The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-05-06
THE NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SolE OF THE LATEST BOOKS OF
 THE SEASON.

THE SEAS0A' Notable ROmanees-Gustsye Frenssen's HJorn UhP, and Grazia Deledda's 3Af-
 ter the Divorce"-"specimen Letterso I Edited by Professor Cook and A. R. Benham of Yale-Dayid H. Montgom- ery's "student's American History Forthcoming Books.
 Gustav Frenssen, the author of
 'fJorn Uhl," published by Dana Estes and Company, of Boston, was born in the remote village of Barit. in Holstein,
 North Germany. on October 19, 1865. In spite of his fathers humble circum- stances, Gustav managed to attend the Latin school at the neighboring town of Husum and in due time became a stu
 dent of theology. He heard courses of lectures at various universities, passed
 the necessary examinations, and finally was appointed to the care of souls in the little Lutheran pastorate of Hemme i ill Holstein. Here, within sound of the l North Sea, he wrote his first two nov l els, which remained almost unknown until after the publication of "Jorn Uhl," in 1902. This book took Germany by storm. Its author, much to his own surprise, 'sWoke one morning to find 1 himself famous" Over two hundred
 thousand copies of the German edition were sold within eighteen months of is 1 sue-a record never before equalled by any novel in Germany, and editions speedily appeared in the leading Euro l pean languages. Not few continental
 cities ranked the author with Goethe. l But Frennsen's books had aroused much hostility among the Orthodox church party, and in 1903 he gave up 1 his pastorate and retired to the Hol-
 stein village of his youth, henceforth a I free man, to devote himself to litera- lture. tJorn Uhr' has appealed to mod
 ern Germany in somewhat the same manner that the works of Dickens ap- pealed to the England of his day, and 1 it is the first time that this can be all li legged of any German novel. As one of
 Frennsen's admirers has said, This
 book has sprung from the deep con-
 seiousness of modern Germany, and ut 1 ters the longlngs, thoughts and aspira- I tions of the German heart in a way I that no other modern book has done" The present version is the first transla-
 ton into the English language, Price f $15O; for sale by all leading booksellers. i A strong story, one of rare heart ln- iterest, touching, tragic and highly real- fstic, is 'sAfter the Divorce," romance by Grazia Deledda, translated from the l Italian by Maria Mormon Lansdale, l published by Henry Holt and Com l pany, New York. Grazia Deledda is re-
 garded on the continent of Europe as 4 one of the most representative person. 4 alities of contemporary literature. As in all her works, she hardly ever steps
 beyond the boundaries of the little pro- , vince of Nuoro, in the island of Sardin- 4 ia, where she was born less than thirty years ago, and where she lived until her marriage with Roman official in 1900. &
 \ After the Divorce" has enriched iit- erary geography with a new domain : peopled with primitive characters, pie turesque, quaint and dramatic. She writes in a simple and unaffected style of the life in her little island, presenting through the medium of her stories the phraseology of the Sardinian peasants < with all its homely proverbs, curious superstitious and grotesque curses and Interpreting their primitive and drama tic peculiarities with sympathy and re- straint that is effective and artistic. Il The plot of the story is of the sim : plest; young peasant is united to his
 sweetheart by civil ceremony. is af- , terward accused of murdering his uncle ! and sentenced to tWenty-seven years Imprisonment. His wife, after a time . applies for divorce, and marries a for.
 mer suitor. But it is the daring and al,
 most ruthless fidelity to nature with 1 which the author paints life in a com
 nunity of primitive and half-savage
 units that reveals an art, or, rather, a
 gift, which, if not genius, is something
 akin to it.
 Of this remarkable book the New
 York Evening Post says: There is nc
 effort apparently, no attempt to dazzle;
 the character of her work is altogether
 stamped with entire sincerity, natural.
 ness and simplicity. One quality that
 will strike the reader is her aloofness
 from her creations. She has a direct
 knowledge of their passions, struggles
 defeats, joys and miseries, but she has
 no sympathy with them herself, and ev-
 idently does not care whether they pro.
 duce a sympathetic impression or not
 She has simply reproduced with fidelity
 the types she had under her eye. Sht
 initiates no master, her art llas nc
 source but life itself. We feel that sht has lived in the landscapes she sketch.
 es with such sharp outlines, and, at the
 same time, with such delicacy ant
 charm.