New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-11-30
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
A GERMAN NOVEL.

Through Night to Light" is continuation Oh
gpielhagen's Problematic Characters" 1t taxes up
the principal personages of that story "hele VIC
dropped them few months ago. and carries Oh 'ioi,
adventures until two three of them are ue"u anu
nearly all are involved in more or less MISERY io
careers of the survivors are by no means hli'n0u'
nor is their future indicated; so there is no
son why we should not look for an INDEFINITE oon'ii
nation of the story until the dramatis persona are
all dead. This system of writing has It's dlSadVah-
taces "Tbrough Night to Light" can hardly be
understood can cerainlysnot be enjoyed by areader
,,bo has not previously mastered the "PrOblematlc
Characters7 Not only does the plot of the later
hinge upon the incidents of the earlier novel, but
"Probematc Characters" gives the key note of the
authors purpose in both works. and without
comprehension of that purpose it is not worth
while to read the books But the books are very
long and whether in view of the average duration
of human life in modern times, it is desirable to 60
through much, is more than we shall undertake TO
say. Problematic characters rs defined by Goethe,
are natures not in full possession of themselves
who are not equal TO any situation in life and whom
no situation satisfies" They natures capable of
great deeds and with latent inclination towards
great virtues; but q fatality in wTOng-dOing drives
them to crime and excess, and strange twist OF the
intellectual faculties units them for the
relations of life A physician would place
snch natures on the underlined border
land which divides the rational from the IN
sane moralist would hesitate whether to pity or to
hate them. For philosophical German novelist
with passion for mental analysis, with the national
tendency toward mysticism. and with radical views
moreover, upon social questions, such characters
offer tempting theme and the wonder is, not that
Spielhagens pen has already pursued the problems
through two volumes of five hundred close pages
each but that he has ever brought himself to stop
his pen at all. We do not believe that to American
readers the study of such characters will be agree
able and certainly it is not especially improving.
Through Night to Light is little better than a
chronicle of seduction, in which two or three
women are ruined. two or three homes broken mp,
two or three estmable men DESTROYED by their own
passions The hero is in love with three women at
snce. He runs away with the only one of the three
who is already married-though !she is not the one
he loves best-and after he has grown tired of her
and she has left him for the protection of her brother
he throws himself into the midst Of the Berlin in
surgents in the rising of 1915 and dies at the bari
eades He dies not because be loves his country,
but because he is tired of life Is this passing
Through Night to Lght!'
The merits of Spelhagen are in the forcibe nara
ton of exciting incident and the keen analysis of
character though Of his characters are in them
selves strong ones. and few of them are pleasing.
but plot which requires two long novels for its de-
veloment must be called a itrihe ponderous for
modern American tastes. He has more wit than we
generally look for in German writer; he has also
much of the grotesque German sense of humOr; and
several of the scenes the novel now before us,
such as the Dramatic Readings at the house of Rec
tor Clemens and the interview between Oswald,
Emily and Prmula at the house of the pOetess of the
COrnnowers" are very laughable, even in the incl
egant disguise Of Prof Schele de Veres translation.
The love-scenes generally coarse, and it will
strike most people that the moral tone of the book,
without being in the least offensive lacks dignity
and elevation.
We cannot close without a few words of remon-
STRANGE against the manner in which Spielhagen has
been introduced TO the American public. Professor
Schele de We're ought to be q good translator. for
language is one of his special studies We have had
no opportunity to learn whether he has fairly COM
pretended the Of the original German, but he
has certainly turned it into very bad English,
times failing to convey the authors meaning not
unfrequently failing to convey any meaning at all,
and SHINING repeatedly against grammar and lido
matte construction. He makes Spielhagen say of an
irreproachable young lady to whom scamp had
been paying his addresses, that she had a con-
nection with man of bad character which is GER
tainly not the meaning of the text Quoting an
original poem from the album of one OF the
ages Of the story 1--WE may add in passing. that the
poetca tTanSlatiOns are abomnable), he says:
Not all poems naive and full of hope
as this but they are all addressed 10 the
same pTsOn,"-at which should have been very
much surprised had it not been evident that Spiel
hagen said all the poems in the album" Professor
lie We're frequently allows quiet and polished gen
teman, in conversation with lady, to inteTard his
remarks with the explehye, " BY God" which, how
ever it may sound in German is more permissible
in English than "don't boiler" which be also uses.
The following sentence is example of the faults of
construction which may be found on almost every
page: lie rose, somewhat astOnshed at such visit
at so unusual an hour, half from his chair And
for specimens of the kind of grammar employed
by a Professor in the University of Virginia
and the author of volume of Studies in Ian
guage," take the following: Suffer of too great
weakness" HOItense succeeded in wedgng in
a casual remark and thus 10 obtain the word :" ere
calling the child from her Punishment back again -
"Our times Is like a trembling (sic mountain which
produces not ridiculous mouse, etc" The memory
. . sounded like the notes of an KOlian harp into
the wild allegro Of his present life - hardly have
justified any one from calling him old :" persons
which - and had ran awayw He says "in danger
of life when he means IN danger of death; he
speaks Of eyes of bright darkness Whatever that
may be; of maniadc passonateness;" of ian
aversion at first concealed by an apparent
aversion :" and of "bass VIOLIN" which
would certainly be puzzle to musicians. He says
1.-THE once unclaimed CaStalian well was not TO be
checked" as if the well had been a wild beast
instead of fountain. Most of these faults we dare
say the result Of haste and carelessness, and
indeed more pains seem TO have been bestowed upon
the first few chapters than upon the subsequent