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LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL. 



" Histoire de la Psychologic des Grees " (5 vols.) ; 

 and Eaoul Allier's " Les Detaillauces de la Volonte au 

 Temps present," and Thamin's " Education et Posi- 

 tivisme" (proposing that education be governed by 

 idealism and religion instead of materialism) are also 

 worthy of note. The appearance of two new reviews 

 in this field is to be noted : " Kevue de Sociologie " and 

 "Revue de Metaphysique et de Morale." In the de- 

 partment of religion and ecclesiastical history one 

 naturally thinks first of the late Kenan's " Histoire du 

 Peuple d'lsrael," Vols. IV and V). Molinari's " Re- 

 ligion " maintains that religious feeling is natural to 

 humanity, developing best under a free government ; 

 Ch. Letourneau's " L'Evolution religieuse dans lesdi- 

 verses Races humaines" traces the various religions 

 to the same underlying principle; Louis Figuier's 

 * Bouheurs d'Outre-t ombe " and Bourdeau's " Prob- 

 leme de la Morf'are contributions to eschatology, 

 the tirst favorable to the doctrine of immortality, the 

 other combating it. P. Allard traces the " Histoire 

 des Persecutions du I" au IV" Sieclc " in five volumes. 

 Mommsen and Marquardt's " Handbuch derromisch- 

 en Alterthiimer" is being translated, various French 

 specialists being intrusted with the separate parts of 

 the work. In the domain of fine arts we have A. 

 Gazier's " Philippe et Jean Baptiste de Champaigne " 

 and S. Rocheblave's "Les Cochin" (both in the in- 

 terminable series " Artistes Cdlebres ") ; E. Fazy's 

 "Louis II et Richard Wagner" ; A. Pellissier's "Les 

 Chefs-d'oeuvre de 1'Art rnoderne . . . " ; H. Lemon- 

 nier's " Etudes d'Art et d'Histoire : 1'Art franeais au 

 Temps de Richelieu et de Mazarin " ; A. Ernst's 

 " L'Art de Richard Wagner : l'(Euvre poetique " ; G. 

 I. L. E. Larroumet's " Meissonier." Edmpnd de Gon- 

 court tells the story of a famous dancer in " La Gui- 

 mard " (" Les Actri'ces du XVIII" Siecle "). The liter- 

 ature of bookbinding has received a very important 

 addition in Ernest Thoinan's "Les Relieurs frangais, 

 1500-1800," and Octave Uzanne, in his " Bouquineur.s 

 et Bouquinistes," tells of book-hunting on the quays 

 of Paris. Several interesting works dealing with lit- 

 erary history and criticism have appeared, one of the 

 most remarkable being the volume of essays upon the 

 drama in France, by Ferdinand Brunetiere, editor of 

 the " Revue des deux Mondes," and probably the most 

 prominent exponent of purely objective criticism. 

 The Vicomte de Vogiie', in his " Regards historiques 

 et litteraires " (1892) and " Heures d'Histoire," as in 

 earlier works, strives to get at the hidden significance 

 of thought and action ot the present day, and to infer 

 the tendencies of the next generation ; Barbey d'Aure- 

 villy's " Les lEuvres et les Homines " treats of noted 

 "M6moires"; Ren Doumic's " De Scribe & Ibsen" 

 illustrates the evolution of the drama; the late 

 Edouard Goumy's unfinished " Les Latins " accentu- 

 ates the value of the Latin classics in education ; and 

 Louis Leger's "La Litterature russe " (1892) is especial- 

 ly valuable as regards the literature of past centuries. 

 A. David-Sauvageot's " Le R6alisme etle Naturalisme 

 dans la Litte>ature et dans 1'Art " ( 1892) ; P. Ginisty's 

 "L'Armee litte>aire 1892"; E. Tissot's " Drame 

 norvegien: Henri Ibsen, Bi^rnstierne Bi<frrnson"; 

 " Un Homme de Lettres sous 1' Empire et la Restau- 

 ration " (diary of Edmond Ge>aud ) ; E. Montegut's 

 " Esquisses litteraires " ; P. Morillot's " Le Roman en 

 France depuis 1 610 "; Joseph Bedier's "Les Fabliaux "; 

 H. Dietz's " Les Litteraturea e"trangeres" (Vols. I and 

 II : Italy, Spain) ; and " Anthologie cles Poetes franeais 

 du XIX e Siecle," are also of interest. Furthermore, 

 Jules Lemaitre's " Impressions du Theatre," Albert 

 Soubies's " Le (Theatre en France," 1871-'92," J. J. 

 Weiss's i' A proVos de Theatre," Gustave Larrou- 

 met's " Etudes de Litterature et d'Art," Paul Stap- 

 fer's " Des Reputations litteraires," Georges Pellis- 

 sier's " Essais de Litterature contemporaine," deal 

 mostly with the literature of to-day. Monographs on 

 Alfred de Musset, by Mine. Vincens (Arvede Barine), 

 throwing new light on his relations with George 

 Sand ; Lesage, by Eugene Lintilhac ; J. J. Rousseau 

 (whose biography Henri Beaudouin issued in 1892), by 

 Arthur Chuquet (an able piece of work) ; Descartes, by 



A. Fouillee ; Rabelais, by Rene Millet; Chateaubri- 

 and, by De Lescure ; Hugo, by Leopold Mabilleau 

 all seven in the series " Grands Ecrivains Framjais" 

 of Thomas Corneille (striving to show him as un- 

 fairly overshadowed by Pierre), by G. Reynier ; Hugo, 

 by Ch. Renouvier; Lamartine, by Emile Deschanel, 

 have appeared. Another new periodical is to be re- 

 corded, " Le Livre et 1'Image," " a monthly documen- 

 tary illustrated review," edited by John Grand-Car- ' 

 teret, who in 1892 issued the profusely illustrated 

 volume, " XIX e Siecle." 



In the doiftain of belles-lettres, the question of the 

 character of the French literature of to-day becomes 

 a somewhat vexed one. It is in a state of transition. 

 The positivism of Ilippolyte Adolphe Taine (Vol. VI 

 of whose " Origines de la France Contemporaine " has 

 appeared), the neo-mysticism of Melchior de Vogue 

 and Paul Desjardins, the materialism or realism ot 

 Zola, the psychology of Paul Bourget, Paul Margue- 

 ritte, and Marcel Prevost, the classic beauty of the 

 poetry of Leconte de Lisle and Jose Maria de IMre- 

 dia, a native of Cuba, and the most recent efforts of 

 the " symbolists " (rather contemptuous of grammat- 

 ical rules), all find their devotees in the ranks of 

 "young France." As one critic says, there are two 

 main currents in contemporary irench literature, 

 the scientific and the imaginative; which will pre- 

 ponderate is as yet an unsettled question. It seems, 

 however, that subjectivism is beginning to gain on 

 objectivism ; that the litterateurs of France are gov- 

 erned more generally by a desire to probe the serious 

 questions of the hour, to preach what one writer has 

 called " le devoir present et faction morale " in a 

 word, that literature is regaining a more ethical char- 

 acter. The following works may be said to specially 

 illustrate various of these conflicting movements in 

 French literature : Jules Lemaitre's " Les Rois," one 

 of those visions of the future now so much in vogue, 

 and dealing with the fate of monarchy in the face of 

 the rapid progress of democracy ; Paul Bourget's 

 " Cosmopolis," which may be accepted as a reaction 

 against the naturalism of Zola and others; and 

 "L'Autonme d'une Femme," by Marcel Prevost, a 

 refined, realist, whose latest work deals with the 

 rivalry between a young woman and one of maturer 

 age, both enamored of the same man, and the moral 

 aim of whichj we are told, is to show " that love is 

 wrong when it has no other end than itself," are all 

 three especially noteworthy books. Paul Margueritte, 

 originally a disciple of Zola, whom he deserted some 

 years ago. has issued " La Mouche " (short stories), 

 and J. H. Rosny, " one of the most brilliant writers of 

 the new French school of fiction," has in his latest 

 work shown a tendency to desert "Zolaism" for 

 idealism. In fact, there seems to be no new work of 

 note which shows any affinity with the spirit and 

 method of Zola, whose " Le Docteur Pascal " ends 

 the long history of the Rougon-Macquart family, to 

 which he devoted nearly twenty-five years of his life. 

 Anatole France, graceful, skeptical, witty, has pub- 

 lished "L'Etui de Nacre" (a collection of tales, 1892), 

 "Les D<jsirs de Jean Servien," and "La Rotisscrie do 

 la Reiue Pedauque," in which he is as fantastical, 

 thoughtful, and ironical as ever, and Francois Coppe"e 

 has brought out a collection of short stories under the 

 title " Longues et Breves," and a volume of papers, 

 " Mon Franc Parler." 



From the mass of fiction published during the year 

 we may select also Jean Carol's " Le Portrait" (short 

 stories), J. Barbey d'Aurevillv's " Le Chevalier des 

 Touches," A. Houssaye's " Le Ionian de la Duchesse," 

 Jane ' Dieulafoy's " Rose d'Hatra," A. Silvestre's 

 " Floreal," L. Roger-Miles's " Nos Femmes et nos 

 Enfants . . . ," C. Mendes's " Nouveaux Contes de 

 Jadis," J. Richepin's " L'Aime," E. Daudet's " Made- 

 moiselle de Circe," Pierre Loti's "Matelot" and 

 " L'Exilee," ' Edouard Rod's " Vie privde de Michel 

 Teissier," and " Tante Joujou," by '* Gyp " (Comtesse 

 de Janville). Hector Malot's " Complices," and two 

 works by promising newcomers Jean Madeline's 

 " Contes sur Porcelaine " and Masson-Forestier's 





