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LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL. 



tenor), Dona Sabina de Alvear y Ward's life of 

 her father (Don Diego de Alvear, a noted naval 

 officer), and some provincial biographical diction- 

 aries, among which A. E. de Molins's " Diccio- 

 nario Biografico y Bibliografica de Escritores y 

 Artistas Catalanes del Siglo XIX," 



In the political sciences and philosophy there 

 are Arcarate's " Regimen Parlamentario " ; Vol. 

 II of the learned Count Torreanaz's work on the 

 " magistracy and councils of Castile during the 

 Middle Ages " ; Canovas del Castillo's " Proble- 

 mas Sociales " ; " La Cuestion Social," by the 

 Bishop of Madrid ; U. Gonzalez Serrano's " Estu- 

 dios Psicologicos ; and the third volume of Pedro 

 Estasen's important " Instituciones de Derecho 

 Mercantil." 



Z. Velez de Aragon has brought out a small 

 " Historia de las Bellas Artes " ; and " La Im- 

 prenta en Seville," by Hazanas, "La Imprenta 

 de Madrid en el Siglo XVI," by Perez Pastor, 

 "Catalogo de los Libros incunables que se con- 

 servan en la Biblioteca de Mahon," and " Biblio- 

 teca Colombina " (a catalogue of the books be- 

 queathed to the Cathedral of Seville by Ferdi- 

 nand Columbus), are among the additions to the 

 already considerable number of works on na- 

 tional bibliography; while Juan P. Oriado y 

 Dominguez has issued an important volume on 

 the " Periodismo Espanol," originally pub- 

 lished in the " Revista Contemporanea." 



In the year's list of important books, works 

 of a serious character preponderate largely, 

 there being little of note to record in the de- 

 partment of fiction and poetry, although trans- 

 lations are plentiful (among them works by 

 Daudet, Ibsen, Tolstoi, Turgenief, and Carlyle's 

 "Heroes"). Millam's novel " Menudencias" is 

 notable, chiefly because it is directed against 

 the Jesuit Father Luis Coloma's clever " Pe- 

 queneces," which ran through eight editions, 

 and which was more directly attacked in a 

 lampoon entitled " Caresses of a Layman for 

 Father Luis Coloma, of the Society of Jesus, for 

 his book ' Pequeiieces,' and for the Society to 

 which he himself belongs." Dr. Emilia Pardo 

 Bazan now publishes her work in " Teatro 

 Critico," a fortnightly of which she is owner, edi- 

 tor, and exclusive contributor. " Dona Berta," 

 by Leop. Alas Clarin, has won praise from 

 French critics. New books by Victor Balaguer 

 and Manuel Matoses have also been commended. 

 In poetry, the interminable epics once in vogue 

 are beginning to give way to shorter similar 

 compositions, like Campoamor's ' El Licenciado 

 Torralba," in eight cantos ; while in the mass of 

 lyrical poetry nothing remarkable has been ac- 

 complished. Here, too, there is a dearth of nota- 

 able dramatic productions, though there are thea- 

 tres enough. Excepting a three-act comedy by 

 the younger Echegaray (Miguel), and " En Casa 

 de la Modista," a one-act affair, there is nothing 

 that deserves special mention. 



Sweden. The noteworthy literary produc- 

 tiveness of Sweden is all the more remarkable 

 when we consider the limited market which 

 this literary ware must find, notwithstanding 

 the general culture in Sweden and Finland, by 

 virtue of which, it is said, the reading public 

 forms a considerable proportion of the inhabit- 

 ants. The complaint has been made that the 

 publishing season is practically limited to the 



holiday period at the end of the year, the only 

 time at which considerable book buying is done 

 by the public ; and, in fact, attempts have been 

 made to publish also in the spring. Before pass- 

 ing on to fiction and poetry, in which depart- 

 ments we find most to record, we give an 

 account of the important new publications in 

 other branches of literature. In literary his- 

 tory we have G-. Ljunggren's excellent '-Swe- 

 dish Literary Annals after the Death of Gus- 

 tavus III," and a volume by 0. Sylvan, " Sver- 

 iges Periodiska Literatur under Frihetstidens 

 forra del." L. Loostrom, in "The Swedisli 

 Academy of Arts during the First Century of 

 its Existence, 1735-1835," gives the history of 

 Swedish art during that period in a full and 

 impartial manner ; while G. Nordensvan, a well- 

 known litterateur, is furnishing a clever chroni- 

 cle of Swedish art matters of the present cen- 

 tury in his " Svensk Konst och Svenska Konst- 

 narer i 19de arhundrated," of which over a 

 dozen parts have already been issued. L. De 

 Geer, the famous old statesman, began to pub- 

 lish an edition of his complete works, the first 

 volume of which contains chiefly writings on 

 aesthetic subjects, marked by elegance and re- 

 finement of thought. A. Fryxell's " Beriittelser 

 ur Svenska Historien," continued by 0. Sjogren 

 (Part XLVIII),and E. Aspelin's " Werner Holm- 

 berg, hans Lefnad och Verk," are noted among 

 the contributions to historical literature ; and 

 some interesting books of travel have appeared, 

 such as G. Retzius's vivid description of his 

 travels in Sicily and Egypt ; a volume from the 

 pen of S. Hedin, who accompanied the embassy 

 sent to the Shah of Persia by King Oscar ; and 

 two works on the " Slave Trade " and " Moham- 

 medanism " in Africa, the result of H. H. V. 

 Schwerin's extensive travels in that continent, 

 especially on the Congo. C. A. Cornelius, in his 

 " Krestna Kijrkans Historia " (1889-'91), covers 

 the history of the Christian Church to the 

 nineteenth century, to which latter he has de- 

 voted a former work. 



Prose fiction has probably been second only 

 to poetry in abundance of new publications. 

 V. Rydberg's " Armorer " (" Vapensmeden ") is 

 characterized by the author himself as " mi- 

 rages from the time of the Reformation," and 

 serves as an interesting medium for conveying 

 the thoughts and opinions of this prominent 

 writer. "En Man 6'fner Bord " and "Genom 

 Hvirflande" (giving an interesting picture of 

 certain aspects of Swedish life), which have 

 been published by a prominent Government of- 

 ficial under the pseudonym Horatio, seem to 

 show power of observation rather than profi- 

 ciency in literary art. The tendencies of the 

 hour are reflected in " Komministeren i Qvis- 

 linge," by A. Hedenstierna (Sigurd), whose 

 fine humor and sound opinions have made him 

 exceedingly popular ; " Genom Skuggor," by 

 Mathilda Roos ; and " Sadan var Vagen," by W. 

 H. WickstrOm. On the other hand, we are told 

 romance has again gained a hearing, in Lever- 

 tin's " Legends and Ballads," and in Selma La- 

 gerlof's " Ur G5sta Berlinga Saga," although the 

 latter, the author's first work, does not in its 

 present completed state wholly make good its 

 original promise. Various other novels and 

 shorter stories selected from'the year's publica- 



