The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-08-21
PROF. SCHERER's HISTORY OF GERMAN
LITERATURE.


The literary work of nation may have its
special quality and tone, as we'll as that of
an individual. So marked is the quality of
the literature of ancient Greece that it re-
mains a large factor in the intellectual life of
the world, giving flavor 10 thought not to
be had from any other source. 1t is flavor
of this world, of a recognition of the inhe-
rent soundness and beauty of things and be-
ings as they are. 1t may not take the form
of distinct philosophy or theology; but
there it is, as an element of health permeat-
ing the life Thought of the world. In the past
its influence has been wide and deep; and to-
day it is greater than ever before.
The literature of Germany has something
of the like distinctness of quality and tone
in it. The element of life and thought it be-
trays is almost the opposite of that we find
in the literature of Greece; but it is one of
no less Importance. Germany is the land of
idealism, and of recognition of the interior
and spiritual elements of life. Its literature
is filed with the penetrating sense of the
ideal, with aspiration, and with a yearning
desire for the truth. Greece was the land of
healthy sense of the natural man, the man
of flesh and the senses; but Germany is the
land of inward aspirations and ideal DESIRES
The special quality of German thought and
literature has been called Gothic; and it
arises from deep conviction that the inward
is superior to the outward man. 1t turns
away from material beauty to find beauty of
feeling and thought. Now and then, as in
the case of Goethe, we find German who is
in large measure Greek; but with few ex-
ceptions, the Germans are beings of imagin
alton all compact or idealists by tempera-
ment and conviction. The literature of
Germany is a literature of the inward man,
the moral and spiritual man. 1t is intuitive
ideal, aspiring, interpretive and subjective.
1t disregards the historic, seeks the primary
facts in human feeling and thinking and de-
sires the attainment of inward harmony.
These qualities are to be seen in the relig-
ious literature of the Protestant Reforma-
ton; in the writings of Schiller, Richter,
Herder, Leasing, Heine and Auerbach; in the
philosophic works of Kant, Fichte, Schelling
and Hegel.
In this age of scientific study and research,
when all nature and life are being interpret
ed in an objective and materialistic manner,
the form of thought represented by the Ger
mans is too often forgotten. At the present
time we specially need the favor and the
tonic of their literature. We need to come
in contact with that literature, in order that
we may not lose true sense of the proper
tions of things. A pure idealism does not
truly interpret life any more than pure ma
terialism does; but the one corrects and ad-
justs the other. As a corrective of that swing
of the thought pendulum which is now carry
ing us quite into the realm of hard facts, and
of hard facts alone, we need now and then to
plunge into such an atmosphere as that to be
found in German literature.
AS giving one clear idea of the worth of
German literature, the two volumes pub
lished on the subject recently by Charles
Scribner's Sons, of New York, may be care
fully read. These are a translation of w.
Scherer's great work ON the "History of Ger
man Literature" This is work of first-class
merit, able, scholarly, critical, and marked
by fine historic and literary insight. 1t
gives to the literature of Germany the his
toric delineation and Interpretation to be
found in the very ablest historic works, and
it shows the true relations of the literature ia
the life of the German people. The first
volume treats of the early literature, the lit
erature of the medieval church, the Nibel
ungenlied and the other epical works, the Pc
etic works of the age of chivalry, the mime
sangers and the origin of the drama, tht
appearance of the renaissance and the re
Vived literature it produced, the Reforma
ton and the succeeding literary stagnation
and of the dawn of modern literature in con
tact with that of France. The second vol
ume begins with the age of Frederick tn