 the East, in his " Notes of a Sportsman in In- 

 .dia." The Polish Tatra Mountains have been 

 'illustrated with pen and pencil by Witkiewicz, 

 the painter. He is also author of a meritorious 

 work on " Our Art and Criticism." Other sub- 

 jects we must perforce pass over in silence. 



Russia. The tone of despondency among 

 the critics in regard to literature in Russia 

 continues much the same as was noted last year. 



