476 



LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1883. (FICTION.) 



equal cause for anxiety. The rule to show cause in 

 this case is discharged, and the writs of habeas corpus 

 denied. 



(For the opinion of the Supreme Court de- 

 claring unconstitutional that part of the " Ku- 

 klux act " passed by Congress in 1871, and 

 now embodied in section 5519 of the Revised 

 Statutes, see the "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 

 1882, page 457.) 



LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1883. The total 

 number of books published in the United States 

 for the year 1883 did not much exceed the 

 aggregate of 1882. The work done by Ameri- 

 can publishers has been, as usual, largely re- 

 prints from English plates, or importations of 

 sheets bound and published under an American 

 imprint. Of what may be called distinctively 

 American literature, that is, the products of 

 American authors, there has not been any 

 notable increase in number of books, though 

 the average quality distinctly indicates a higher 

 intellectual standard. It must be said, how- 

 ever, that in the severer lines of thought and 

 study, theology and religion excepted, there 

 has not been shown the same relative activity 

 as in the more popular forms of literature. 

 This is specially the case in science, metaphys- 

 ics, sociology, economics, and kindred subjects. 

 On the other hand, the showing in fiction, 

 biography, history, travel, poetry, and general 

 literature has been signally brilliant and satis- 

 factory. In theology the contributions have 

 been a distinctive feature of the publications 

 of the year, including books which deal with 

 theology from the agnostic stand-point. 



The total number of books published during 

 the year in the United States, classified and 

 compared with those of 1882, will be found in 

 the following summary taken from the ''Pub- 

 lishers' Weekly," which is probably as approx- 

 imately close as is possible to be obtained. 

 This list includes reprints of foreign books as 

 well as books by American authors : 



It need not be said that the bulk of the above 

 quantity of books is of ephemeral value, or else 

 of a professional and technical sort. In our 

 rapid sketch of the publications of 1883 only 

 the notafre ones will be mentioned, and a dis- 



tinction made between the books written by 

 American authors and those emanating from a 

 foreign source. 



fiction. Fiction is the most important class, 

 .both as regards the number of books and the 

 high degree of literary excellence attained by 

 many of them. F. Marion Crawford continued 

 the notable success made in " Mr. Isaacs" by 

 "Dr. Claudius" (Macmillan & Co.), and "To 

 Leeward " (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.). One of 

 the most powerful novels of the year was 

 " But yet a Woman " (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.), 

 by Prof. A. S. Hardy, which made a distinct 

 mark on the literature of the year. Other 

 memorable works of fiction which created con- 

 siderable discussion both at home and abroad 

 were Mrs. Burnett's " Through One Adminis- 

 tration " (James R. Osgood & Co.) ; Bret Harte's 

 " In the Carquinez Woods " (Houghton, Mifflin, 

 &Co.); Howells's "A Woman's Reason "(James 

 R. Osgood & Co.); Tourgee's "Hot Plough- 

 shares" (Fords, Howard, & Hulbert); Con- 

 stance Woolson's "For the Major" (Harper & 

 Brothers) ; " Arius the Libyan " (D. Appleton 

 & Co.); and "The Bread- Winners " (Harper 

 & Brothers). The latter two novels were 

 anonymous, and notable examples of imagin- 

 ative" work. The first-named novel gave a 

 vivid picture of the conflicts and discussions 

 of early Christianity and of the imperial court 

 of Constantine. " The Bread- Winners " is no- 

 ticeable as a study of some of the most inter- 

 esting phases of contemporary life, equally 

 marked by vigorous realism and delicacy of 

 touch. Other novels by American authors 

 worthy of mention were " Guenn, a Wave on 

 the Breton Coast " (James R. Osgood & Co.), 

 by Blanche Willis Howard; "Dust" (Fords, 

 Howard, & Hulbert), and "Fortune's Fool" 

 (James R. Osgood & Co.), both by Julian Haw- 

 thorne, and equally marked by great power 

 and great defects; Miss Tincker's "Jewel in 

 the Lotos" (J. B. Lippincott & Co.); Edgar 

 Fawcett's "An Ambitious Woman," a well- 

 written story of New York society (Houghton, 

 Mifflin, & Co.) ; Frank Lee Benedict's " The 

 Price She Paid" (J. B. Lippincott & Co.); 

 "His Sombre Rivals," by E. P. Roe (Dodd, 

 Mead, & Co.) ; " The Led Horse Claim," by 

 Mary Hallock Foote (James R. Osgood & Co.) ; 

 "The Priest and the Man, or Abelard and 

 Heloise," by William Wilberforce Newton 

 (Cupples, Upham, & Co.); "Hand and Ring" 

 (G. P. Putnam's Sons), by Anna Katharine 

 Green; "A Castle in Spain," a posthumous 

 novel by James De Mille (Harper & Brothers); 

 " Stephen M. D.," by the author of "The Wide 

 Wide World" (Robert Carter & Brothers); 

 "Judith, a Chronicle of Old Virginia," by 

 Marion Harland (Fords, Howard, & Hulbert) ; 

 " A Washington Winter," by Mrs. Madeleine 

 Dahlgren (James R. Osgood & Co.) ; " An Hon- 

 orable Surrender," by Mary Adams (Charles 

 Scribner's Sons) ; " A Newport Aquarelle," by 

 Miss Maud Howe (Roberts Brothers); Miss 

 Olney's " Fairy Gold " (J. B. Lippincott & Co.) ; 



