472 ROMANCE LITERATURE 



in his works a "Latin renaissance," but M. Joseph Texte 1 said of him: 

 "The influence of d' Annunzio is one of those which we do not 

 wish to see our France feel too deeply." Each one of the great Latin 

 countries has its own individuality, its own genius, but they have 

 all in common many traits which they have inherited from ancient 

 and splendid Rome, and one of the important problems in the field 

 of Romance literatures is to endeavor to bind by a closer intellectual 

 bond people whose languages and civilizations are principally Latin. 



In this paper I have not yet mentioned the Catalan, Roumanian, 

 Rhaetian, and Provencal literatures. Important problems may be 

 found there, but I have no time to study them. I wish, however, to 

 call attention to the interest which lies in a study of Catalan litera- 

 ture and of its influence on Spanish literature and even on Spanish 

 politics. The felibrige in France is also very important from its literary 

 as well as from its political aspect. The works of Mistral, of his pre- 

 decessors, and of his friends, have not only a literary value, but 

 are important with regard to the effect which they may produce on 

 the question of decentralisation. Of like effect may be the novels 

 which describe provincial life, such as those of Ferdinand Fabre, 

 Andre Theuriet, Emile Pouvillon, and Rene Bazin. 



Political questions have always exerted a great influence on liter- 

 ature. A great change was brought about in Spain by the French 

 Revolution and by the struggle against the Napoleonic invasion; and 

 such poets as Espronceda, Nunez de Arce, Campoamor, and Zorrilla; 

 such novelists as Juan Valera, Pedro Alarcon, Emilia Pardo Bazan, 

 and Armando Palacio Valdes; such dramatists as Echegaray and 

 Perez Galdos, are the products of the literary renaissance which 

 began after the fall of Napoleon. But the most important force in 

 the development of Spanish literature would be the development 

 of the educational system of the country. Education is not general 

 enough in Spain or yet in Italy. Republican France, since 1870, has 

 given a great example to her Latin sisters and has made wonderful 

 progress in public education. It will be interesting to note in a few 

 years what have been the results on literature of the present policy 

 of the French Government concerning congregational schools. The 

 influence of parliamentary democracy is an important subject to 

 study. lias its establishment been the cause of pessimism in litera- 

 ture or not? In Italy also political history has exerted a marked 

 influence on literary history, and the establishment of the kingdom of 

 Victor Emmanuel and the loss of the temporal power of the Pope 

 have given rise to interesting problems in literature as well as in 

 politics. 



1 Petit de Jullevillc, Histoire de la Langue et de la Literature franraise, volume 

 vin, p. 695. 



