LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1899. 



449 



sur quelques Precurseurs du Socialisme (1898) ; 

 E. Fourniere's L'Idealisme social (extols social- 

 ism) ; M. Mauser's Ouvriers du Temps passe 

 (traces the labor question to the fifteenth cen- 

 tury) ; A. Lichtenberger's Socialisme historique 

 (dealing with the idea in France in 1789 and 

 179G) ; Les Industries monopolisers aux Etats- 

 Unis, by Paul de Hosiers (suggestive, though not 

 profound) ; Mme. Anna Laperiere's Le Role so- 

 cial de la Femme (directed against one-sided 

 "feministic" efforts; a plea for woman in the 

 home) ; J. Hocart's La Question juive (defends 

 the Jews) ; and Jules Lemaitre's La Franc-Magon- 

 nerie, directed against the order, as is also G. 

 Goyau's book of the same title. Philosophical 

 studies are H. Berr's L'Avenir de la Philosophic 

 and L'Abbe Piat's La Destinee de 1'Homme 

 (against materialism; aims to prove an after 

 life). H. Joly writes with analytic insight of 

 Saint Ignace de Loyola. In art and archaeology 

 we have H. d'Arbois de Jubainville's La Civilisa- 

 tion des Celtes et celle de 1'Epopee homerique 

 (1898); Syracuse, ses Monnaies d'Argent et d'Or 

 au Point de Vue artistique: la Coiffure antique 

 et ses Developpements successifs, by Comte Al- 

 beric du Chastel de la Howardries; J. Schopfer's 

 Le Voyage ideal en Italic (a six months' itinerary 

 based on the chronological sequence of the great 

 periods of art in the Italian cities, instead of on 

 a geographical order) ; C. Enlart's valuable L'Art 

 gothique et la Renaissance en Chypre (clear 

 style) ; Robert de Montesquieu's Autels privi- 

 legies (plea for art for the few; shows refinement 

 and a certain affectation of style) ; T. de Wyzewa 

 Beethoven et Wagner: Essais de Critique bio- 

 graphique (1898); and S. Peladan's Rgponse a 

 Tolstoi": La Decadence esthetique (1898). Lit- 

 erary criticism and biography, ever voluminous, 

 include H. Beranger's able appreciation of L'An- 

 nee intellectuelle; Rene Doumic's Etudes sur la 

 Litterature frangaise 3 e S6rie (strongly influenced 

 by Brunetire; preference for all that is of the 

 seventeenth century; witty, though uncompromis- 

 ing) ; Adolphe Brisson's Portraits intimes (fourth 

 series; personal interviews, wide of range, some 

 of permanent value) ; a new series of Impressions 

 de Theatre, by J. Lemaitre (witty, clear, and 

 graceful as always) ; Lintilhac's Conferences dra- 

 matiques; Aug. Filon's De Dumas a Rostand; 

 and Charles Recolin's L'Anarchie intellectuelle 

 (forcible protest against short-lived literary fash- 

 ions). One critic finds that there are no longer 

 literary schools in France only tendencies. 

 Monographs on individual writers are L. Pinvert's 

 Jacques Grevin, 1538-70: Etude biographique 

 et litteraire (the first thorough account of Gre- 

 vin's many-sided activity) ; Crouslg's La Vie et 

 les CEuvres de Voltaire ("the most important 

 contribution to Voltaire studies since the pub- 

 lication of Desnoiresterres's great work"); G. 

 Guizpt's almost completed study on Montaigne, 

 published posthumously, with a preface by E. 

 Faguet; Wladimir Karenine's George Sand: Sa 

 Vie, ses CEuvres, 1804-76; E. Faguet's Flaubert 

 (in Les grands Ecrivains frangais) ; L. Seche's 

 Jules Simon: Sa Vie, son CEuvre et son Temps, 

 1814-'96 (1898); Charles Garrisson's complete 

 though somewhat dislocated Theophile et Paul 

 de Viau: Etude historique et litteraire; J. J. 

 Jusserand's admirable Shakespeare en France sous 

 PAncien Regime; and P. Lamtte's Le Faust de 

 Goethe (a special application of the author's the- 

 ory of art). J. Michelet's Lettres inedites, 

 adressees a Mile. Mialaret (Mme. Michelet) have 

 been published. P. Loti's Reflets sur la sombre 

 Route consists of essays, descriptions, and 

 sketches. A. Daudet's Notes sur la Vie is a col- 

 VOL. xxxix. 29 A 



lection of literary ideas, possible plots, etc., and 

 lets one into the secret of the author's methods 

 of work. 



The more important titles in tin; long list of 

 prose fiction are Zola's Fecoridito (a tendency 

 novel, anti-Malthusian; has called forth widely 

 varying criticism; we are told, on the one hand, 

 that the book shows all of the author's faults 

 and is unworthy of his genius, lias incessant repe- 

 titions and sketchy character drawing, the pal- 

 atable portions lost in a maze of brutally incon- 

 siderate description of unpleasant details; on 

 the other hand, that the " aim ... is to empha- 

 size the importance of the home and its tradi- 

 tions " to the endurance of a great nation; 

 " purity of domestic life the keystone of power 

 and civilization"); Paul Bourget's La Duchesse 

 bleue (argues for objectivity in an artist; subtle 

 psychology) ; Anatole France's L'Anneau d'Ame- 

 thyste (fine satire, graceful fantasy, rich thought; 

 " a little more bitter and pessimistic than usual "), 

 third volume of that Histoire contemporaine, of 

 which the first two were L'Orme du Mail and 

 the Mannequin d'Osier (these three works will 

 remain, we are told, " the most precious testi- 

 monies and documents of an epoch anything but 

 deficient in literary manifests ") ; P. and V. Mar- 

 gueritte's Le Poste des Neiges and Femmes 

 nouvelles (" this novel sustains with ardor the 

 moral renaissance of woman, without falling into 

 the exaggeration of intolerant femininistes " ) ; 

 E. M. de Vogue's Les Morts qui parlent (gives 

 author's ideas on contemporary men and ques- 

 tions in the form of fiction; elegant style; strong 

 eloquence) ; Leon Daudet's Sebastien Gouves 

 (ridiculing certain effete sides of the medical pro- 

 fession, like his Morticoles, with satirical force) ; 

 Ren6 Bazin's La Terre qui meurt (a sober, forcible 

 story of the difficulties of the peasant and of 

 abandoned farms in the district of Marais) ; P. 

 Adam's La Force (rather unvarnished picture 

 of animal passions; author has an unusual tal- 

 ent for characterizing and story telling) ; Es- 

 taunie's Le Ferment (on the educated proletariat 

 and its restless longings) ; Andre Couvreur's able 

 and unpleasant Le Mai necessaire (as hostile to 

 surgeons as Les Morticoles, and full of indecen- 

 cies) ; Jean Aicard's L'Ame d'un Enfant (at- 

 tacks the education at the Universite) and Me- 

 lita; Jean Thorel's Devant le Bonheur; Les beaux 

 Dimanches, by Henri Lavedan (bright and merci- 

 lessly satirical as usual) ; H. Fevre's Les Liens 

 factices (naturalistic; much pathos); Ernest La 

 Jeunesse's L'Holocauste and L'Inimitable ("fine 

 artistic qualities ") ; Rene Boylesye's Mile. 

 Cloque; Georges Ohnet's Au Fond du Gouffre 

 (" an echo of the Dreyfus case ") ; O. Mirbeau's 

 Le Jardin des Supplices (something for "lovers 

 of the horrible"); Verger-Fleuri (affected inno- 

 cence and exaggerated sentimentality), by Ca- 

 tulle Mendes; L'Affaire Blaireau (humorous), by 

 Alphonse Allais ; J. H. Rosny's Les Ames perdues, 

 La Fauve, and L'Aiguille d'Or; J. Richepin's 

 Contes de la Decadence romaine (1898) ; E. Dau- 

 det's Les deux Eveques; works by A. Bonsergent, 

 G. Dubis-Dessaulle, G. Lecomte, A. Boissiere, 

 Mile. De Bo vet ("one of the ablest living writers 

 of short stories ") ; and the usual yearly product 

 of A. Theuriet, H. Leroux, E. Delpit, L. Hen- 

 nique, Th. Cahu, R. O'Monroy, and the prolific 

 Gyp and P. Mael. Poetry is naturally less 

 voluminous. Worth noting are La Chanson de 

 la Bretagne, by A. Le Braz (who sings with 

 youthful vigor and healthy realism of his native 

 land) ; Maurice Magre's La Chanson des Hommes; 

 Lebey's Les .Poemes de 1'Amour et de la Mort 

 (simplicity of style) ; J. Bach-Sisley's Artiste et 



