The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1886-04-23
lfETJEE
LITERATURE IN FRANCE.
No Authors of l'irst-Rntc Importance
Since llu.o's Death.


Since llu.o's Death.
1t can not be said that the state of
contemporary literature in France Of
fcrs many consultations to the patriotic
and glory-loving citizens OF the nation
which has suffered the greatest humili-
a'ions Of any people of modern times.
Grccian literature dominated the world
long after the Greek nation had become
Il mere vassal of Rome. A similar
statement can hardly be made in regard
to the literature of France since the
war with Prussia. Since the death of
Victor Hugo. who moreover for all
practical consideration belonged
wholly to the epoch preceding the war,
it would be hard to name any living
French author of first rate Importance
in the domain of pure literature.
Rcnan, Tainc. and lola, these arc un-
ionbtcdly the three strongest writer's
i'll Franco to-day, yet no one of this
trio can be regarded as of the first
rank. Ren:ln, as Il critic in the field of
religious history, commands respect
throughout the learned world. yet even
now the current of reaction has strong
~ set against his peculiar theories. A
similar statement can be made in regard
to Iainc. In suggcstivcncss, in nerve,
and enhancement of style he is unsur-
passed. His strength lies in the mar
vclous ability with which he has applied
one central idea at the basis of his cri-
tique for the explanation of the various
phenomena of psychology. of art, and
OF literature. But where lies his
strcntl. there also lies his weakness.
1t is because Of the extremes to which
he has pushed his philosophical theory
OF necessity Originally developed by
him from the theory of MilD, that
scholars to-day have to put themselves
on their guard in reading his works.
Besides, Renan and Tainc are great
merely as critics, and criticism can
never hold the first rank in liter
ature. The third is lola. One
can see. too, that the reaction against
lola has already begun. Indeed. it be-
gan before his advent into notoriety
had fully taken place, for lola himself,
as head of the realistic school, repre-
scnts merely the extreme development
of II movement itself become extreme
tho movement of the so-called ro-
mantle school, which has dominated the
literature of Europe during the great
er part Of the century. There are not
wanting signs nowadays, especially in
Eng land, that the great romantic move
mcnt has run its course, and that we
are beginning to see Il new literature,
especially in poetry, which is as yet un-
named. but which will be more akin
with the classical than with the roman
tic school. Fiction, possibly, will un-
dergo further development in the d.
rection of realism before the change
with it begins. "Thc days of evil for
tune are upon us, and the men of my
generation will probably carry with
them down to the grave their incura-
BILE grief" wrote the French historian,
Duruy. after the Franco Prussian war.
and his forebodings seem to be>real-
lied for the French nation in the do
main of literature, as in the domain Of
politics. Just at the present day
France appears to be passing through
period of passivity, if not, as harsher
writer's might say, period of barren
ness and stagnation, but we know that
no other people of Europe is possessed
of greater vitality, of greater rccuper-
alive powers than the French. Hence
in the matter of literature believe that
the same is true in France at the pres
cnt moment which Mr. Stedman, in bis
recent book, holds to be true in Amer
ica,-after the great period of Hugo.
De Mussct, Dumas perc, and Balzac on
the one side, and of Longfellow. Bry-
ant, and of the living representatives Of
the same school-Whitticr, Holmes.
and Iowell-on the other, it is but nat
ural tina: there should come a period Of
quiet rccnpcration. during which the
national geaius, so to say, for time
lies fMlow.-Cer. Springfield Rcpubli-
can.