LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL 



417 



studies on the " Canzoniere," by G. Mestica; G. 



s l;.Tii:irili) 1'ielliiicioni, Pin-la ili Lodo- 



.M.r.i": Kra.-iiio I'ercopo's " Le Rime del 



Chariieo " ; " Nuovi Contrihuti per la Storia 



dell' I mancMino," by Ferdinando Gabotto; F. 



Kliiiiiiiii's "La Linca Toscana del Rinascimi- 



i-nt'": A. Solerti's "Appendici alle Opere di T. 



": A. Mahollini's edition of the "Rime" 

 of Heinenuto Cellini; Pietro Aretino's " Pas- 

 quiuate," edited by V'ittorio Rossi; A. Borgog- 

 noni's "Studi di Letteratura storica " ; "Carteg- 

 j,'io di Vitioria Colonna," by D. Tordi ; Domen- 



. iioli's "Un Delitto di lesa Romanita ai 

 Tempi di Leone X " ; Mario Menghini's mono- 

 graph on Tomaso Stigliani " ; Vol. I of " Storia 

 d'Arcadia." by Monsignor Isidore Carini. libra- 

 rian of the Vatican Library; Ernesto Masi's 

 Storia del Teatro Italiano nel Secolo XVIII " ; 

 and Giuseppe Chiarini's two- volume " Gli Amor- 

 id i I 'go Foscolo," intended to show the noted 

 relation to women, and their influence on 

 liis work. To these we may add : Cantu's " Let- 

 teratura Italiana," Masotti's " Conferenze lette- 

 rarie." E. Gorra's " Studi di Critica letteraria," 

 and Manuale della Letteratura italiana" (Vols. 

 I and II). by A. d'Ancona and O. Bacci. 

 It is claimed by some that the novelist's art is 



~sed by few Italians, and, in truth, not 

 many novels among the large number published 

 MVIII to come up to high artistic standards. 

 Two novels of the year seem especially worthy 

 i-f attention : "IlPaese di Cuccagna," in which 

 Matilde Serao. fv noted authoress, vividly pic- 

 tures the evil passion for the lottery common 

 among the middle classes in Naples, and " L'ln- 

 nocctite," a quite different book, in which Ga- 

 briele d'Annunzio studies the most depraved 

 types of humanity. A. Butti's" L'Automa"and 

 A. Lauria's " Donna Candida," both works by be- 

 ginners; Emma Perodi's study of clerical socie- 

 ty. "11 Principe della Marsigliana " ; " L'ln- 

 namorata," by the Countess Lara, who has 

 published also " Una Famiglia di Topi," a good 

 children's story of the kind combining instruc- 

 tion and amusement, and " La Bocca del Lupo," 

 by lirmigio Zena, a pseudonym of the Marchese 

 (ia-pare d'lnvrea, are referred to as very read- 

 able fiction. Of the few good collections of 

 short stories and sketches, the best is "Fra 

 Scuola e Case," a volume of vivid pictures of 

 school life in Italy by that acute observer Ed- 

 mondo de Amicis, who has also been working 

 on a new book, " Primo Maggio," and who, we 



lias become a Socialist. Corrado Ricci, a 

 young savant, shows a most decided talent for 

 >horl -story writing in his " Promessa Mortale." 

 while Antonio Morosi discloses a fine vein of 

 humor in his "Novelle Ridanciano Oneste e 

 Liete" (for which volume P. Mascagni furnished 

 a musical mntif). He is said to stand somewhat 

 under the influence of Lorenzini, a witty jour- 

 nalist, better known as C. Collodi, a number of 

 whose excellent articles Giuseppe Rigutini, the 

 Florentine philolo^iM. has reprinted from vari- 

 ous periodicals, in two volumes, " Divagiazioni " 

 and " Note gaie." F. de Roberto's " La Morte 

 dell' Amore is composed of three stories on the 

 " wane of passion," and F. Pometti's " Renden- 

 zione " is praised for the sweetness and purity of 

 its ideals, while " Troppo Fiera" and " Realta," 

 two very clever volumes by Rachele Saporiti 

 vou xxxii. 27 A 



(Fulvia), suffer somewhat through artificiality 

 and sentimentality. 



The poetical productions of the year include 

 a volume of poems each by Guido Mazzoni, G. 

 Aurelio Costanzo, and Giovanni Marradi, and a 

 couple of volumes by Angelina de Leva. Seve- 

 rino Ferrari's " Versi " ; " Erato," lyrics by Count 

 Giuseppi Compitelli (whose devotion to polities 

 has limited his poetical power); and " Fatal ita," 

 by Ada Negri, a young lady of extraordinary 

 promise, have all won praise from tne critics; as 

 have also Ugo Ojetti's " Paesaggi " ; Alfredo Bac- 

 celli's " Diva Natura" ; the " Lyric and Satiric *' 

 poems of Marino Morelli (1870-91) ; the " Versi " 

 of G. Ragusa Moleti, a Sicilian; Eliodoro Lam- 

 bard Fs patriotic glorification of Garibaldi, " CaJa- 

 tafimi''; and Gabriele d'Annunzio's "Elegie 

 Romane " ; although in the case of these latter 

 names a certain immaturity makes itself felt, 

 for they are nearly all of them young writers. 

 Mario Rapisardi, a Sicilian poet, appears to be 

 increasing in fame. His recent publications in- 

 clude a poem, " Empedocle," some examples of 

 his translations of Shelley, and a third edition of 

 his "Giustizia," a collection of bitter and quasi- 

 socialistic poems. Giosue Cardticci, on the other 

 hand, has been very severely criticised of late. 

 Guido Fortebracci (Pietro Bracci), among others, 

 has. in the Rassegna Nazionale, subjected Car- 

 ducci's recent rather mediocre odes, " Piemonte," 

 " La Bicocca di S. Giacomo," and " La Guerra," 

 to a calmly critical estimate. It might be added, 

 too, that new editions of the late Pietro Ceretti's 

 works continue to appear ; here, again, fame 

 comes posthumously. When Italian critics la- 

 ment the decadence of dramatic literature, they 

 echo a complaint made in many countries. The 

 dearth of dramatic subjects in Italian life, and a 

 perverted popular taste for anything French, are 

 cited by some as the principal causes of the 

 neglect of this branch of literary art in Italy. 

 However, a few plays havo won deserved success. 

 ' Alleluia," by Marco Praga (a young author of 

 repute), and "La Figlia di Ninotta," by the 

 Duca d'Andria, both favor the theories of ata- 

 vism and heredity : in both the daughter falls as 

 the mother did before her, in spite of all pre- 

 cautionary efforts. Luigi Canuana's "Malia" 

 and " Discipline," by F. Calandra and S. Lope/, 

 have both won commendation. But the most 

 successful production was that of Prof. Camillo 

 Antona-TraversiV'Le Rozeno," which was pro- 

 nounced the best drama produced during the 

 last decade in Italy. On the whole, the propor- 

 tion of works of real merit in the mass of litera- 

 ture produced during the year is not very large. 



Norway. Here, asunder Belgium," we have 

 to record an interesting contribution to the lit- 

 erature concerned with the ill-fated Mary, Queen 

 of Scots. It is a monograph (1891) by the well- 

 known Gustav Storm, written in popular style, 

 and in a manner at once critical and sympa- 

 thetic. There are five noteworthy new works 

 relating to Norway: Prof. L. Dietrielison's - \t<- 

 Norske Stavkirkef." Part I: the first part of 

 - Nor-re's Indskriftermeddea'ldreRuner' (1891). 

 by Sophus I'.iiirire. the renowned philologist ; 

 Prof. A. Helland's Nor-re's M.-rgret medUairift 

 over andre Landes BergT0rkak>TgiTning " : Aa-j' 1 

 Skavlan's " Kulturbilleder frn Nonres nvere His- 

 toric " ; and Sten Konow's " Norsk Lommekon- 



