, 1873-06-15
GERMAN NOVELtSTS.
SD{elhoreu. Aucrb1ch, EreytnK,
HeYSe.

know no modern author who has laid human
nature 80 universally under contribution. and
with such uniform success, as Spielhagen. His
canvas is crowded with figures all true to nature,
but al more or less typical The inheritor OF
ancestral imbecility,. whose talk is Of dogs and
horses. and whose virtue consists in constant
readiness to stake his own value1ess, against
some fe1loW-creature's valuable lfe--the profess
sor whose seething brain boils over at last in q
madness rep1ate with strange and startling wis.,.
dom-the young girl who, possessed OF physical
desire, tempts to love whose fruit is bitterness
OF sorroW-the beauteous matron who also low
ing, sheds the charm OF holy sen-denia1 over an
intercourse that else had passed the bounds OF
hiendship-aboye all, tho poor, perp1e1ea na-
ture, which, full of noble impulses and lofty
aspirations, is yet the thran OF self and inde-
oision-these are but . few OF the characters
which, drawn with realistic hand, yet reveal to
uB an idealist who alma at something higher
than the reproduction OF more externalism who
is ever conscious Of the mystery OF life and the
SURPRISING interest of psychological develop
ment.
That Spielhagen has many faulta it Is impos-
sible to gainsay. His novels are too long and
too loosely put together. In this respect he
might learn much from his Engliah rivals. In
spite OF the flowing beauty Of his style, they
leave an impresaion OF clumainess and want Of
finish. His genius is in fact too rubust sud i'm
parious to descend to petty technicalities. He
pursues an ideal With gigantic strides, but with.
out much attention to grace OF movement But
in spite Of these and other faults, he contests at
this moment the literary supremacy Of Germany
with Auerbach and Freytag, and in many I'M
portant qualities ia superior to either.
In Auarbach, again. the same strong conv1c-
80 ktn tv pf ind f4Ar of
the invisible over the visible Of psychology over
incident, confronts one at every turn Take, for
example, the "Villa on the Rhine" In what
does the real interest Of the book consist Not
but little, and that ittle tame and, except 1t
the very end, commonplace. It is interesting
solely Is study Of character-as aminute analy-
sis Of psyohical development; and, viewed IN
almost every character in which such develop
mept is possible there is gradual growth and
expansion OF the inner nature traced With
subtlety and vigor positively astounding. In
life which is e1ternM-its eo-called adventures
the moving accidents by food and field are
indeed in the strctest logical sense OF the term,
but accidents-not bound up with it's essence-
not even enduad with tho inseparabi1ity Of prop.
ertles-in no wise constituting ita truest and
deepest interest. It is in the region OF tho
spirit in the subtle play Of emotion, In the
gradual development OF character, in the dex-
ferrous unraveGng OF the tangled skein Of human
motives that Auerbach, like every truo romancist,
alona can find a congenial sphere for his abili-
That such work shonld find small acceptance
in England, I can we'll believe: In the first
place, 1uerbach's type is inimitsble in its mas
aive simplicity and child-Ike originality. It is
the purest and most pellucid medium-with the
eEfeqteH 81 ct the B Gf G1sihs II a
romancst ever transmitted the rays Of human
thought and feeling. And all this is lost in
Translation But there arc other reasons going
far deeper to account for the fact that, whilst
tions, this grand work OF the German novoiliat
has, in England, remained comparatively un-
read. ! do not refer to the faot that there are
certain number of people in England Tho could
and would read it in the original; this num-
ber -is small indeed; for the parrot-like
knowledge OF German acquired by an English
schoolgirl, and the ponderous misapprehenslon
OF 1t attained by the academician IN the lnfruc-
tuous eeclusion Of his study, are alike 1nsutfi-
cient for the proper understanding OF such
work. The root Of the matter lies far deeper.
There ia in the English nature OF the present
day disrelish for sught but the sensational, the
morbid, the artificial; and it Is simply impossl-
BILE that the lover Of mere external incident
should read such q work with interest. It is
written for men and women OF the nobler type,
not for pulling clerks and soubrettes
Spite Of Freytags enormous popularity, the
highest place among German writer's Of fiction
manly and objective, but they lack those finer
touches which reveal the insight into souls. This
is very evident il We contrast his .sDebit and
Credit" with Auerbach's "Villa on the Rhine"
OF two young people. But in Aue1bach's work
the interest is internal and physical; in Frey
tags it is external and physical. The latter IL
true to the Horatian maxim, which 1tself ts SO
often untrue to nature that character "a should
His Anton WohTfahrk and V4itel Hzig, though