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LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL. 



ben," a collection of letters written by the poet 

 during 1820-'55. These letters, nearly all to his 

 mother and sister, are written in an incompar- 

 ably graceful and simple style, and the tender 

 love which they breathe seems to refute Goethe's 

 saying that he " had every gift, but wanted love." 

 The relations of the unfortunate Nicolaus Le- 

 nau, who died in a madhouse, to Sophie Lowen- 

 thal, are illustrated in his letters to her, edited 

 by his friend L. A. Frankl ; while the brochure 

 issued in honor of the centenary (occurring Sept. 

 23, 1891) of the birth of Karl Theodor Korner, 

 the soldier poet, affords an attractive picture 

 of his inamorata, the actress Antonie Adam- 

 berger, who subsequently married, and became 

 the mother of the famous historian, Alfred von 

 Arneth. The literature on Goethe and Lessing 

 is ever increasing, and Grillparzer is now com- 

 ing in for his share. Among the new books 

 concerned with Goethe is a life of his mother, 

 by Heinemann. The " Goethe Annual," pub- 

 lished by the Goethe Society at Weimar, has 

 found a counterpart in the " Grillparzer An- 

 nual," published by the Grillparzer Society at 

 Vienna. Among the contributions to general 

 literary history we note Wilh. Cloetta's "Bei- 

 trage zur Litteraturgeschichte des Mittelalters 

 und der Renaissance" (Vol. II); a history of 

 journalism in Vienna by E. V. Zenker ; and one 

 of German literature to the middle of the eleventh 

 century by J. Kelle. In art history there are A. 

 von Warsberg's posthumous essays on the mu- 

 seums of Athens, and on Gaudenzio Ferrari, and 

 " Geschichte der Deutschen Kunst," edited by 

 noted authorities Dohme, Falke, Liitzow, Bode, 

 and Janitschek ; and pamphlets on naturalism in 

 art (1891) by Veit Valentin and Aug. Reissmann. 

 Max Lautner, in his " Wer ist Rembrandt ? " 

 advances the theory that most of the works 

 ascribed to the famous Dutch master were exe- 

 cuted by his pupil Ferdinand Bol. The book 

 has aroused much discussion, but the author's 

 " proofs " want confirmation as yet. " Die Welt- 

 anschauung Fr. Nietzsche's " and " Psychopathia 

 Spiritualis," by Hugo Kaatz and Kurt Eisner, 

 are directed against the " Philosophy of the Fu- 

 ture," which the followers of the brilliant and 

 original Fr. Nietzsche (whose mental powers 

 have unfortunately become deranged) declare his 

 doctrine to be. " Introductions " to philosophy 

 have been published by J. Volkelt and Friedr. 

 Paulsen, while Jul. Bergmann has issued Vol. I 

 of his " Geschichte der Philosophic." Material- 

 ism, so much in vogue, is combated by H. 

 Schmidkunz, M. Carriere, and others, in "Ge- 

 gen den Materialismus." W. Wundt's " Hyp- 

 notismus und Suggestion," and H. Schmidkunz's 

 rather optimistic " Psychologie des Suggestionis- 

 mus," treat on a subject of current interest. 

 Emil Gregorovius's "Himmel auf Erden" is a 

 humorous anti-Socialistic production. The es- 

 say on "Rembrandt als Erzieher" has called 

 forth a torrent of opposition. Among others, 

 Felix Dahn, in his"Moltke als Erzieher," op- 

 poses the theory of the untrammeled freedom of 

 the individual by that of the sternest discipline 

 of self, as illustrated in the life of the great 

 commander, whose " History of the Franco-Ger- 

 man War " comes in for special praise. In the 

 department of theology we would name Hein- 

 rich Brugsch's " Steininschrif t und Bibelwort " 



(1891) ; Friedr. Aug. Berth. Nitzsch's " Lehrbuch 

 der evangelischen Dogmatik " ; Karl v. Hase's 

 " Reformation und Gegenreformation " (gives a 

 sympathetic and impartial characterization of 

 Luther) ; A. Kuenen's " Historisch - kritische 

 Einleitung in die Blicher des alten Testaments " 

 (Part II). In philology there are : Richard Si- 

 mon's edition of the Amarucataka ; F. E. Pei- 

 ser's" Die Hetitischen Inschriften," and the first 

 parts of Alfred Holder's exceedingly complete 

 " Alt-Celtischer Sprachschatz " and Karl Bohn- 

 enberger's " Zur Geschichte der Schwabischen 

 Mundart im XV. Jahrhundert." Questions of in- 

 terest are treated by P. Marcinowski, who in 

 " Das Lotteriewesen im Konigreich Preussen," 

 desires to prove that the state lottery is benefi- 

 cial in setting limits to the passion for games of 

 chance ; and H. Settegast (" Die Deutsche Frei- 

 maurerei "), who shows that masonry in Prussia 

 has lost influence by departing from its noble 

 principles. Continuations innumerable of well- 

 known and important collections in various de- 

 partments of history and science are going on. 

 New editions also form no small part of the an- 

 nual product of the press, and of such we should 

 mention the fourteenth edition of the famous 

 " Konversationslexikon " of Brockhaus, of which 

 four volumes have appeared. 



In the domain of prose fiction Germany has 

 a number of clever writers. Adolf Wilbrandt's 

 novel " Hermann Ifinger " has won high praise. 

 Though educational in purpose, it is entirely 

 without pedantry, and the composition, delinea- 

 tion of character, and beauty of its ethical 

 teaching combine to make it a notable and 

 representative book. Wilhelm Jensen and Wil- 

 helm Raabe support their reputation in two new 

 books, " Im Zwing und Bann " and " Gutmann's 

 Reisen." Gottschall, Spielhagen (" Sonntags- 

 kind "), Ganghofer, and Lindau (" Hangendes 

 Moos," published in translation by D. Appleton 

 & Co.) have also produced new novels. Her- 

 mann Heiberg has published " Todsilnden " and 

 " Hochste Liebe schweigt " ; and the Austrian 

 Lola Kirschner (Ossip Schubin), " Grafin Erika's 

 Lehr- und Wanderjahre " and " Thorschluss- 

 panik." The latter's countrywoman Bertha 

 von Suttner has attracted widespread attention 

 by her " Die Waffen nieder," an impassioned 

 appeal for peace. Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, 

 who was over forty-five when he began to make 

 a stir in literature, and then speedily attained a 

 most enviable reputation, died toward the end 

 of the year. His last book, " Angela Borgia," 

 is remarkable for its truthful rendering of the 

 Renaissance spirit, the scene of the plot being 

 Ferrara in the sixteenth century. Theodor 

 Fontane, on the other hand, describes the Ber- 

 lin of to-day with photographic fidelity in his 

 " Frau Jenny Treibel " (or, " Gleich und Gleich 

 gesellt sich gern "). And, again, old Hamburg 

 is shown to us, with the most accurate local 

 color, by Use Frapan (the biographer of F. 

 Vischer), who has issued a collection of stories 

 under the title " Bittersliss." The Austrian ele- 

 ment makes itself strongly felt in the stories of 

 Frau von Ebner-Esehenbach, Ferdinand von 

 Saar, and J. J. David. The first-named author 

 moves in the highest circles of Viennese society, 

 and reproduces its types with unsparing fidelity ; 

 but the heroine of her " Magarethe " belongs to 



