Le Préromantisme. Études d'Histoire littéraire européenne by Paul Van Tieghem; Études delittérature préromantique by Edmond EstèveReview by: J. G. RobertsonThe Modern Language Review, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Oct., 1925), pp. 482-483Published by: Modern Humanities Research AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3713846 .

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eighteenth-century novel of manners is worthy of a place among the documents to be consulted on the social life of the time.

Let us add that, if Mr Green has not, perhaps, always gone quite as far as one might wish in his reconstruction of the picture 6f eighteenth- century society, he has given us a profusion of entertaining details which illuminate many of its less well-known but not least curious aspects.

F. C. ROE. BIRMINGHAM.

Le Preromantisme. Etudes d'Histoire litteraire europeenne. Par PAUL VAN TIEGHEM. Paris: F. Rieder. 1924. 299 pp. 15 fr.

Etudes de litteraturepreromantique. Par EDMOND ESTtVE. (BibliothWque de la Revue de Litterature comparee, V.) Paris: t. Champion. 1923. vi + 256 pp. 16 fr.

The most important of the three studies included in M. Van Tieghem's new volume is that on 'La Ddcouverte de ]a Mythologie et de l'ancienne poesie scandinaves,' which appeared originally in 1919-20, in the Scandi- navian journal Edda, and then attracted general attention. It seems to me one of the most valuable contributions of recent years to that comprehensive understanding of the eighteenth century, which is the objective of much of our modern work on this period. M. Van Tieghem passes in review the sources of ideas on the Scandinavian North-Latin works, hitherto inadequately investigated, or not at all-before Mallet, and then with that remarkable pioneer of knowledge of the North as pivot, the influence and diffusion of these ideas to the end of the century. His characterisation of Mallet, concerning whose share in the matter the historians of the past have been somewhat vague, is ad- mirable and final. Edda is not as accessible as it ought to be in our libraries, and M. van Tieghem has done a real service in reprinting his study here.

The essay on 'Ossian et l'Ossianisme au XVIIIe siecle' is supple- mentary to the fine work on Ossian en France, which M. van Tieghem published in 1917. He now discusses the fortunes of Ossianism, not merely in France, but in the literatures of Europe generally, the trans- lations and imitations of Ossian; and he concludes with three suggestive sections on the Ossianic poetry in its wider aspects, its influence on historical, moral and literary ideas, and especially on the expression of sentiment. These studies, as well as the first, on 'La Notion de vraie Poesie dans le Preromantisme europ6en,' which we read not very long ago in the Revue de Littdrature comparde, bear witness to the author's quite extraordinary familiarity with the modern literatures of Europe. But behind his enormous reading there lurks a nemesis. He has such a wealth of facts to communicate to us, that he has not always time or space to convert these facts into vital knowledge. An illustration of this is to be seen in the discussion of the growing scepticism of the genuineness of Ossian. He registers with painstaking care (pp. 211 ff.)

eighteenth-century novel of manners is worthy of a place among the documents to be consulted on the social life of the time.

Let us add that, if Mr Green has not, perhaps, always gone quite as far as one might wish in his reconstruction of the picture 6f eighteenth- century society, he has given us a profusion of entertaining details which illuminate many of its less well-known but not least curious aspects.

F. C. ROE. BIRMINGHAM.

Le Preromantisme. Etudes d'Histoire litteraire europeenne. Par PAUL VAN TIEGHEM. Paris: F. Rieder. 1924. 299 pp. 15 fr.

Etudes de litteraturepreromantique. Par EDMOND ESTtVE. (BibliothWque de la Revue de Litterature comparee, V.) Paris: t. Champion. 1923. vi + 256 pp. 16 fr.

The most important of the three studies included in M. Van Tieghem's new volume is that on 'La Ddcouverte de ]a Mythologie et de l'ancienne poesie scandinaves,' which appeared originally in 1919-20, in the Scandi- navian journal Edda, and then attracted general attention. It seems to me one of the most valuable contributions of recent years to that comprehensive understanding of the eighteenth century, which is the objective of much of our modern work on this period. M. Van Tieghem passes in review the sources of ideas on the Scandinavian North-Latin works, hitherto inadequately investigated, or not at all-before Mallet, and then with that remarkable pioneer of knowledge of the North as pivot, the influence and diffusion of these ideas to the end of the century. His characterisation of Mallet, concerning whose share in the matter the historians of the past have been somewhat vague, is ad- mirable and final. Edda is not as accessible as it ought to be in our libraries, and M. van Tieghem has done a real service in reprinting his study here.

The essay on 'Ossian et l'Ossianisme au XVIIIe siecle' is supple- mentary to the fine work on Ossian en France, which M. van Tieghem published in 1917. He now discusses the fortunes of Ossianism, not merely in France, but in the literatures of Europe generally, the trans- lations and imitations of Ossian; and he concludes with three suggestive sections on the Ossianic poetry in its wider aspects, its influence on historical, moral and literary ideas, and especially on the expression of sentiment. These studies, as well as the first, on 'La Notion de vraie Poesie dans le Preromantisme europ6en,' which we read not very long ago in the Revue de Littdrature comparde, bear witness to the author's quite extraordinary familiarity with the modern literatures of Europe. But behind his enormous reading there lurks a nemesis. He has such a wealth of facts to communicate to us, that he has not always time or space to convert these facts into vital knowledge. An illustration of this is to be seen in the discussion of the growing scepticism of the genuineness of Ossian. He registers with painstaking care (pp. 211 ff.)

482 482 Reviews Reviews

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what the critics of Europe thought about the matter; but if we wish to know whether this scepticism was independent and original, or merely an echo Qf the views expressed by the English doubters, he, as often as not, leaves us in the lurch. Even still more have I felt an incomplete- ness in M. Van Tieghem's method in his first study; it presents us with an imposing array of materialfacts which no student of the eighteenth century can afford to ignore; and yet the promise held out by the inviting title is not fulfilled. We do not see the ideas on 'true poetry' growing and maturing, passing from mind to mind and from land to land. The opinions, for instance, which continental critics drew from Young, are collected, but not brought into organic relations with one another. Had the page and a half of summary been expanded into its major part, the essay would, I cannot help thinking, have had a more stimulating value for us. But perhaps we may hope that it is only a prelude to an organic and genetic study of the idea of poetry in the eighteenth century-a task which no one could accomplish better than M. Van Tieghem.

All that M. Edmond Esteve's volume has in common with M. Van Tieghem's is that it also deals with the period of 'Pr6romantisme.' In looking back on the critical work that has been published in recent years on this period, one is tempted to wish that a European congress could be summoned to arrive at some common basis of connotation. For, just as 'Romantic' means a different thing in every country, so 'Pr6romantisme' in France is one thing; in Germany another, and quite another with ourselves-if, indeed, we admit the use of the word at all. M. Esteve, in his 'Avant-propos' defines the period:

C'est ce laps de soixante annees-entre la publication de la Nouvelle He7lose et la date de 1824, ou le defi de l'academicien Auger ayant ete releve par les r6dacteurs de la Muse Franfaise, il y a d6sormais une ecole romantique-qui mesure la duree de ce qu'on peut appeler le preromantisme. Valid as these dates may be for France, they show how difficult, and indeed, hopeless is the task of correlating 'preromantisme' in the different literatures. The contents of M. Esteve's volume are unequal in value and interest. In so far as he deals chiefly with side issues and minor aspects of the period, he is likely to disappoint the reader who has been attracted by his covering title. The volume opens with a fine study of 'Le sens de la vie dans l'oeuvre d'Andr6 Chenier,' which well deserves the place of honour. The long essay on 'Le Th6atre "Monacal" sous la Revolution' is a valuable contribution to a neglected side of the theatrical history of the epoch; and that on Pixer6court endeavours to arrive at a just estimate of a writer whose mediocrity as a literary craftsman has unduly obscured his contribution to the theatrical technique of the modern play. The essay on 'Dix-huitieme siecle et Romantisme' is unfortunately brief, and lacking in that breadth of treatment which its title tempts us to expect. But the charm and lucidity of M. Esteve's style make his volume a pleasure to read, whether he is dealing with big subjects or small.

LONDON. J. G. ROBERTSON.

Reviews 483

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