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LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL. 



LoTsten of Antwerpsche Libertijen (1525-'45)"; 

 the pedagogues Erasmus, Luther, Sturm, and 

 Melanchthon are dealt with in Stinissen's " Een 

 Blik in de School der 16 da Eeuw"; Diest in 

 1789 forms the theme of Di Martinelli ; and G. 

 Bergmann has published his reminiscences of 

 his friend Jan Franz Willems (founder of the 

 Flemish movement), King William I, and the 

 Belgian revolution of 1830. A new edition has 

 been published of the late Dean De Bo's curious 

 glossary of the West Flanders patois, " West- 

 Vlaarnsch Idioticon," and Abbe A. Joos has is- 

 sued Part I of a similar work, dealing with the 

 Pays de Waas. Among the many novels pub- 

 lished, Moortgat's has been criticised as ultra- 

 realistic, while much praise has been accorded to 

 the plain and graphic descriptions of workaday 

 life in those of Mile. Virginia Leveling, " Idonia ' 

 and " Een dure Eed." The latter was highly 

 successful, especially in Holland, where it first 

 appeared in the magazine " De Grids." Nap. de 

 Pauw and L. Gailliard's edition of the " Istory 

 van Troyen " of Jacob van Maerlant, the thir- 

 teenth-century poet, is being continued, and 

 " De bervoete Breeders," a vaudeville of the six- 

 teenth century, has been unearthed and pub- 

 lished by Stallaert. The few productions by 

 contemporary poets, like van Droogenbroek 

 (" Jan Ferguut "), appear to be rather poor in 

 quality. In dramatic literature, N. de Tiere has 

 been awarded the triennial prize for his " Een 

 Spiegel." 



Bohemia. Two causes, we are told, have 

 given a special impetus to literary productive- 

 ness in this country during the past two years : 

 the Bohemian jubilee exhibition, celebrating the 

 one hundredth anniversary of the first European 

 exhibition (held in Prague in 1791), and the foun- 

 dation of a Bohemian academy for art, science, 

 and literature. The publication of a new maga- 

 zine " Cesky lid," devoted to folklore, would seem 

 to be one of the indications of the increased in- 

 terest in all that influences the national feeling 

 of the people. 



In " Motley Traveling through Bohemia," in 

 which the peregrinations of a Bohemian bour- 

 geois and his friends, a la Pickwick, are de- 

 scribed, Sv. Cech takes occasion to expose, with 

 a mercilessly mordant pen, the foibles of con- 

 temporary Bohemian society, which, in his 

 " M. Broucek's Excursion into the Fifteenth 

 Century," he places in glaring contrast to the 

 Hussites of old who fought so valiantly under 

 Zizka. In " Recollections of the East " he gives 

 fine descriptions of a journey to the Caucasus. 

 In the department of fiction the historical novel 

 has been successfully cultivated by A. Jirasek 

 and Z. Winter. The latter, in works like " Two 

 Stories of Rakovnik " and " From the Life of 

 Yore," the scene of which is laid in Bohemia in 

 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, is said to 

 combine profound historical research with an 

 easy style. On the other hand, the novels de- 

 voted to social questions appear, as a rule, to suf- 

 fer from too energetic attempts to point a moral. 

 Among the better ones of the class are named 

 "Sychra's Era," by J. Laichcer, a new but prom- 

 ising man ; " A Father " and " Bliss," both by 

 M. A. Simacek; and the collections of sketches, 

 " All Sorts of Grand People," by B. Kaminsky, 

 and " Publicans and Sinners," by G. Jaros. V. 



Kosmak, in Moravia, and F. Slama, in Silesia, have 

 again turned out a number of stories depicting 

 types of rural character. Vrchlicky has brought 

 out " New Colored Potsherds," a collection of 

 sketches, and Julius Zeyer a novel, " Jan Maria 

 Plojhar," and a georgeous Oriental tale, " Fra- 

 grance " ; while Ig. Hermann has begun the pub- 

 lication of the collected works of Jan Neruda, 

 the famous poet, who died two summers ago, 

 the first part of the collection being " Small- 

 talk," a number of racy feuittetons. Among the 

 poetical productions of the year we note a num- 

 ber by the prolific J. Vrchlicky, who is known 

 also in the fields of dramatic literature and prose 

 fiction, in which latter he is not so successful, 

 however. His " Modern Man's Breviary " is de- 

 scribed as a sort of confession of faith, in which 

 characteristic expression is given to the yearn- 

 ing of humanity for the solution of the ever- 

 present problems of life and death, and for 

 ideals that seem still to be far from a realiza- 

 tion. "Frescoes and Tapestries" and "New 

 Sonnets of a Recluse " are further new volumes 

 of poetry from his pen. Julius Zeyer, besides 

 furnishing the third part of his " Annals of 

 Love," has issued a romance, " The Four Sons 

 of Aymon. Special mention should be made 

 also of " An Old Comedy," by F. Taborsky, said 

 to show the influence of Lermontov, and G. Ja- 

 ros's " Glory," the latter describing the lives of 

 Bohemian writers during the revival of the na- 

 tional literature in the first part of this century. 

 In lyrical poetry there are A. Klastersky, whose 

 " Through Fields and Forests " and " Songs of 

 Labor " have won approbation ; J. V. Sludek 

 (" Songs of Yore " and " Mixture," collections of 

 ballads) ; and Jar. Kvapil, whose " Quiet Love " 

 is said to be replete with feeling. Noteworthy 

 among the newer men are J. S. Machar, with his 

 thoughtful and pessimistic "Winter Sonnets" 

 and " Summer Sonnets," and B. Kaminsky, who 

 in his " Zprikopu " makes somewhat melancholy 

 observations upon life in Prague. In the field 

 of dramatic literature there are no striking suc- 

 cesses to record. J. Vrchlicky, already men- 

 tioned, has revived the Greek tragedy in his 

 trilogy, " Hippodamia," and has brought out 

 also a comedy, " Pietro Aretino." The natural- 

 istic tendencies rampant at present are shown in 

 M. A. Simacek's picture of factory life, " The 

 World of Small People " ; while Jirasek describes 

 Bohemian country life in his " Vojnarka." and 

 takes us back to mediaeval Bohemia in his " Cra- 

 dle." Finally, there are " Velkostatkar," a drama 

 by F. A. Subert (director of the National Thea- 

 tre) ; " Vojtech Zak, vytecnik " and " Degenerated 

 Blood " (praised as an excellent psychological 

 study), both by L. Stroupeznicky ; and a comedy 

 by Stolba, "Crooked Ways," which seems to 

 have been well received. 



Denmark. Limiting ourselves here to a list 

 of important books, we find the following: 



In history : M. Rubin's " Studier til Kjoben- 

 havns. og Danmarks historic " ; C. A Hoffmann's 

 "Erindringer fra Krigen 1864"; C. Tschudi's 

 " Keiserinde Auguste : Skildringer fra Hoflivet i 

 Berlin"; Vol. Ill of "Danmarks Historie, 1536- 

 1670," by F. Barfod ; S. K. Kabell's " America 

 fr Columbus ..." (Parts III-VII) ; H. Weite- 

 meyer's " Ae'mner og Kuriositeter fra Columbus- 

 tiden og Columbusliteraturen " ; and continua- 



