THE NEBRASKAN.
17
iterary (Zvumbs.
On the house in which Balzac died an
inscription has been placed by the Municipal
Council of .Paris. Like honors have also
been paid to Alfred do Musset and Madame
Roland.
A new volume of poems by Whittier en
titled "At Sundown," is to appear next
month. This volume will contain all the
poems he has collected or written since the
publication of "St. Gregory's Guest" some
years ago. This will of course be hailed
with delight.
Houghten, Miflfen & Co. announce a new
edition of Shelley, edited by Prof. George E.
Woodberry, now of Columbia, but formerly
of the Nebraska State University. It is pub
lished in four volumes, and accompanied by
a new portrait of the poet. A limited large
paper edition in eight volumes will also be
published.
t
One ever realizes how small, and yet how
large the world is ; for only twenty-four
hours from London, such and so loud is the
voice of fame, that Mr. Hall Caine, who has
been sojourning in Berlin, writes to a friend
in London that he has met but one man who
"has read Mr. Stevenson, and only one or
two who had ever heard of Mr. Kipling. I
sang," he says, "Mr. Barrie's praises amid
silence, and no one was aware of Black
more, nor yet of Mr. Besant." The German
view of recent English fiction seems weak,
and, according to Mr. Caine, they know
little of English fiction, and that little does
not impress them favorably.
Rebecca Harding Davis or her publishers
have shown good judgment in collecting into
a handy volume a dozen 1 f her shorter
stories, which are drawn with rare insight,
feeling and humor, the types of humanity
characteristic of American life and customs.
These "Silhouettes of American Life" in
clude two or three stories of the mountain
eers of North Carolina, whose rude, unculti
vated, but artistic customs Mrs. Davis was
the first to exploit. The gulf region has
furnished some subjects and the contrasts of
city life still others all of which are drawn
with an exquisite touch, and teem with les
sons of that broad humanity which the
author so constantly teaches by her own
generousness, faith and sympathy.
Psychological problems, as well as prac
tical problems of modern life, are receiving
much attention at the hands of writers of
fiction It is a well known fact that where
the author wishes to "air" his pet theory he
can do it best by putting it in novel form.
"Gramency Park," by John Seymour Wood,
has for its aim the pointing out of the evils
of the annual divorce, which has become
such a feature of fashionable life. The
young stock broker and his wife, who are
the principal figures in the book, are care
fully delineated, and the fashionable divorcee
who creates trouble between the young
couple, is natural. The field is old. It has
been tilled before, but never with better fruit
with the scenes of New York and Amer
ican life
Speaking of Mr. Besant reminds me of
his latest book, consisting of four stories
two short ones, two long ones each repre
senting a vigorous line of thought, each dif
ferent, but stamped with the same mark,
individuality. "Verbena Camellia Stephan
otis"isa dainty study of cemeteries and such
funereal things. But really, it is not a very
tearful story, when one coniders the subject.
"The Doubts of Dives," deals with a problem
interesting to students, for "Dives" is where
the student is not the problem of higher
education. There is a world of grief and
human cowardice in "The Demoniac ;" the
tale of a life that drink, as a destroying
angel, overthrew. The reader lays his book
aside with a heavy heart, and with a feeling
that some human beings are mercenary;'
whatever be the price of a sou) "The Demon
iac" is a continuation of Ibsen.
TJ"
W