FRANCE
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FRANCE
delight in filling their romances with a subtile and
penetrating irony. The master of this school is M.
Anatole France. M. Maurice Barres, who holds from
Stendahl, was, in his earlier career, of the ironical
school, but has more recently applied himself to dem-
onstrating the influences of native soil and tradition
("Les Deracin(?s ", 1S97). Another class of story
■m-iters has exerted itself to increase the field of ro-
mance, which, with the Naturalists, had well nigh been
shut up within the limits of Parisian life. Some, like
M. Pierre Loti, marvellous at evoking the impression
of far distant lands, have imported an exotic atmo-
sphere; others have sought to reproduce with sympa-
thetic fidelity the manners of their native provinces.
This latter has been done for Anjou and the \end('e,
with much elevation[of thought and elegance of style,
by M. Bazin (La Terre qui nieurt).
The drama, which had produced nothing of any real value under the influence of Romanticism, passed through a period of great brilliancy after 1S50. Most of the works produced since that date belong to the comedy of manners, often containing little of the comic, which derives its origin from the Romantic drama — to which it owes its ambition to reproduce "atmosphere" — and from the comedy of Scribe. The essential characteristic of the work of Scribe is the care which he brings to the contrivance of his scenes, the disposal of his action, and the preparation of his d(- nonement. This dexterity in managing a plot reap- pears in almost all the dramatic authors of the second half of the nineteenth century, with whom it is an im- portant element of their art. Lastly, the influence of the romance makes itself felt; as the romance strives after exact portraiture of life and manners, so does the drama. To resume, the modern comedy of manners combines Scribe's theatrical technique with Balzac's observation.
The chief initiator of the dramatic movement of his time was Alexandre Dumas, fils (1S24-96). An ex- tremely penetrating observer, he had at the same time tlie mental idiosyncracy of a quasi-mystical moralist. At first his gift of observation dominates; in "La Dame aux Camelias" (1S52), "Question d'argent" (1857), and "Le pore prodigue" (1859), he depicts Parisian society. Then, from 1867 on, the moralist runs away with him and he creates a new t3T)e, the "problem play" (pUce de these), in which, in an exu- berantly spirited dialogue of dazzling wit, he studies and discusses certain fundamental social questions ("Les id^es de Madame Aubray", 1SG7). The work of the younger Dumas is often bizarre and irritating, that of Emile Augier (1820-89), who shares public favour with him, is more uniform. The dominant quality in Augier is good sense; he has devoted him- self to painting bourgeois society, using methods almost identical with those of the Classics and, like them, creating general tj^ies. At the time when Naturalism was trying to obtain possession of the drama, as it had already taken possession of romance, Henri Becque (1837-99), who produced little besides, was the principal dramatist of that school (" Les Cor- lieatix", 1882). But the movement was short-lived; Naturalism in the drama soon ran to excesses which ruined its reputation. Dumas fils, however, is still the master from whom the contemporary dramatists hold, and Edouard Pailleron, Henri Lavedan, Mau- rice Donnay, and Paul Hervieu all owe him much. It is to be noted that in the last years of the nineteenth century the French stage witnessed a revival of the heroic comedy in M. Edmond Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1897).
We have already spoken of Renan and Taine in con- nexion with the general tendencies of this period ; these two names bolcmg also to the literature of history. Renan f 1832-92), wit li his "OriginesduChristianisme, opened the diimMiii of literature to religious history, which before had belonged only to pure erudition.
Apart from the wavering scepticism and dilettantism
in his work, his influence has been felt by a great num-
ber of writers. Taine (1828-93) inaugurated in his-
tory the method of "little facts" borrowed from the
sciences. He classifies and arranges a mass of unim-
portant events, which serve him as documents of his
epoch, and from these he gathers tendencies and laws
(Les Urigines de la France Contemporaine). Side by
side with Renan and Taine we must place Fustel de
Coulanges (1830-89), who.se method is the scrupulous
analysis of texts and, above all, the study of the laws
of social change. Since these great masters, historical
literature has risen to superb heights; among the most
brilliant historians of our own day, it will suffice to
mention MM. Albert Sorel, Albert Vandal, and Henry
Houssaye.
Lastly, following Sainte-Beuve, some remarkable writers have raised criticism to the independent rank of a great department of literature. Here M. Brune- tiere (1849-190G) introduced the idea of evolution, showing how literary forms are born, develop, flourish, and then become dissolved and resolved into other forms. No one has pleaded the cause of tradition with greater warmth, and even violence, than M. Brunetiere, and this same classical tradition is de- fended by M. Jules Lemaltre, under the fluctuating forms of a clever and ingenious criticism which has nothing of dilettantism but the appearance, and by M. Emile Faguet, in monographs remarkable for pre- cise analysis and vigorous relief.
In conclusion, it may be asked: What stage of its development has French literature now readied? and what character is it likely to assume in the course of the twentieth century? — It would be vain to attempt a guess, but some of the influences which seem bound to affect it may be here indicatctl. First, science will increasingly impose on the writers of the future its vigorous discipline and methods. On the other hand, the fact that the study of Greek and Latin Ls losing ground in France cannot fail to have the most pro- found consequences in literature. Lastly, we seem, in these days, to be assisting at a social transforma- tion, the shock of which will doubtless make itself felt in art and letters.
Belgian Literature in the French Language. — In the Middle Ages the literature in French which developed in the provinces of Hainault, Flanders, Brabant, and Liege had all the characteristics of the French litera- ture of that time, except that it furnished neither works nor names of any mark. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there was the same poverty of literary output. In the eighteenth century, under the then universal influence of French literature, a grand seigneur, the Prince de Ligne (1735-1814), rivals in easy grace of style the French writers of his time^ "the only foreigner", as Mme. de Stael says, "who has ever become a model in French literature, instead of being an imitator". But the true expansion of French Belgian literature — which, however, is never, more than a reflection of French literature properly so called — dates from the formation of an independent Belgian kingdom. Charles de Coster (d. 1879), the earliest of the Belgian writers of the nineteenth cen- tury worthy of mention, brings out the very soul of Flandersin his legendary romance "Tiel LTylenspie- gel", which in other respects reproduces the qualities and defects of the Romantics. From 1880, begin- ning with M. Camille Lemonnier, Naturalism reigns in Belgium. Naturalism, following the example set in France, is dethroned by Symbolism, about 1889. It may even be properly said that Symbolism developed in Belgium rather than in Fr.ance; its principal repre- sentatives are M. Rodenbach, an exquisite poet who has depicted for us the fascination of Bruges (I^e Rt'gne du silence, Bniges-la-Morte), M. Verhaeren (" I>es Soirs", 1887), and M. Maeterlinck, who has es- sayed to create a Symbolistic drama.
