PAUL HEYSE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1037, 28 January 1911, Page 9

PAUL HEYSE.

The recipient of the Nobel Prize, of over £60011 for literature this year is the German Paul Hoyse, now in his eightieth year. A writer in tho Boston "Transcript", calls him "tho adorablo elder' brother of tho German literary world," and gives an interesting appreciation of him. He says:— "If tho open secret must bo told, Germany has no great novelist, no truly heroic moulder of liction, no Cervantes, no Dumas or Hugo or Balzac, no Fielding, Soott, Dickens, or Thackeray, no Tolstoy., As wo survey tho field, wo note only one German contribution., to the theory of fiction, the tendenzroman, and that is one of lesser consequence. "The German novel is not despicable. It' could not be, even if it had only its Gustav Freytag to show. But it never quite peaches the level of supreme mastery. ' Not even in 'YVilhclm Meister,' which alono of German novels challenges tho sentinels of world literature. Part of 'the great confession,' as Goethe termed his literary work, 'Williclm llcistcr,' is a monument of Goethe's many-sided genius, hut it takes its. place a little outside of the lordly domain of fiction in tho grand style. "But whenwo come to the novelle, it

behoves us. to approach with ' bowed heads and chastened wonder. ' Hcrr Paul Hcyso is the. master of many masters, and as .he stands hero ho is truly «re?.t. His greatness differs from that of Zola. sav. or Gcorgo Eliot, only in kind. It would at least bo perilous to make a difference of degree "T'lio novello is, as has been said, a short novel. It might equally well (and equally ill) be called a long short story. Both descriptions confuse more than they explain. For the reader not familiar with German a serviceable analogue might be cited in George Eliot's 'Silas Jlarner.' 'Silas Marner' is really a novelle, not a novel; and it is clearly neither a short novel nor a long short story. It has neither tho epic breadth of the ono, nor any suggestion of' it; nor has it the compression and dircet- ' uess of effect of tho .other. It has, on tho other hand, tho unity of plot, the singleness of purpose, tho wonderful constructive balance, and the terseness with fulness all characteristic fo the novelle.

"In the novelle, then, tho .Germans aro masters, and Paul Heyse. is tho master of masters. Next to him stands Theodore Storm, whoso 'Immenscc,' which our German teachers unwisely persist in placing in the hands of the young gives a niaturcr reader a

good idea of his sentimental strain, but not of his masterly depiction of life under northern skies; then Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, a Swiss writer, who wavered between French and German literature until tho events of 1370-71 decided him to cast his lot Whero his bloodties wero stronger. "With Dices must ho ranked Goethe, Klcist, perhaps Keller. Tho men of third rank but of noteworthy achievements are already legion. But tho greatest of all is Paul Heysc. No less a critic than Michael Ecniays concedes him that supremacy. "Heyso's greatness in tho novclle is to be'sought in tho fine artistry, the perfect workmanship. Ho leads us over again into a world of sensuous beauty. Of equal signficanea is his power of psychological analysis, his deft dissection of tho human heart, especially tho heart of woman, and hero again particularly tho woman of somewhat riper years, 'tho woman of forty,' as someonohas put'it. Of quito secondary importance, though still significant, is his fertility and his variety in a somewhat limited range. Literary form, sensuous beauty, crises of tho heart, deep probings in the hidden springs of love and hate, these in some co-efficiency to each other -make up the singular greatness of Heyso's art. He is a Brother of the Flaming Heart. He has given us a Commedia dell'. Amoro in the encyclopaedic sense of Dante's (and Balzac's) use of commedia. '

"From all this it does not sufficiently appear why the Nobel Prize for Literature should have been awarded to him. Perhaps it should not have been. He has not moved the world out of its course. He has given us no thundering message, no baphometic fire-baptism. But he has taught us, too, more than we realise, and something wo all. need to know: that a consistent idealism js possible in this world, that the unfailing tending of tho vestal flames of beauty is also a service. And above all he has been as a Presence among us. That is enough."