New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-07-01
SOME LITERARY ESS1 Us.
A POPULAR GERMAN BOOK.


r.BrR LEsEN IND EfLprNG. "a fn'on @.
S-h5rlach N..ri.. stark crwcit"rie AuhaBe.
~ yil 81 I.euschner x Lpocnsky 0'r"iz'
THIS book ms special value 10 an English r'dcr
who occasionally dips Into German lii"ra'urr' be-
ctu.e Il shows the trend ~ literary thinking )uN'
my I'm Germany Not that "a" author meant u
o., such u-. lie describes himself ~ one without
,.,v literary connections whatever. ipnely recuS"
tn , clty remote from the business AMI the gossip
= tho great world He speaks. not without regret
perhaps ~ 'nc fact that his secluson has d"priV'l
him - anything Tx" delicate sens" ~ the hsh'
emotions that curl the surface ~ modern m"h'al
M. lie lnaein~s that there are many links BE-
tween the literary phenomena u the present dAy
which De- does not he has forged such aS holl
the phenomena together while De inspccts them.
.tl his ,ntrivance seems % have satisn~l an I'M
usually large number ~ German readers VOL
uIue - essays does not usually run - the fourth
clifton Iiu' IN writing without any precone"p-
tlon AZ - the views - tho public 20 which D" ap-
f.tl-I he necessarily CAV" opinions which were IN
dendcnt hccau-" they were the forthputiinss or
mind unconscious Of any restraint II" speaks
only a. an individual. but the mnieria! added 20
the fourth edition ~ hts book shows that %" fr"S
his Individual opinion q, De- that ~ many who have
read his work with approval There lS POSITIVE
ness in the new essay on Henrik Ihscn which IS
not shown in the earlier pieces. Moreover MS
denial u relationship with any party In literature
must not D.. taken ioo seriously. Lax" many re
clus. he prizes ovcrfnuch perhaps. the He - ne
ton AMI the literary methods that pretend 10 deal
with humanity just as u H. Nevertheless. D" gives
his adhesion 10 the definition q Jacob Grimm VINO
In the hcyiay II German romantlcsm ~ D." s'y''
defined poetry ns NE Itself prepared In purity ana
,nshrned IN tho magic OF words Thus he takes hts
place between id,alism and realism and this modrr-
alton IN criticism may account FOR the number OF
thDs. pleased with his work. There can be- no
poetry which f. not the expression Of the NE that
now f.. can II ~ FAR without leading the way
upward q "A He which sooner or later VIII be-
reality. Tho realism 81 "a" present day he deems
wholly a matter OF technique. AZ To tho ugly In
art h. leaves m" question jus, where he found f.
but the pretencr or realism, so-callcd, 90 an IN
crease 81 iortical material by the study ~ the
l,wcrmost levc,s - human We is condemned 10y
him "a prcfcnce. since tn cnJri 20 depict low
lfr ~ novelty That mr. work should De
without form a novel without plot appears 10 him
absurd and he remarks that the ideal II The Ger
man rensts faithfully carried out. would make
rpmanccs endless In the sense of having n self
determined limit. nut FOR him ~ Is fixed prln-
clulc that form * Indispensable. and h. doubtless
experts his brief aphorism. "Ohne Kompottion klein
KunStwerk." to become the blttle-cry Of the anti
rcalis',.
Having defined his position thus. he might be cx-
pectcd 20 take ground against n writer like lb-
sen. who seems - English readers a rcast OF the
rcalists But he does nothing ~ the kind. The
preference * natural Tor ones early discov-
cries. The author having busted himself FOR
twenty years with Scaninavlan poetry. and having
become familiar with Ib~cn'4 works when they
were wholly unknown 10 the German public. retains
for them his hrst affection In former years III
son was eclIpsed I'm Germany by Bi5rnstJerne
l'j6rnscn Bur all that is changed now. ana In the
aesthetic disputes ~ the present day I'm Germany
Ibsen's name figures rs frequently as any Sch3n-
bach brackets ibsrn with Zoa and Tostol not be-
cause their works b. compared with each
other. but because they open ways which have
hitherto been left untrcdlen Ibscn Ike the
Frcnchman and the Russian. has been misinlcr-
STOOD by the critics He cannot be compNhended
out OF MS historical setting Ills own autohio-
graphic fragments and self-critcism written in an
swcr 10 correspondents. Sch0nbach deems worth
less THAT IL to say. Ibscn usually means one
thing when be writes play AMI something else
when he comes 10 think Of what ne has done This
suggestion has air OF novelty and IT may be
made 10 account for n vast deal OF meaning that
has been read into Ibscn's works After review
ing these IN detail. the critic goes on 10 say that
Judged by his control of all the instruments Of his
arr by MS power Of drawing the most powerful
cnectS from Insignificant things Ibson must be
placed among great poets. Nevertheless n. l,cks
an element Indispensable genius OF the first rank
Ills lyrics snow that intuition Is not his stronger
sh' hr ~ reflective poet. His work IA NOT
cr'AtNe mt merely formative But he has the
skt To make this weakness Of hIs n s,ur. -,
strength because his art IL obvious. more Ca, ~.
learned from him than from almost any other
master Such Is lbsen to sch8nbach nu, Iho.n
Is not the only author whom the critic rn.,tio,.
III paper on recent German poetry he gives hi.
estimate or nearly all the writer's of any ,,,,. -,
the present day. Including with Germans the noets
OF Austria The three essays placed nrst in rho
volume are IN literary objects and methods n, Tho
present day. and seem to have a practical aim A
curious feature u book list which Ia really thu