Page:The Dial vol. 15 (July 1 - December 16, 1893).djvu/68

 56 largely in the work of the past year, having been encouraged by the Society of the History of the Revolution, and by a special chair established by the Faculty of Letters at Paris. Some of the books in this department are M. Aulard's "Le Culte de la Raison et le Culte de l'Etre Suprême, 1793-1794," the fourth volume of M. Albert Sorel's "L'Europe et la Révolution," and M. H. Houssaye's "1815." Other historical studies are M. Thureau-Dangin's work on the reign of Louis Philippe, M. Spuller's work on Lamennais, M. Leroy-Beaulieu's "La Papaute, L'Eglise, et la Démocratie," and M. Benoist's "L'Eglise et l'Etat." In poetry, M. Jose Maria de Heredia's "Les Trophees" is singled out for special praise. In fiction, the place of first importance is given to M. Zola's "La Débâcle," of which we read:

Other noteworthy works of fiction are M. Bourget's "Terre Promise" aand "Cosmopolis," M. Margueritte's "Sur le Retour," M. Prevost's "L'Automne d'une Femme," M. France's "Rôtisserie de la Reine Pédauque," M. Barres's "L'Ennemi des Lois," and M. Lemaître's "Les Rois." In criticism are mentioned a volume of essays by M. Brunetière, M. de Vogüé's "Heures d'Histoire," and M. Doumic's "De Scribe à Ibsen." M. Reinach concludes his article in the following hopeful strain:

Herr Robert Zimmermann, who writes the German article, says that the literature of his country at the present day has less to fear from a comparison with contemporary literatures than from a comparison with its former greatness, with the "time of its literary classicism and philosophical idealism," which is so obvious as hardly to be worth the saying. In dramatic literature, nothing published has been found worthy of the Grillparzer prize, which is awarded only to dramas of inherent worth and proved success upon the stage. We have mention, however, of Herr Fulda's "Das Verlorene Paradies" and "Die Sklavin," of Herr Sudermann's "Hirmat," of Herr Hauptmann's "Die Weber," of Herr Wilbrandt's "Der Meister von Palmyra," and of Herr Widmann's "Jenseits von Gut und Böse." The latter title is also given to the latest philosophical work of Herr Nietzsche. This is a very fin de siècle book, as appears from the writer's comment:

Among novels, Herr Heyse's "Merlin" leads the list, followed by the "Per Aspera" of Dr. Ebers, the "Sonntagskind" of Herr Spielhagen, and the "Glaubenslos" of Frau von Ebner-Eschenbach. The Goethe Gesellschaft has been active during the year, and has done something towards the rehabilitation of Christiane. There has been no end of Bismarck literature, mostly ephemeral. Herr Nietzsche, besides the book already mentioned, has published the fourth volume of his principal work, "Also Sprach Zarathustra." Having fallen a victim to the curse of insanity, the career of this brilliant writer is probably closed.

Literature has been active in all three of the Scandinavian countries, and we much regret that Norway should be unrepresented in the "Athenæum" symposium. Herr Alfred Ipsen, writing from Denmark, tells us:

"The public is tired of books crammed with discussion, so that they seem the works of so many journalists—tired of a sterile realism, which has ended with giving us only photographs of life, disregarding the human soul's everlasting thirst for something beyond or behind reality. There is a feeling that we have had enough of sexual abnormities and pathological phenomena—enough of stories of sinful and merely sensual love, detailed with minute accuracy Some point to Maeterlinck as the prophet to come, and comment