The times., 1901-03-10

was not a literature for every reader os
today. Now, and for long. the States have
taken their own part in history. fiction,
poetry and all other branches Of letters
Germany came back into world litera-
ture again. just at the ending OF the last
century. after unregarded ages OF neg
lect Russia and the Scandinavian ucrtr
awOke about the same time and DALI
widen their influence. as does Belgium
in the sunshine Of Maeterlinck France.
of course, has in all time been in the fore
most rank; while to balanc. America
Russia. and the North Italy and Spain
have scarcely held the place whict,
! through so many centuries was their own.
Such changes in natural literatures re-
Semble the political waXineS and wan
ings of national fortunes. The English
speaking peoples may have their eclipse.
perhaps il is heralded by a modern COM
parative deficiency in humor. which IL
England and America cease 10 laugh. Will
die out of profoundly solemn world.
In the foregoing remarks little has been
said about the literature of the century
! except among English-speaking peoples
Not being q MeZzofanti. l am not person
ally acquainted with the literature OF All
| languages. and it is vain thing TO speak
| of books at second hand. IL was not the
nineteenth. but the eighteenth century.
| that saw Germany re-enter the field OF
| pure literature, as distinguished from that
of scholarship and science. Since the end
| of the Middle Ages, with their poets, Ger
man writer's had mainly been devoted TO
/ theology and classical criticism. Latin
| was the language OF the learned. Many
| ascertainable causes, in the middle and
| end of the last century, and doubtless
many causes which cannot be ascertained
awOke again the TeutOnic genius. The
| victories OF Frederick the Great gave
| Germans patriotism and confidence in
their own tongue.
The philosophic and social works which
preluded the French Revolution stirred
/ the German mind and required popular
expression Thus Kant wrote in his own
| native speech in reaction against the
skepticat philosophy Of David Hume, and
Kant became the father Of the long array
Of German metaphysicians. from Hegei
ana ftchte TO Schopenhauer and Hart
mann. Their philosophy cannot be
briefly stated, especially in French" as
one Of them said, but its general effect
has been rather TO counteract materialiSm
| by making it pretty plain that human
nature is not so simple and easily to be
explained as the Scottish philosophers
were apt to suppose In England. Cole
ridge gave an Anglican heart TO the new
German philosophy, which also influenced
Hamilton, and still affects the philoSOphi-
cal teaching of oxford. 1t is nonsense,
but is it the right sort OF nonsense
asked the late Prof Sidgwick Ga Cam
bridge man when struggling with the
examination papers of HeGelian under
graduate.
More important as literature were the
double influences of return on the med
ieyal past and of inspiration by the
new political and social ideas which gave
the impulse to the genius of Goethe,
Schiller Burger. and others Goethe be
gan as the child of Rousseau, but as a
child who had read Kant and drunk deep
Doubtless his is the greatest name Of
modern Germany, both a student of
life, of nature, of history, and of thought.
He was the spiritual parent of Scott, with
his "GOetz TOn Berlichingen, and with
Richter of Carlyle. Through himself
and his English or Scottish disciples.
Goethe has been the most fertile source
of change in the literature OF the nine
teeuth century. In extreme old age. Gu
riOus to say. he gave the first impulse to
the study of early religion as displayed
in the obscure rites and beliefs of the
Australian natives; theme remote
enough from his effect on the poetry Cf
Matthew Arnold Probably the two paris
OF his Faust" and his Roman Lyrics
are the most popular, and, as literature,
the most permanent parts of his work.
with ''Werther" Wilhelm Meister. anu
Elective Afiinities, IN prose Scnlhe-
beginning with the boyish romant.cism
of The Robbers. became kind o.
classic in his later dramas. Lessing ana
Winckelmann were the most sound ana
fertile Influences in criticism The
LAGOON remains Indispensable. The
patriotic Wrists reSurrected the national
spirit of the TeutOnic race, and Heine,
Hebrew by race and half French in char
acter, combined the characteristics OF
Lucian, Burns, and Voltaire.
Wolf writing in Latin tand believe
that his work on Homer has never at
tanned a third edition, and has never
been translated into Englishi, became the
parent. for good or evil or what IS called
the Higher Criticism, Lachmann intro
ducing the painfully cOnjectural tenden-
cies of that intellectual exercise Its ap-
plicatiOn to SCriptural texts IS notorious.
but not precisely as part OF literature
Like other European countries, the Ger
many of the close of the century is not
remarkable for TeSplendent genius IN
poetry or fiction, though novels abound
The scientific, historical. and scho'"riy
literature is Of vast prOfusiOR. In a or
OughneSs and tireleSs patience. Germany
is the teacher of the world. While N Gu
riouS contrast to her practical genius IS
the love Of some of her scholars for base
less conjecture. The 'inSularity Wit
which the English are charged Is q mat
against Germany. Some sets Of i,scas.
long familiar in America, England, ana
the Latin nations, are only now bt 5ll-
ming to reach German classical scholars.
To write an account of the changes n
French literature during the centuTy Is
impossible within moderate space j. ae
Revolutionary and NapOIeonlc wars were
unfavOrable to the literary art ana the
head of so great a poet as Andre Chenler
fell under the guilIOtine. Til about lsI0-
1890 the Restoration was accompanied ~
literature in the old classic style OF Boil
eau and of the Augustan age, only en-
Iivened by the romantic II somewhat al
fected style of that great rnetorlclah'
Chateaubriand. The year 1850 is the sa-
cred wear of French rOmanticism. drawing
it's ideals partly from the German roman
tic movement, partly from scott anu
Shakespeare, read, of course, only IN
TRANSACTIONS Everything was now 10 De
medieval Spanish. and passionate; the
drama was to be emanctpated from
Aristotle also read in translatiOnS. -
far as classicism went the young adve-
tIlrers had no more Greek than Shak2S-
ueare or Scott But they had the c0'DS-
sal and Titanic genius of Hugo, cNqlls-
iteIy sweet, rapid, strange, and versaJiir-
i'm ivric. potent If inflated in the Gr3luH
and the novel. They had the char:nil- -
humOr and exquisite taste of Iheo''-'
C,autier- the feyerish passion and rna1f
in verse of Alfred de MusSet; the 9eir
dreamy. and wandering spirit OF o.
da Nerya1. and the manly, courageous -- De-
morous and Unwearied vigor. IN ut'r--
and in fiction. of Alexandra Dumas.
This was. indeed. an extraOrdia-t
GRAFTON bv far the greatest since -
CorneiIIe Racine, and Moiere- 80
others might be named; the reserved tei.
and incisiVe irony of Mertmee; tie Il
and genial criticism of Satnte- teuVsf ne
inexhaustibie talent of George sand ana
~ rnigbtv RaIzac. the maker and founder
of the modern work OF intrOss -c iion-
Probably of all these writers, Dumas and
RaIZac have exercised most tInueu'" on
later fiction in England a2d America
FIaubert continued, with paintu- -'ao0ra-
tfon the traditions of BalZac; tr3f' t'au-
bert and round him grew up Daudet and
M ZnIa and the GOnCOurts. Poetry. aftH-
Iamartine dwindled into the prettinea So
Of the ParnaSSe and the eccentr1citieS- TOO
obviouslv Intentional of BaCdelaire. e.
Iaine and the Symbolistes- LiterdFT .,.
at the end OF the century, became
conscious too fond of argument 5uJ
ideals and methods, the tattle Of the
studio Great men have not thus dissi-
they could do; they have not talked about
how they did it. What English literature
has borrowed from France. at this time.
is more in the nature of words than work.