The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-04-06
CONCERNING BOOKS.
BY E. cAvAzzA.

Maximina, the latest story by the Spanish
novelist Don Armando Palacio Valdes is a
genuine triumph of rightly applied realism.
Here we find the actual employed as means
toward the IDEAL; the minute study Of detail
which explains the everyday life Of person.
ages who are representative as well as indi-
vidual. and in either capacity are worth
knowing. At present, the realistic school of
fiction is too apt to concern itself with types
which are not typical, with traits which are
neither significant or interesting, and ficti-
tious people who merely add to the list of
bores. Life is worth living, in the measure
in which its enegies and powers are joyfully
employed for love of that which is most dear
to us; and a novel, to have any worth be-
yond the amusement of the passing hour,
must depict something of the ideality insepa-
rabe from even commonplace existence.
1t is the perception and acceptance of this
first law of novel-wrting that gives point,
conference and value to this novel of Senior
valdes. The heroine, Maximina, is an ex-
quisitely modest and affectionate little bride
from a small Spanish town. brought into the
dangerous social atmosphere of Madrid.
Her husband, Don Miguel. is young jour-
nalist, upright, spirited and sympathetic.
The scenes Of the domes tic life of these
charming young people are sketched with
naturalness and gayety-occasionall it is
true, with little more of intimacy than the
reader has the right to expect or care for
The dainty dissensions of Maximina and
Miguel have nothing of the pettish pertness.
or nervous nonsense that often spoils the
dialogue of American fiction; and the COM
mon cares Of the family are irradiated with
genuine tenderness of description. Almost
imperceptibly the tone of the story ennobes
itself as it records the life of these faithful
young creatures. After the rapturous pas
sage when the married lovers watch the stars
from their window, the imminent tragedy
seems natural as right itself. Read, after
this, the reflections of Miguel as he sits near
the sleeping politician and contrasts the low
ambitions of the world with the alternate
light and darkness of the infinite regions
where his love and imagination wander, not
ali in yaln-and you have watched realism
10 fiction at its nohlest task to raise noun
tain of earth that shall approach the skies.
There is little attempt at plot; the minor
characters are well drawn, often with excel
lent comedy. 1t is viva ious picture of
Spanish society--at once akin to and very
unlike American life (New York: Thomas
Y. Crowel & Co.; Portland: Loring, Short
& Harmony
The Abbess of Jouarre, Mr.. Ernest Rem
ans recent literary blunder and moral Of
fence, after making its failure on the stage,
has come to America in the garb of a conf
cally poor translation. The repulsive plot is
drawn cut with inconceiyably wearisome
rhetoric, occasionally relieved by blasphemy
1t is impossible TO find anything either re-
spectacle or picturesque in this mass of
dreary didactism of evil. 1t seems the OUT
come of diseased brain; and therefore
offers no occasion for reviewer to criticize,
it, only to say that NJ. Renan is to be
pitied and his tragedy to be condemned.
New York: G. w. Dillingham;; Portland !:
Loring, Short & Harmony
Orestes and Other Poems. By Harry
Lyman Koopman. Mr.. Koopman's verse
shows good feeling, some acquaintance with
the best models. and occasional touches of
graceful and vivid fancy. Ills transations
from the Anglo Saxon are good, and some of
his less ambitious verses are tuneful and not
seldom elevated in tone. With practice and
careful comparison of his better and
his worser work, Mr.. Koopman should
write very acceptably. Buffalo, Moul-
ton, Wenbourne & Coz
Messrs. Putnam of New York add to their
delicious series of little volumes, the Knick-
erbocker Nuggets, the Vicar of Wakefield,
t1at tender, witty, dignified English pastoral
and classic. Nothing is so dainty, in the
literary field, as these little books; it was
surely some benefcent elf, Oberons librarian
perhaps, that suggested the design to the
American publishers. portland: Loring,
Short d Harmony
Only Coral Girl, is the title of pleasing
and romantic novel by Gertrude Forde. The
story is eventful and the characters clearly
defined. One cannot but resent the unneces-
sary tragedy; for, although the heroine,
Margherita, is trifie impossible in some
directions, her loveliness and worth win for
her the entire interest of the reader. The
descriptions of the island of Capri and of
English fashionable life are quite effective.
(NewYork: Harper & Brothers; Portland:
Loring Short & Harmony
In Mr.. William S. Gottsberger's inexpen-
sive aud convenient series of paper-covered
novels, he reprints the immortal idyl of Paul
and Virginia in a new and excellent transla-
ton from the French by Clara Bell. New
York: William S. Gottsberger: Portland: