LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1898. 



-01 







(noteworthy); A. v. Gersdorff's ' Auf gefahrvollen 

 Pfaden," " Verkauflicher Wert " and " Des Vaters 

 Schuld " ; N. v. Eschstruth's " Mondscheinprin- 

 zesschen " and " Der Majoratsherr " ; D. v. Spatt- 

 gen's " Arbeitskrat't " ; Maria Janitschek's " Ins 

 Leben verirrt." and " Ueberm Thai: Novelle" 

 (hyper-psychological); "In blauer Feme: neue 

 Novellen," by Emil Roland (pseudonym of Frau 

 Emini Lewald) ; and Maria Louise von Suttner's 

 first work, " Wie es Licht geworden ! " (a vehicle for 

 the author's ideas on social questions). New lyric 

 verse includes " Neue Gedichte und Jugendlieder," 

 by Paul Heyse, " the most brilliant representative of 

 the classic style founded by Goethe " ; Wilhelm Jen- 

 sen's " Vom Morgen zum Abend : ausgewahlte Ge- 

 dichte " (peculiarly individual) ; Gustav Falke's 

 " Neue Fahrt. Gedichte " (pure art, harmonic forms, 

 no false note); "Stimmen und Bilder. Neue Ge- 

 dichte," by Ferdinand Avenarius (placed among 

 the best German lyrists ; entirely free from mod- 

 ern decadence); "Tempi passati. Dichtungen," by 

 Jenny von Reuss (erotic poems of powerful passion 

 and carefully treated form); and "Gedichte von 

 Johanna Ambrosius, ausgewahlt von Karl Weiss- 

 Schrattenthal," Part II. In dramatic literature the 

 mass of productions is of medium quality and serves 

 for amusement. Jolly farces, such as " Im weissen 

 Rossi " and " Auf der Sonnenseite," by Blumen- 

 thal and Kadelburg; Blumenthal and Max Bern- 

 itein's farce "Matthias GOttinger"; the character 

 picture " Mutter Thiele," by A. L'Arronge ; "Die 

 Logenbriider," by KarlLaufs and Kurt Kraatz; 

 " Die gute Partie," by F. v. Schonthan and Victor 

 Leon ; Josef Jarno's comedy " Momentaufnahme " ; 

 Moser's " Blaues Blut " ; Carlot Reuling's farce 

 "Anno dazumal "; Kempner-Hochstadt's "Die Noth- 

 liige " ; " Onkel Bonkost " (sentimental melodrama) 

 by Georg Sabinus (Reike) ; the comedy " Das neue. 

 Weib," by Rudolf Stratz (whose "Jorg Truggen- 

 hofen " is very mediocre), hardly bear energetic dis- 

 section, and have, at best, an ephemeral success. 

 Plays of more or less note are Gerhart Hauptmann's 

 remarkable "Fuhrmann Henschel " (a sociological 

 study of unhappy marriage ; in Silesian dialect) ; 

 J. J." David's "Neigung" ("minute character draw- 

 ing ") ; Arthur Schnitzler's successful " Das Ver- 

 machtniss " ; the comedy " Wunderquelle " and the 

 sensationally successful "Das Erbe " (inspired by 

 the relations between Bismarck and William II), by 

 Felix Philippi, who commands a remarkable tech- 

 nique, and, as one critic says, "deceives the public 

 ... as to his poetical impotence and the absolute 

 worthlessness of his plays"; Ludwig Fulda's " He- 

 rostrat" (his "most thoughtful and best work"); 

 Max Halbe's "Der Eroberer" (a complete failure); 

 " Gertrud " (romantic ; highly interesting as litera- 

 ture), drama by Johannes Schlaf, the " prophet of 

 naturalism"; PaulHeyseVFornarina : Trauerspiel" 

 (interesting, but conventional in technique) and 

 " Vanina Vanini " (tragic love drama, polished and 

 elegant ; melodramatic, but skillfully constructed) ; 

 Philipp Langmann's "Bartel Turaser" ("labor" 

 drama; well rounded, characters sharply de- 

 fined) and "Die vier Gewinner" (Volksstuck; life- 

 like) ; the Viennese Zionist Theodor Herzl's " Das 

 neue Ghetto " (the " moral Ghetto," from which the 

 hero unsuccessfully strives to escape ; excellent pic- 

 ture of Jewish life) : Max Bernstein's " Madchen- 

 traurn " (charming verses, romantic and graceful) ; 

 Felix Dormann's surprisingly good comedy " Ledige 

 Leute " ; " Die blonde Katharine " (Marc,henspiel),by 

 Richard Voss ; " Konigskinder " (a sweetly senti- 

 mental fairy fantasy), by Frau Rosa Bernstein 

 (Ernst Rosmer), set to music by Hum perdinck; C. 

 G. Reuling's " Der Starkere " ; Max Dreyer's " In 

 Behandluhg" and " Grossmama" (farce; natural; 

 well-deserved success) ; Georg Ruseler's realistic 

 VOL. xxxvin. 26 A 



I'. 1 



;lay " Gudrun " ; Georg von Ompteda's " Eheliche 

 iebe " (respectable, not strong) ; " Das Recht des 

 Herzens," two-act play by Ernst Possart, the actor 

 (effective, at times theatrical) ; works by young 

 men, such as Hugo von Hofmannsthal's one-act 

 " Madonna Dianora " (a " dramatized ballad," pul- 

 sating with suppressed fire), " Tote Zeit," by Ernst 

 Hardt (not yet mature), and Otto von der Pfordten's 

 " Mohammed " ; the Volksstuck " 'S Katherl " and 

 the comedy " Die Biirgermeisterwahl " (neither re- 

 markably original), by Burkhard (who showed a fine 

 appreciation of the modern movement when director 

 of the Hofburg Theater, in Vienna) ; " Das grobe 

 Hemd " (comedy), by E. Karlweiss (Viennese, good- 

 natured humor); Felix von Stenglin's arrangement 

 of Goethe's " Die Aufgeregten " ; historic dramas, 

 such as Josef Lauff's " Burggraf von Zollern " (in- 

 spired by Wilhelm II) and " Alarich, KOnig der 

 Westgothen," by Verdy du Vernois, both coolly re- 

 ceived ; the Tyrolean Karl Domanig's noteworthy 

 dramatization of the Tyrolean struggle and Hofer's 

 life, a " trilogy " composed of two dramas " Speck- 

 bacher " and " Der Kronenwirth von Hall," and a 

 tragedy, " Der Sandwirth," and having also a pre- 

 lude, " Die Braut des Vaterlands," and an epilogue, 

 " Hofer's Denkmal." (" Der Kronenwirth " was acted 

 by peasants, as the well-meaning but imperfect pro- 

 duction of Carl Wolf has been every year, near 

 Meran.) 



Greece. The war with Turkey has occasioned 

 some ' hasty and inferior records of its history." 

 Historical works of note are primarily the " History 

 of the Empire of Nica?a and the Despotism of Epirus 

 (1204-1261)," by Anton Miliarakis (comprising ma- 

 terial discovered since the publication of Finlay's 

 work) ; " History of Trebizond from the Earliest 

 Times to our own Day," by Tryphon Evangelides 

 (cursory) ; the first connected "History of Nauplia 

 from the Oldest Times to the Present Day," by 

 Michael Lambrynides (praiseworthy attempt, but 

 author ill-equipped) ; annals of " Dimitsana, the 

 Famous School of Arcadia," by Jakis Karidiloros; 

 and " Foreign Rule and Kingship in Greece, 1821- 

 '97," by George Philaretos (views on influence of 

 foreign intrigues on Kings Otto and George). The 

 new edition of. " History of the Church from its 

 Founding to our Day," by A. D. Kyriakos (originally 

 published in 1881), "is practically a new work. T. 

 Athanasiu, a Roumanian priest, offers a thorough 

 account of " The Greek Schools in Roumania " 

 from 1644 to 1821. C. Papamarku's polemical, bril- 

 liant " The Reading Books of the School Children 

 of Greece " effectively criticises the commission 

 which rejected his schoolbooks and discusses the 

 basis of the latter. A. Vlachos has issued a rather 

 inadequate dictionary of Neo-Greek (" Affricbv 

 e\\i\t/oya\\ix6i' "). Philological and other studies 

 are offered in the excellent " Illustrations of By- 

 zantine Proverbs," by Nicolaos Politis ; ' Philo- 

 logica," by D. Angelides ; a monograph on Plato's 

 " Laws," by Miltiades Pantazis ; " Music among the 

 Ancient Greeks and the Delphic Hymn to Apollo," 

 by T. Polykrates ; " Sea Tactics of the Ancients, 

 after the MS. of the Ambrosiana," by K. Rados ; 

 and a catalogue of 104 codices preserved in the 

 Hagia monastery in Andros, by S. P. Lambros. 

 The indefatigable Papadopoulos-Kerameus has is- 

 sued Vols. Ill and I\ of " Ai/eA./cra y lfpoao\vfurtKris 

 a-raxvo\ojlas" (St. Petersburg) and Vol. Ill of " Cat- 

 alogue of the Jerusalem Library," published by the 

 Russian Palestine Syllogos. prominent among the 

 literary societies which are actively publishing man- 

 uscript matter found in the monasteries of the Le- 

 vant. 



New prose fiction includes " The Dream of Jan- 

 niris," by J. Pyscharis, who affects the popular dia- 

 lect " with peculiar results " ; stories by K. Passa- 



