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LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL. 



les Emplois publics." " Les Bases de la Morale et du 

 Droit," by the Abbe Maurice de Baets, J. J. van Bier- 

 vliet's "La Memoire," and the Abbe A. Auger's 

 " Etudes sur les Mystiques des Pays-Bas au Moy en- 

 Age " are among the year's publications in religion and 

 philosophy. The literature of the fine arts has been 

 enriched by Prosper Claeys's " Expositions d'Art & 

 Gand" (1792-1892), Albert Dutry's sketches of " Les 

 Peintres du Peuple," Max Kooses's excellent " L'CEu vre 

 de P. P. Kubens " (5 vols.), and a study of " Alexan- 

 dre Borodine," a Russian musician, by Alfred Habets. 

 Literary history has likewise received some meritori- 

 ous contributions, such as "La Poesie neerlandaise 

 contemporaine en Belgique," by Omer Wattez, and 

 Georges Eekhoud's -work on English literature, " Au 

 Siecle de Shakespeare." " La Jeune Belgique," that 

 group of young authors, is making propaganda for its 

 Ideas in various literary reviews in trench, and in 

 the numerous publications by the members of this 

 literary coterie, such as the poetry of Valere Gille, 

 the Abbe Hoornaert, Iwan Gilkin, and Andre" Fon- 

 tainas, and the novels of Henry Maubel, Arnold Gof- 

 fln, Frantz Mahutte, Georges Rodenbach, and Camille 

 Lemonnier, both of the Tatter living in Paris. We 

 are told, however, that the Belgians are quite indiffer- 

 ent to these manifestations of a desire for innovations 

 in the national literature. "Ma Juliette "is a post- 

 humously published story by Jean Rousseau. Charles 

 de Coster was not appreciated during his lifetime, 

 while now come eager but tardy attempts to do him 

 justice by the republication of his masterpiece (" L6- 

 gende d'Uylenspiegel ") and the erection of a monu 

 ment at Ixelles. Ld. Descamps's antislavery drama, 

 " Africa," was crowned by an antislavery committee 

 at Paris, no doubt influenced by ethical rather than 

 aesthetic principles. 



The works of importance in the Flemish language 

 also include some interesting contributions to history, 

 such as the monograph on the Battle of the Spurs 

 ("Slag van Kortrijk"), by J. Frederichs, and the 

 continuation of F. de Potter's work on Ghent, the 

 communal accounts of which city in the days of 

 Philip van Artevelde have been published by J. 

 Vuylsteke. A. Prayon van Zuylen's highly impor- 

 tant "De Belgische Taalwetten Toegelicht" gives an 

 account of the laws on the official use of the two na- 

 tional languages, and of the struggle of the Flemings 

 in defense of" their language. Prudens van Duyse, 

 a prominent Flemish poet during the literary re- 

 vival of the Thirties, forms the theme of a volume by 

 J. Micheels, while the centenary of the birth of Jan 

 Frans Willems, father of the Flemish movement, was 

 celebrated in a volume containing three studies, by 

 Max Rooses, Julius Vuylsteke, and G. Bergmann re- 

 spectively, and issued by the society founded some 

 forty years ago in Willems's honor. The extent of 

 this Flemish literary movement has already called 

 for a " Vlaamsche Bibliographic," edited bv F. de 

 Potter, under the auspices of the Royal Flemish Acad- 

 emy (Vol. I). The history of the Flemish theater 

 in the eighteenth century has been written by O. van 

 Hauwaert; Ibsen forms the theme of an essay by 

 E. de Born ; D. Sleeckx, writing with as much vig- 

 or as ever at the age of seventy -live, is the biog- 

 rapher of Guillen de Castro ; while Pol de Mont has 

 performed a like service for Peter Benoit, the head 

 of the Flemish school of music. N. de Pauw has 

 published some queer mediaeval verse, and F. Van 

 Veerdeghem a religious drama of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, " De Menschenwordingh." " De Boer der 

 Schranse," by L. Smit,and Miss V.Loveling's "Eene 

 Idylle," which, like some of her former works, has met 

 with great success in Holland, are especially note- 

 worthy new novels, while among the poetical works of 

 the year the " Verzamelde Gedichteu" of the late 

 L. Kettman (Floris van Westervoort) and "Dicht- 

 oefeningen " of Abbe Guido Gezelle, " chief of the par- 

 ticularist school in West Flanders," deserve com- 

 mendation. The young element finds expression for 

 its revolutionary tendencies in its journal, " Van Nu 

 on Straks." 



Bohemiai Literature in this country has again been 

 given an impetus by a national quasi-literary festivity 

 the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of J. A. 

 Comenius which called forth a swarm of papers and 

 essays. The historical works to be recorded are gener- 

 ally national in character : J. L. Pic's important 

 " Archaeological Investigations in Central Bohemia," 

 T. Bilek's "History of the Confiscations" (after the 

 battle on the White Mountain), Z. Winter's " Pic - 

 tures of Bohemian Towns," Zibrt's " History of the 

 Costumes of Bohemia," Lubor Niederle's " Man in 

 Prehistoric Times," etc. Several books bearing upon 

 the fine arts have appeared, notably Madl's " Manual 

 of the History of Art," Branis's " History of Mediaeval 

 Art," and costly publications such as Koula's " Selec- 

 tion of Bohemian National Embroidery from Napr- 

 stek's Bohemian Industrial Museum," '" Collection of 

 Designs from the Retrospective Jubilee Exhibition, 

 1891," arranged by Chytil, and Zcyer's " Barok a 

 Rokoko," reproductions of prominent buildings in 

 Prague. Jaroslav Vlcek has brought out his "His- 

 tory of Bohemian Literature," the first' thorough work 

 of its kind issued since the publication of Jos. Do- 

 brorsky's book in German. It has given rise to much 

 controversy, winning praise in some quarters, while in 

 others the author was reproached with want of na- 

 tional feeling, in which matter his countrymen are 

 probably rather quick to take umbrage. Jaroslav 

 Vrchlicky and Svatopluk Cech, the two most promi- 

 nent writers in the country, have celebrated their ju- 

 bilee. While Cech has been active only as a journal- 

 ist, the prolific Vrchlicky has again added several 

 volumes to the amazingly large number of poems, 

 dramas, novels, stories, literary^ studies, and transla- 

 tions which form the fruit of his literary labors thus 

 far. His newest works include " Moje Sonata" 

 (jpoems), " Thistles from Parnassus " (sequel to " Bre- 

 viary of Modern Man"), in which meditation and sat- 

 ire are mingled, " Life and Death," " Three Kisses " 

 (a comedy long unpublished), and " Studies and Por- 

 traits," critical essays treating mainly of authors and 

 artists in western Europe. Among the novels of the 

 year are works by Vaclav Vlc"ek (" Captain Ilala- 

 burd," ' The Black Lake "), Renatus, F. Schulz (" Mod- 

 ern Novels "), Konrad, Albieri, and S. Heller (" Ro- 

 mance of the Sea " and " Red Court "), all adherents 

 of the older school in prose fiction. The new school 

 shows the usual re volt of the younger element against 

 conventional views, the striving for novelty and more 

 truth to life, which finds expression more particularly 

 in the short story, often successful, but not always ma- 

 ture and finished enough. This movement toward 

 realism seems to be very widespread, and the growth 

 of interest in the life of the people is no doubt due 

 largely to the intensely patriotic national feeling of the 

 Bohemians. Further fermenting influences are found 

 also in the agitation among the university students 

 and in the polemic between the literary world and the 

 well-organized Roman Catholic press. The produc- 

 tions of the younger writers of fiction are concerned 

 mostly with the life of their countrymen. Thus Klos- 

 termann, in his " From the Paradise of the Bohemian 

 Forest," Capek, in " Tales," and Rais, in " Bitter- 

 sweet," " Mountain Herbs," and " Family Chronicle," 

 describe Bohemian country folk successfully, while 

 Hladik and Aurednicek are rather conventional in 

 their novels dealing with fashionable life in Prague. 

 The humbler classes in the capital are, however, well 

 hit oft' in " Merry Prague People," by Hermann, and 

 " From the Memoirs of Korinek, Student of Philolo- 

 gy," a pseudonymous work, while " Three Ways," 

 " Small Stories," and " Without Bread," novelettes by 

 Herites, are concerned with life in the smaller towns. 

 Herben, in his " To the Third and Fourth Genera- 

 tion," and Mrstik, in " Good Souls " (short sketches), 

 have chosen the Moravian village as their scene of ac- 

 tion, while Polish matters form the theme of "Butter- 

 fly from a Norwegian Fairy Tale " and " Sketches of 

 the Last Polish Insurrection," both by Jelinek. Much 

 interest has been aroused also by the "Twilight Talks 

 of the Literary Society Maj." There is no dearth of 



