458 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL. 



van Sloten, achieved a well-deserved success. " Het 

 Kind" is a somewhat old-fashioned play by H. Th. 

 Boelen; and II. Heyermans, Jr., is promising in 

 his " Dora Krerner," which was coolly received. A 

 German paper adds that Heyermans hereupon sub- 

 mitted a one-act play, "Ahasverus," as the work of 

 one fvan Jelakovich, and enjoyed a brilliant success 

 under this assumed name. 



Hungaryi There are a few noteworthy new historical 

 works to be reported : Vol. XV of the " Monumenta 

 Comitialia regm Transylvania?," published by the 

 Academy of Sciences, Vol. III. of Miklos Szendrei's 

 " History and Topography of the Town of Miskolcz," 

 Theodor Ortvay's " Geschichte der Stadt Pressburg " 

 (1892), translated from the Hungarian by the author, 

 and Vol. I of Geyza Kuun's " Relationum Hungaro- 

 rum. . . ." Keport comes of much activity in the 

 study of national history, and of the publication of a 

 aeries of ethnographic monographs of great interest, 

 begun by the Hungarian Society of Geography. Of 

 the Academy's " Magyar Students Abroad," Vol. II, 

 " Students at the Vienna University," has been is- 

 sued, as have also the lirst two volumes of Tivadar 

 Ortvay's monumental " Ecclesiastical Topography of 

 Hungary in the Beginning of the Fourteenth Century." 

 In the rubric " geography and travels " we have Prof. 

 Havass's " Bibliotheca Geographica Hungarica" (a 

 bibliography of geograph^al literature concerning 

 Hungary), and ArpaaAoonyi's" Pictures from Bos- 

 nia." Karoly Szechy's " Life and Writings of Peter 

 Vajda " and Gjorgy Gracza's " Life and Work of Kos- 

 suth " are contributions to biographical literature. 

 Prof. Foldes's " Social Economy, "written with special 

 reference to Hungary, is described as the best work of 

 its kind that has appeared in that country in recent 

 years. Other publications in this field are Polza's 

 " Communal Friendly Societies " and Mor Gelleri's 

 " History- of the Hungarian Industrial Association." 

 Nor must that very important undertaking be forgot- 

 ten, the " Great Pallas Lexicon," the Hungarian en- 

 cyclopaedia (more or less national, like Brockhaus in 

 Germany, the Britannica in England, or Appletons' 

 in the United States), to be complete in 16 volumes. 

 We are told also that the Academy has awarded its 

 grand prize to the Historical Dictionary of the Hun- 

 garian language (3 vols.), finished by Szarvas and 

 bimonyi. 



It is but natural that Hungary should have its 

 school of realists and naturalists ; we are told also that 

 imitators of the " symbolists," the " decadents," are not 

 wanting. In prose fiction we have, first of all, 

 " Brother George," a historical romance in five vol- 

 umes, by Maurus Jokai, that prolific literary veteran, 

 the half centenary of whose activity has been cele- 

 brated during the year; a feature ot this jubilee was 

 the determination of the committee to issue an edition 

 de luxe of his works, limited to 1,000 copies, at 200 

 gulden apiece, 100,000 gulden of the proceeds being 

 destined for the famous author. Sigismund Justh, 

 the popular novelist, has published "The Legend of 

 Money." Kobert Tabori takes us to the gaming table 

 in his " High Stakes," and Ferencz Herezeg, an ex- 

 cuvalry officer, draws vigorous and characteristic pic- 

 tures of life in Hungarian society in his " The Gyur- 

 kovics Girls," one of the best novels of the twelve- 

 month. Another very successful book is " True 

 Stories," by Adolf Agai (Porzo), a thoroughly original 

 writer and a talented humorist, author also of " On 

 Water and Land." The late Janos Arany to whom 

 a bronze memorial was set up in Buda-Pesth has in 

 a measure, perhaps, found a successor in Andor 

 Kozina, a writer of fine and melodious verse, and a 

 popular contributor to the " Borsszem Janko " (Hun- 

 gary's comic paper). His " The Duel " is described 

 as a mordant satire against that barbarous practice. 

 In speaking of the drama, mention should be made 

 of Irene Hecht Cserhalmi's " Influence of French 

 Romanticism on Hungarian Dramatic Literature." 

 Arpad Berczik is named as an excellent writer of " so- 

 ciety comedies." Ferencz Herczeg's " The Dolova Na- 

 bob's Daughter," a comedy adapted from one of his 



novelettes has met with success, as has also the drama 

 " Resignation," by Vilmos Karczag, a writer well 

 versed in the technique of dramaturgy. 



From Vienna comes the report that a bona-fide 

 peasant theater has been installed on the pmzta of 

 Sigismund v. Justh, and the efforts of the rural Thes- 

 pians have met with much praise. 



Italy, In spite of what would appear to be dis- 

 couraging political conditions, there is still an ardent 

 devotion to letters in this country ; the younger writ- 

 ers seem to have been especially active, and the in- A 

 terest in serious studies appears to be increasing. In 

 the domain of history, the sixteenth century receives 

 special attention, as does Dante in literary history. 

 Irancesco Nitti lias issued an able and careful study 

 of Leo X (" Leone Decimo e la sua Politica"), an old 

 " Cronaca del Soggiorno di Carlo V in Italia" has 

 been published by Prof. Romano, and Luigi Celli, in 

 " Tasse e Rivoluzione," throws light upon the revolt 

 of 1572-'73 in Urbino. Pasquale Villari has written 

 " I primi due Secoli della Storia di Firenze." The 

 names of two distinguished historians of the eighteenth 

 century appear in this year's list : Augusto Pierantoni 

 has edited a posthumous paper by Pietro Giannone, 

 " II Tribunale della Monarch! di Sicilia," an erudite 

 and important production, and Matteo Campori has 

 published " Correspondenza fra L. A. Muratori e G. 

 G. Leibniz " (important letters illustrating various 

 periods of Italian history). The publication of " Car- 

 teggi Italian! inediti e rari" has been begun by Filip- 

 po Orlando, and " II Santo Officio della Inqulsizione 

 in Napoli" (2 vols.), by Luigi Amabile, and studies 

 on "The Martyrs of Free Thought and the Victims of 

 the Holy Inquisition in the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth 

 Centuries," etc.. by Antonino Bertolotti, are both post- 

 humous works by historians of note. Prince Lanza di 

 Scalea, in " Donne e Gioielli in Sieilia nel Medio E vo," 

 describes the life of womankind in the time of Italy's 



greatest luxury. A number of important monographs 

 ealiug with noted historical personages have seen 

 the light. First and foremost, there is Pier Desiderio 

 Pasolini's fascinating and scholarly " Caterina Sfor- 

 za" (3 vols.) ; Attilio Centelli, in his " Caterina Cor- 

 naro e il suo Regno," tells the story of that queen of 

 Cyprus ; and a biography of " Adelaide di Savoia, 

 Elettnce di Baviera" is by Carlo Merkel, a young 



sagliere" is a record of personal experience, 1848-'i)0. 

 In the rubric " description and trave_l " Caterina 

 Pigorini Beri's " In Calabria" ; A. Tanfani's " II Paese 

 delle Sterline" (depicting life in London); L. Sala- 

 zar's " Montecarlo elegante"; G.Modrich's " La Russia " 

 (which, by its partisan character, has aroused hostile 

 feeling) ; A. Centelli's " L'Oriente d'oggi " ; and " Da 

 Napoli ad Amburgo," by Adolfo Rossi, are publica- 

 tions of interest. Arturo Graf's " Leggende e Super- 

 stizioni " is concerned with the medueval belief in 

 the supernatural world. Literary history, too, has 

 been enriched by some works of interest. Recent 

 Italian literature forms the theme of Giuseppe Robi- 

 ati's "II Romanzo in Italia," and E. A. Butti's"Ne 

 Odi ne Amori," while the national literature of past 

 ages is dealt with in " Cultura e Metrica Latina in Ita- 

 lia," by U. Ronca ; G. A. Cesareo's reprint of the satires 

 of Salvator Rosa, with some hitherto unpublished let- 

 ters ; " Lo Cunto de li Canti di G. B. Basile," edited 

 by Benedetto Croce ; Curzio Mazzi's work on Leone 

 Allacci and the Vatican library and Giosue Carduc- 

 ci's "La Storia del Giorno di Giuseppe Parini." 

 The industry of Dante students has again resulted in 

 the publication of a number of volumes, and a new 

 Dante journal (" Giornale Dantesco ") has made its ap- 

 pearance in Venice, edited by G. L. Passerini. Phases 

 of English literature are discussed in " Nel Presente 

 e nel Passato " and " Segni del Tempi " (both by Sen- 

 ator Negri), and by Prof. Rodriguez, whose essays on 

 Tennyson, Cowper, and our own Longfellow have 

 been well appreciated ; Domenico Ciatnpoli's " Saggi 

 Letterari" have to do with Russia; and Sigism. 



