Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-08-08
SPANISH LITERATURE.
Il Has Not Produced Famous Book 10
Two Centuries.

save cruelty finds luminous example
| in the practically total absence of Span
ish names from the literature of the
world, says c. ID. Charles. in the Chlca-
so Times Herald. Who but specialist
can mention more than one worldfamous
Spanish. author? Who are SPANS epic.
dramatic, narrative and lyric poets? Who
are her historians, her critics. her novel
lists? Who are her scientific authors
Qeaving out the Arabs, her philosophers.
her essayists? In the sixteenth century.
| out of the thin soil of mediocrity- medic
Gritty of letters which neither gods nor
| men can tolerate-sprang the immortal
CerVantes, the only writer that Spain
has produced who can be at all compare l
with the literary geniuses of other peo-
pies. Don QuiXote' was the recoil of "A
genuinely worthy and ambitious intellect
from the literary trash the best wits Of
Spain could manufacture up to that time
This satire on the commonplace. chival-
rio novel then in vogue has never been
even approached in its style by any Span
lard, ancient or modern. 1t has its place
high up in the temple of fame. appeal
ing to all hearts and heads admired and
loved by learned AMI unlearncd alikc--n
word. the elements of all that is good
In letters.
But, aside from Cervantes, Spain has
no place in literature comparable with
that of any OF the great nations Of the
Aryan or Semite races 'Amadis de
eau" generally accredited to Spain. and
standing out as Il true origindi-tne first
and one Of the best romances constructed
of the material OF chivalry--was not
written by a Spaniarl. but by V1sco de
Iomeira, a Portuguese. 1t was trans
lated into Spanish in the beginning Of the
sixteenth century. This work cannot by
the widest stretch OF generosity be given
to Spain. 1t IS Portuguese, and probably
lives in its Spanish dress because the
original is lost. Had Spain produced
"Amadis de Gaul' ana The Lusiad."
these. with Don QUixote," had saved
her. But camnons was Portuguese ami
Lus;ania is not Spanish. There Is, II Is
true. The Poem OF the CID" one OF the
liomertc narrative cpics OF the Middl"
Ages, and IL Spain has an epic II Is thak.
But measured with the performances OF
other nations this narrative represents
he beginning % a literature without its
development. The Poem Of the Cid" il
strongly national. ana deserved better
than single manuscript 20 preserve IT,
Take from spain THIS ancient ANA sim
pie piece ana the Don Quixoto" II Ger
vant"s ana what has she lef. 80 lar az the
world IA large i concerned?
glance at Spain's best writers-Doo:s
prose writer's and dramittst s-wElI bring
forward names that are s,rikineiy unla-
miliIr 80 cvrs accustomed 20 the great
names of England France. Germany.
Italy ana even Russia Her best lyric
poets are Fernando ~ Herrara and Fray
Luis de Leon. both 81 whom were dead
before the beginning of the seventeenth
century. titrrara * III interest only tpI
the deep student 81 letters ANA shctr
growth. f.Upis de Leon Is religious poet
and is accounted tine most fuastcrfu ~
Spanish WRISTS Tho otnnr TYRE poets %
Spain-very few in number as compared
with those Of almost any other nation OF
Importance In Eurppe-are Entirely third
or fourth rate. The first Spanish histo-
ran MAS Geronimo Zurita. a tervantos
CAV V.4F t..F 80.
the Snperstitious ana childish crulitlcs OF
the ChroncIers.
Following cervantes arose the FIRST OIL
the dramatisjs Spain produced Ha wa,
l-pp" do Vega. 10 whom 81 given .le sole
credit d: lifting the Spanish drama into a !
position Of lisn!ty in any manner worthy !
the word. He defined the drama in Spain
and gave !; its modes. He MAS confcm- ,
porancous wNh tho El.zahy.haH dramat- !
lists. Il had been marvellous. indeed. i'll
spain had escaped the great movement |
that reformed ,he literature ~ France /
England and Germany at that time. but /
pared with those " thc Ellzaoethans. |
with the fruit If The Renaissance. with !
the strong pulses Of thought that stirred !
the Europe OF his time
Lopc de Vega wrote. i is sai1 1900 !
plays and 4oN other works. OF These Soy /
erd were "pirs now wholly forgotten /
His dramas lacked finish quito. The /
unitteS were unknown II him. The en- !
n.
ards Of criticism other than spanish was |
weak, even coarse. This naet was the |
very crest of a long wave ~ poetry that /
rolled over Spain, long but not deem: ana |
even Lone De Vega. the only one that can |
now D" recalled. j. REM mhercd only by 1
the historian. The hordes If poets that |
lived with him rose no higher than tho
pun Of vulgar metaphor. The hest they |
could ID was 10 call their entmios-the |
English. as now the Amercans-pigs. At
thdt time the poets IF SDAin turned out /
tpcS by the thousand. Frclila y Zuniga |
attempted the epic in his "AraGcana" |
and proved that he had not Vet under
stood the very essentials Of epic poetry |
tHSinTdl de NirucS was a spanish dra- I
MATHS; who might have lived as a writer
Of tragedies had the Spanish people been
English or German. And critics have it |
that his ''ScmiramiS" and "Cass1ndra !
are truly noble tragedies. Late in the
age came Caldrron de In Marca who
marked the limit of SPANS best effort
IN the drama. He brought Spanish liter
atur" TO the beginning ~ The eighteenth |
For 900 years Spain has wallowed in tho
btrharism Of nation without book ii
can can is own. With the dawn Of the
eighteenth century, French. Italian ana
English IDEAS nverran the peninsula with
the result that the healthy growing of
national expression and or.Ginatidn was
Killed. The names of modern Spanish
writers are unknown to English readers
In this time. when hungarian. Polish ana
Russian writer's find liberal and apprc-
ciitive public in England and America.
when Persian, Arabic AMI Hindoo poets
lack no transators; when Norwegian au-
thors have enthusiastic admirers in Eng
lish ana American cities Spain has not a Il
single writer whose thoughts appeal To the
world. Spain's literary
glory is like her military glory-chienv
spangles. Her failure in letters has been
brought about by the same organic cause
that has wrought her failure In all things
besides She is unrefnrmed and unrevo-
lutioniZed, has given nothing to science
or to art. Her cruelties are notorious
wherever men read books But for that
her fame had never crossed the pyrenees
or left her shore.
Reflections OF a Married Man.
The wise young woman never lots on