Page:Masterpieces of German literature volume 18.djvu/412

 338 ticism and even materialistic determinism. She does not lead us into the land of heart's desire where there has been given "beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."

Ricarda Huch's prose has breadth and repose and calm development, and is, at the same time, full of variety and of admirable clearness. Her style possesses delicate precision, felicities of word and cadence, superb lines—in a word, an atmosphere of art which belongs only to the highest order of prose.