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LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL. 



versationsleksikon," which contains much in- 

 formation concerning Norway. Descriptions of 

 various parts of Norway and more northern 

 lands are furnished in " Kring om Peisen, jagt- 

 minden fra det Sundenfjeldske Norge," stories 

 of the hunt, by T. 0. Guldberg, a well-known 

 sportsman ; Alexander Kielland's interesting 

 " Dyr og Mennesker " (relating to the Stavanger 

 district) ; Friis's " Skildringer fra Finmarken" ; 

 a new volume by Frithjof Nansen, noted for his 

 explorations in Greenland, entitled " Eskimo- 

 liv " ; and " Billeder og Text," in which we get 

 more of artist Kittelsen's impressions " Fra 

 Lofoten." In biography we have a volume of 

 memoirs (" Paa Forpost, Billeder fra sytti 

 aarene ") by Kristofer Kristofersen, and a mono- 

 graph on the Empress Augusta by Clara Tschudi. 

 Henrik Jaeger's contribution to literary history, 

 " En Gammel Kjaerlighedshistorie," is concerned 

 with P. A. Heiberg, the Danish author. Jaeger 

 has also published " Henrik Ibsen og hans Vaer- 

 ker." Furthermore, there have appeared Dr. G. 

 Fasting's " Laesekunsten," " Grundtrask of Meta- 

 fysik," by Halvorsen, a newly fledged doctor of 

 philosophy, and the first part of the voluminous 

 and important ".Samlade Skrifter " (collected 

 works) of Camilla Collett, the famous advocate 

 of women's rights. 



In the department of fiction some new names 

 have appeared, and the influence of France has 

 made itself felt to a certain degree. Several of 

 the authors of established reputation seem to 

 have devoted themselves in the past year to the 

 short story rather than the novel. Jacob B. 

 Bull has published a collection of " Sketser," 

 mainly of life in eastern Norway, while a similar 

 service is performed for the fisherfolk about 

 Bergen in " Ravenekrokbilleder," a somewhat 

 satirical production by Kristofer Kristofersen 

 (already mentioned) ; and Skeibrok, a sculptor, 

 has collected his popular stories about south- 

 western Norway under the title " Sandfaerdige 

 Skroner." Two new men have likewise drawn 

 direct inspiration from the life of their people : 

 Thomas P. Krag (brother of Vilhelm), in whose 

 " John Graff " and " Fra den Gamle by og andre 

 Skildringer," the sailors and fishermen of north- 

 western Norway, and their field of action, the 

 sea, are pictured forth ; and Hans Aanrud, who 

 has made his debut with bright and cleverly 

 written sketches of Norwegian life. Per Sivle, 

 who is said to be best in his descriptions of 

 peasant life, treats a theme much utilized of late 

 the relations between capital and labor in 

 his romance " Streik," which strongly favors the 

 workingman. Kristofer Janson's " Sara," Johan 

 Vibe's " Fantastiske Fortsellinger," and Alvilde 

 Prydtz's " Arnak," are also worthy of note. 

 Amalie Skram (" Forraadt," a strong novel) and 

 Gabriel Finne (" To Sostre ") are described as 

 the most prominent naturalists among Norway's 

 authors. Gallic fin-de-siecle " decadence " has 

 not been without its influence in this country. 

 Gabriel Gram, the free-thinking hero of Arne 

 Garborg's " Traette Mend," having failed to ob- 

 tain satisfactory and complete explanations of 

 existence from science, finally turns to Chris- 

 tianity. The book has run' through several 

 editions, and has given rise to much discussion. 

 On the other hand, Arne Dybfest's stories (" Fra " 

 and " To Noveller ") are said to be characterized 



by an excess of glittering verbiage and an ab- 

 normal penchant for character analysis of a dis- 

 pleasing nature. 



The report comes to us of a gratifying increase 

 in lyric poetry. Engebret Haugen's posthumous 

 works have been published, Haugen being a 

 schoolmaster from .whom, in 1842, Asbjornsen 

 heard the legend of Peter Gynt, which name, 

 together with parts of the story, were subse- 

 quently utilized by Ibsen. The same character, 

 by the way, is made to pose as the supposed 

 aiithor of Theodor Caspari's " Digteaf Per Gynt 

 ved Theodor Caspari," which seem to show a 

 most decided improvement on Caspari's former 

 work, and are much more Norwegian in feeling. 

 Rosenkrants Johnsen, one of the younger men, 

 shows warmth of feeling and vigor of style in 

 his poems, and Vilhelm Krag, though his work 

 is sometimes burdened by rather meaningless 

 verbosity, is not without much promise. J. B. 

 Bull's " Alvarsmasnd," the author's second play, 

 is a very interesting piece of work, despite grave 

 faults in construction, and Hjalmer Christensen 

 also shows talent in his " Loth's Ilustru." There 

 is nothing else to record in dramatic literature, 

 except, perhaps, Otto Valseth's " En Befrielse " 

 and Erik Vullum's " Himlene Aabne," neither 

 of which is especially remarkable, however. 



Poland. The centenary of the Constitution 

 of May 3 naturally gave rise to some literature 

 on the subject, to which K. Bartoszewicz, P. 

 Popiel, L. Finkel, A. Sokolowski, and others 

 have contributed. A resume of the important 

 new publications in the various branches of 

 literature includes " From the History of the 

 Eighteenth Century," by K. Waliszewski ; Koryt- 

 kowski's five-volume work on " The Archbishops 

 of Gnezno" ;G. Olizar's " Memoirs "; Chelmicki's 

 " From Brazil," the result of a Brazilian journey 

 made in. the interests of Poland's emigrants; a 

 " History of the Bulgarian Language," by A. 

 Kalina ; K. Morawski's " Andreas Nidecki " ; A. 

 Jelowicki's " Reminiscences " ; and Vol. I of a 

 work on " Lemberg " by A. Czolowski. The first 

 volume of the collected works of Spasowicz, the 

 critic, has been issued. The records enumerate 

 also some scientific publications, among which 

 may be mentioned, without comment, Vol. I of 

 Fr. D. P. Zoll's " Pandekta czyli nauka Rzyms- 

 kiego prawa prywatnego," a treatise on Roman 

 civil law ; Th. D. Ziemba's ' Estelyka prak- 

 tyczna," Part I (architecture) ; a history of paint- 

 ing in Italy, by W. Dzieduszycki : a work on 

 aesthetics by H. Struve ; and contributions to 

 philosophical literature by A. Trznadel, Przy- 

 borowski, etc. 



Among the novelists we note two women : 

 Esteja (Ostoja?), who inclines to pessimism and 

 superficiality, and who has done good descriptive 

 writing in her " In the Spider's Web " and " Be- 

 hind the Ocean," and F.Orzeszko, whose " twenty- 

 five years' jubilee " has been celebrated in liter- 

 ary circles, and whose " Beni Nati" is directed 

 against the spirit of caste. J. Zacharyasiewicz 

 shows a masterly power of defining character in 

 " My Happiness " ; T. Jeske-Choinski's " Search 

 for the Golden Fleece" is a fine psychological 

 study ; M. Gawalewicz's " Night Butterfly " has 

 a pessimistic flavor; "The Counselor," by W. 

 Zagorski and A. Zaleski, is said to be best in its 

 satire ; while " Kaleidoscope"," by J. Rogosz, and 



