492 



LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1883. 



The literature relating to Goethe and Schiller 

 still receives a large share of attention, and it 

 is presumable that Germany will never hear 

 too much about those mighty men of genius. 



Holland. The record of 1883 as to Holland 

 is necessarily brief and not very important. 

 There has been manifested a strong dispo- 

 sition to make large and frequent use of the 

 dialects of the different provinces, in works 

 of travel and narrative, so that every province 

 is said now to have its representative in liter- 

 ature. A number of interesting books about 

 the Dutch East Indies have appeared. Al- 

 though not much verse has been written this 

 year, some good poems have found their way 

 into the periodicals. The novels of 1883 have 

 been numerous and successful, and several 

 historical novels have shown what Dutch 

 writers are capable of doing in this line. His- 

 tory and philology have received their usual 

 share of attention. De Jonge's " Rise of the 

 Dutch Empire in the East Indies" is being 

 continued by Mr. Van Deventer; and M. 

 Rogge is editing a list of the editions and 

 translations of all Grotius's works, and he is 

 aided by competent scholars in rendering due 

 justice to the great scholar and statesman. 

 Prof, de Vries is slowly continuing the 

 " Woordenboeck," and Verdam has published 

 the sixth part of his " Dictionary of Middle- 

 Dutch." The second volume also of Spinoza's 

 " Opera " has made its appearance. 



Hungary. During the year much attention 

 has heen bestowed upon collected editions of 

 the great writers of the country, such as John 

 Arany, Antony Osengery, etc. The first vol- 

 ume, too, has appeared of Count Szechenyi's 

 Memoirs, edited by A. Zichy. The great nov- 

 elist of Hungary, M. Jokai, sustains his repu- 

 tation in " The Echo of Forty Years." Since 

 the death of Tourguenief, it is asserted that 

 there is no writer in Europe to whom Jokai 

 yields. Dramatic literature has been charac- 

 terized by much activity and fair production. 

 In history, Hungarian savants have been a 

 good deal occupied in collecting and editing 

 original materials, such as the " Codices Di- 

 plomatioi," " The Archives of the Fugitives," 

 " Hungary and the League of Cambray," etc. 

 A number of excellent works on the recent his- 

 tory of the country have also been published. 

 In science proper, some progress has been 

 made, and in philology and linguistics Hun- 

 garian scholars have done their share. 



Italy. One of the most important events in 

 the literary progress of Italy is the creation of 

 a great "Istituto Storico," or Historical Insti- 

 tute. There is excellent promise in such an 

 institution, and it will materially aid the 

 strong national desire to compile an elaborate 

 and definitive history of Italy. Some fifty 

 years ago Caesare Cantie conceived the idea 

 of a universal history, at which he has been 

 at work ever since, and has been constantly 

 improving and enlarging. It is hoped by his 

 countrymen that he will live to bring it to a 



completion. Minghetti, one of the veterans of 

 Italian literature, is still at work, and has pub- 

 lished several more volumes on politics and 

 economy. Illustrated works have met with 

 much success, such as the " Illustrazione Ita- 

 liana," and "LaNatura"; and illustrated edi- 

 tions of standard writers have become more 

 and more popular. A. de Gubernatis has es- 

 tablished the "Revue Internationale," which 

 is to appear twice a month, and has already 

 made its mark. In brief, there has been, dur- 

 ing 1883, a large number of literary, artistic, 

 biographical, economical, and scientific publi- 

 cations; and there is no room to doubt that, 

 with her splendid advantages, Italy will al- 

 ways hold a prominent position in the litera- 

 ture of the world. 



Norway. Notwithstanding the prevalence of 

 considerable political disturbance in Norway 

 for several years, activity in literature has not 

 subsided. It has become perhaps rather too 

 controversial and polemical; but in general it 

 has shown, during 1883, no little point and 

 vigor. The poet Bjornstjerne Bjornson took 

 his share in politics, but has, nevertheless, 

 published two dramas which are pronounced 

 by the critics to be of a high order of merit. 

 The usual number of novels has appeared from 

 A. Garborg, Jonas Lie, A. Kielland, and oth- 

 ers; but lyric poetry has been very scanty, 

 all comprised in two collections of polemical 

 verses. A contribution to the history of liter- 

 ature has been made by H. Jaeger, in his 

 "Norwegian Authors" (1842-'57); and also 

 a contribution to the history of music, in A. 

 Gronvold's " Norwegian Musicians." There 

 have also been a few publications in science, 

 logic, mental philosophy, church history, and 

 classics; but they are not of special impor- 

 tance in the year's literary progress. 



Poland. The literature of Poland has been 

 to a considerable degree influenced by the fact 

 that 1883 beheld the two-hundredth anniver- 

 sary of the raising the siege of Vienna. Be- 

 sides elaborate works, like "John Sobieski 

 and his Age," and " The Campaign of Vienna," 

 numerous monographs, historical, archaeologi- 

 cal, and military, have been published, relat- 

 ing to Sobieski and his deeds, as well as the 

 famous siege of Vienna; and the anniversary 

 festival gave rise to many poems, lectures, 

 speeches, etc. The " Letters of Sobieski to his 

 Wife" were also brought out in a new edition 

 for popular use. Some efforts have been made 

 in lyric poetry and the drama; but the out- 

 come is not very striking or particularly valu- 

 able. The novel-writers have displayed about 

 their usual activity, and have generally sus- 

 tained their previously earned reputation. 

 Two or three additions have been made to 

 ecclesiastical history and literature ; the writ- 

 ings of Supinski, the first of Polish economists, 

 have been published in five volumes; and the 

 valuable correspondence of the poet Krasinski 

 has now been issued in complete form. Also, 

 Estreicher's very full and useful work, "Po- 



