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LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL. 



Herrmann's " Domestic Bliss" ("A Happy Husband," 

 "A Happy Wife"), stories enforcing the old adage, 

 " Marry in haste . . ."; Slejhar essays psychological 

 analysis in " Impressions of Nature and Society " and 

 " Florian Bilck, the Miller of Bysic " ; F. A. Simacek's 

 " Two Loves " offers details ot the life of employees 

 on country estates and in sugar manufactories ; Herites 

 has again sought subjects in the small towns for his 

 "Two Tales" and "Commonplace Scenes," as has 

 Stech in " Small-Town Pepper"; the brothers Mrstik 

 have issued further interesting descriptions of Mora- 

 vian life in " Shadows " and " Pictures " ; and Kuffner 

 probes the sore points of Bohemian life with a light 

 touch in " Times and Questions," a collection of arti- 

 cles. Mention must be made also of Braun's posthu- 

 mous " Historical Tales " ; the charming " Slovak 

 Pictures " of Fr. Horenskf ; Merhaut's " Serpent, and 

 other Tales " ; Horica's " Tales " of military and social 

 life; Svoboda's " Poems of Eomance"; K. L. Kukla's 

 "From all Corners of Prague .'. ."; J. L. Hrdina's 

 " Stories, Pictures, and Humoresques " ; F. Prochazka's 

 " From Various Memoirs " ; and F. J. Rubes's " The 

 Best Humoresques and Stories." An improvement is 

 taking place in literature for children, who have been 

 hitherto supplied with very trashy publications ; some 

 competent writers have begun to turn their attention to 

 this field, such as Jirasek (" Old Bohemian Historical 

 Tales") and Dolensky 1 (an illustrated Bohemian his- 

 tory under the supervision of Prof. Rezek). Less 

 poetry has been published, and not very much by 

 the older writers. Vrchlicky has issued' " Wander- 

 ings of Queen Mab," " Fragments of an Epopee," an 

 enlarged edition of his " E Morta," and an interest- 

 ing "Anthology" of 300 pieces chosen by himself 

 from the immense number of his productions ; a mas- 

 ter of form, he is more at ease in classical subjects 

 than in homely ones of national and contemporary 

 life. Zeyer's three comedies, " The Brothers," " The 

 Play of Love," and " The Time of Koseate Morn," 

 are quite in the spirit of his former work. One of 

 the strongest of the younger generation, the skeptical 

 Machar, continues his pessimistic strain in u Tristium 

 Vindobona," in which he lashes the fatuity of party 

 strife. The exactly opposite tendency is represented 

 in the remarkable " Sursum Corda," by X. Dvorak, a 

 talented Eoman Catholic priest, whose poems breathe 

 enthusiasm and religious faith. Sova, Taborsk^, 

 Mokry, and Klastersky also have issued poems of 

 more or less merit. The drama is said to give prom- 

 ise of a new era through the infusion of fresh ideas 

 by the efforts, crude though they be, of the vounger 

 writers. The work of F. X. Svoboda, of F. A. Simacek 

 ("Another Air"), and especially of the brothers Mrstik 

 (" Marysa"), is to be noted in this connection. 



Denmark. The Danes read much, and consequently 

 the literary production of Denmark is usually large 

 in proportion to the size of the country ; it includes 

 numerous translations. In historical literature note- 

 worthy publications are to be recorded. J. A. Frede- 

 ricia's valuable "Adelsvjieldens sidste Dage: Dan- 

 marks Historic . . ., 1648-'60" deals with the bloodless 

 political revolution which took place in 1660, when 

 King Frederick III was invested with full sovereignty. 

 A. D. Jorgensen's " Peter Schumacher Griffenfeld'" 

 (chancellor under Christian V) tends to place the 

 " excessive ambition and greed " of this great states- 

 man in a clearer light. Not a few false ideas respect- 

 ing earlier Danish history have been thus corrected 

 through the research carried on especially by younger 

 historians, such as Edvard Holm, Steenstrup, Frede- 

 ricia, Erslev and Troels Lund. The last named is 

 author of a series of voluminous monographs on the 

 me intime of the Danes in the sixteenth century, 

 which won warm admiration, although Dr. Schafer, a 

 Tubingen professor, attacked the historian and his 

 manner of writing the history of civilization rather 

 than that of the state. To this Lund published a 

 spirited answer. Further historical works of interest 

 are : T. Lund's " Christian den Fjerde's Skib paa 

 Skanderborg So " ; A. Larsen's ' Dansk-norske Hel- 

 tehistorier, 1586-1648"; O. H. Aagard's "Til Minde 



om Hs. Maj. Kejser Alexander II"; and N. P. Jen- 

 sen's " Napoleons Felttog i Rusland, 1812." Alfred 



Kronborg" is by H. B. Kasmussen. H. Hoffding 

 has written " Den nyere Filosofis Historic " ; A. An- 

 derson, " Mennesket's Son "; and H. Jensen, "Apos- 

 telen Paulus." " Danmarks Folkehojskoler og Land- 

 brugsskoler, 1844-'94 " is the interesting topic chosen 

 by H. Rosendal. A. Wilde's " Memoirer, 1850-'53," 

 and N. Bogh's " Christian Winther" are new works 

 of biography. G. Brandes writes of " Udenlandske 

 Egne og Personligheder." In literary history we 

 find F. Jonsson's " Den oldnorske og oldislandske 

 Litteraturs Historic " ; T. Lundbeck's " Dryden som 

 Tragediedigter " ; A. Dolleris's " Danmarks Boghand- 

 lere " ; and J. Vahl's " Dansk Bogfortegnelse for 

 1881-'92." 



" Jonathan og andre Fortaellinger," by F. Kist, is 

 said to add nothing to the reputation of this popular 

 author of the military novels "A Kecruit of 1864 " and 

 "After Duppel." The poetical traditions of Danish 

 literature, which has ever included especially not- 

 able work in meter, are being continued by younger 

 writers, such as Niels Moller, Feins, Johannes Jor- 

 gensen, and Drachmann. This may be regarded as 

 one phase of the reaction in favor of idealism. So- 

 phus Michaelis, of the newer school, shows a refined, 

 delicate style in his volume of poems " Solblomster," 

 and has also issued a graceful translation of the old 

 French poem of " Aucassin and Nicolette." Other 

 new publications in the field of belles-lettres include : 

 H. Bergstrom's " Vendepunkter"; O. Borchsenius's 

 "Hjcmlige Interiorer"; P. Nansen's " Julius Dag- 

 bog"; J". Exsul's "En Studie"; H. Drachmann's 

 " Bonifacius Skserct " ; K. Hamsun's " Ny Jord " ; K. 

 G. Brondsted's "Frihed"; M. Ottosen's "Alavaste"- 



f'.r"; K. Gjellerup's "Kong Hjarne Skald"; V. 

 ergsoe's " Juleforttellinger " ; J. Moller's "Hugo 

 Stelling " ; G. Heiberg's " Kunstnere : Komedie " ; E. 

 Juel-Hansen's " Terese Kserulf"; J. Schjorring's 

 "Familien paa Sogaard"; and I. Ring, "I. Bolge- 

 gang." 



They have been discussing copyright in the Dan- 

 ish Parliament, where a bill directing that Denmark 

 should join the Convention of Bern was rejected by 

 a few votes. It is reported also that Danish authors 

 have organized a union similar to those formed in 

 Sweden and Norway, between which latter country 

 and Denmark there appears to be a sort of friendly 

 communion in literary matters. 



Prance. The newly awakened great interest in 

 everything relating to Napoleon developed into a 

 veritable cult, and formed a characteristic feature of 

 the literary activity of the last two years. Among 

 the new literature on this subject are Frederic Mas- 

 son's " Napoleon chez lui," in which every particular 

 of the Emperor's private life is described in detail ; 

 " La Captivite de Sainte-Helene, d'apres les Rapports 

 inedits du Marquis de Montchenu, Commissaire du 

 Gouvernement du Roi Louis XVIII dans Pile, par 

 G. Firmin-Didot " ; a translation of Gen. W'olsdcy's 

 "Le Declin et la Chute de Napoleon "; Albert Van- 

 dal's " Napoleon I et Alexandre I " (Gobert premium of 

 10,000 francs) ; Constant's" Memoires sur la Vie privee 

 de Napoleon I, sa Famille et sa Cour " ; and A. Guil- 

 lois's "Napoleon . . ." Vol. Ill of "La France sous 

 Louis XVI," by A. Jobez, has appeared; Imbert de 

 Saint-Amand has edited the remarkable " Journal 

 de Marie Therese de France." M. Loir's " La Marine 

 Royale en 1789," A. Babeau's "La Province sous 

 1'ancien Regime," and Georges Bertin's scholarly 

 volume on the fascinating Madame de Lamballe arc 

 valuable contributions to the history of the period 

 immediately preceding the Revolution; the latter 

 event is treated in Aulard's " Etudes et Lecons sur 

 la Revolution francaise"; and Celestin Port, in " Le"- 

 gende de Cathelineau," aims to delineate the famous 

 Vende"en in his proper proportions. General du Ba- 

 rail's " Mes Souvenirs " otters a spirited picture of the 



