The Portland daily press., 1890-01-25
The Dolls House. A PLAY. By Henrik

The Dolls House. A Play. By Henrik
lbesen. Translated from the Norwegian by
Henrietta Frances Lord. New York D.
Appleton & Co.; Portland: Lcring, Short &
Harmony Through the recent translation
from the Norwegian of the works of Henrik
lbsen new prophet seems to have risen
among us, and "the Ibsen craze" Is spoken
OF as II 1t were disease or mania, and peo-
pie ask "has 1t reached" this or that COM
manlty, as If it were liable to become an
epidemic. The Dolls House deals with the
marriage question, and the writer's ideals
that unless the relation between man and
woman is one of free human personality on
both sides, there can be no true love and
happiness. This is considered on the whole
the strongest of Ibsen's dramas, and the
most characteristic. 1t is said that when
this play first appeared in Stockholm in
1888 it created such furious discussion
that many social invitations given that win
ter bore fireworks. "You are requested not to
mention Ibsen's Dolls Housed" Ibsen has
many English admirers among the leading
critics, but Mr.. Andrew Lang is not one of
them. In letter to the New York Sun he
writes:
"Dr. Ibsen is in these plays a satirist,
a satirist without humor. without love,
without kindness, of Juvenals school,
not Of the school in which Horace and Pas
cal and Thackeray are the masters. Conse-
quently many of his characters are detesta-
ble."
evertheless 1t is worth while to read H.
sens works, If only as matter of curiosity.
nj axfr h,,f IL to
doubtful If he makes many converts to his
views, at least in this country.
Portraits of Friends. BY John Campbell
Sharp. Boston: Houghton, Mifin & Co.
Portland: Loring. Short g. Harmony OF
Principal Sharp friend says: From boy
hood till death he was lover of men, and
the subjects which he discussed in literature
and philosophy constantly appealedto him in
their personal relations. 1t was both his
good fortune and his native openness which
made him conversant with Englishmen and
Scotchmen who in their day and generation
affected the thought of their fellows" And
one OF the results Of his personal knowledge
OF these men of mark Is the interesting series
of papers included in the present volume.
Of Thomas EEffskkine. George Gotten, Dr. John
Brown, Norman Macleod. John Macleod
Campbell, John Macintosh of Geddes and
Arthur Hugh Clough. he writes delightfully."-.
Not less interesting is the sketch of Prin-
cipal Sharp, by William Young Selars, his
intimate friend, which occupies the first
fifty pages of this book. and is full of sympa-
thetic appreciation, and enthusiastic admira-
tion. He says: 1T seems to me, in think
ing of Sharp, that only now understand
the full human feeling and human expert
ence compressed into the sad earnestness
and vivid exactness' of lines often read and
often quoted with perhaps an Incomplete
realization Of their meaning"
"Incorrupta fides nudaqne verltas
Quando ullum inveniet parem?"
Viera. A Romance Twixt the Real and
the Ideal. By Roman l. Zuhof. New
York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Coz An ex-
tremely sensational story. in reading which
one continually wonders what the author is
driving at He has succeeded in producing
an extraordinary amount of nonsense and
trash, and anybody who can make out which
is the "real" and which the "ideal'' must
possess more than the usual amount of
acuteness and discrimination
Dear Old Story Tellers. By Oscar Fay
Adams. Twelve Portraits Boston: d. Lo-
throp 81 Co.; Portland: Loring, Short g.
Harmony Mr.. Adams int esting book con-
sists of sketches of twelve famous story-tel-
lers, names dear to the hearts of young and
nj He r,;t n
ancient story-tellers, and gives us two por-
traits of him, taken from busts, one in the
British Museum, London, and the other in
the National Museum. Naples. Then comes
chapter on the Arabian Nights, with his
tory of the various versions of these wonder
tales, and fac-simile in Arabic of a page
from the story of ''the Beautiful Persian"
The next to be considered Is -Esop with a
full length portrait of him, after the painting
by Velasquez After this Mother Goose
Charles Perrault, the author of the immortal
C0ntes de Fees,-The brothers Grimm,
whom we all know by heart,-La Fontaine,
the d,-Laboulaye,-the beloved Hans
Christian Andersen,-La Motto Fouque, the
valiant,-and the author of Paul and Vir-
ginia, follow in quick succession. Mr.. Adams
ume, which will quite charm young and old.
With Guage and Swallow, Attorneys. By
Albion W. Tourgee. Philadelphia: j. b.
Lippincott & Co.; Portland: Loring, Short
g. Harmony The books of Mr.. Tourgee are
two well known and popular to need praise,
and the present volume is very characteristic
of its author. 1t can hardly be called novel,
but 1t is a series of stories told by men In the
employ Of Guage 6 Swallow, Attorneys, and
might be called romance of the legal pro-
lession. The cases cited are all very pecu-
liar and interesting. and probably come di-
rect from the experience Of Jadge Tourgee
himself. In his preface he says 1.-The law
Office is, in fact, the battle. field of eiviliza-
tion, and the lawyer the one man to whom
the secrets of all hearts are laid bare. He
knows better than any one else the good and
i'll of humanity, and in what proportion joy
and sorrow are mingled in every rank in life
He trains the strong for conflict and arms
the weak for defence. At one time he holds
the shield of the law over the head of con-
scious innocence, and again hides with 1t The
crouching figure of guilt. Yet he rarely
knows, or cares to know, the whole history
of any life. He sees specific episodes and
catches fieeting glimpses of many as their
orbits interest the plans OF his duty. Thus
the battle Of life becomes to him an endless
series of independent conflicts. Individual
qualities, personal characteristics, striking
incidents, make up his view Of human exis.
tence." There could be no better equipment
than this for just such book as Judge
Tourgee has written; and he has accom-
plished his task with great success.