PROSE WRITERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Pre-eminent among the historians of the Nineteenth Century are CESARE
BALBO and CESARE CANTU. They were both indefatigably laborious and they
both devoted themselves to the elucidation of the history of their
native land. MANIN'S _History of Venice_ has research and minuteness of
detail without wearisome prolixity to recommend it.
TOMMASO GROSSI was highly successful with his historical romance _Marco
Visconti,_ but he has a tendency to become very tearful and sentimental.
The plays of ALBERTO NOTA procured considerable reputation for their
author, but they are not quite amusing enough for comedies and not
quite Strong enough for dramas, so that they have fallen into neglect
in spite of their delicacy and refinement. The Italian Stage in this
Century depended too much on French importations, as did the average
fiction of the day. Even at the present time, the poorest rubbish of
the Boulevards has a better chance of attracting attention than the
best works of indigenous authors. Extreme concessions have been made of
late years to vulgar realism, but it cannot be denied that realism has
called forth life-like characters and accurate descriptions. MATILDE
SERAO has been particularly successful as a novelist.
But the most brilliant novelist of the present day is undoubtedly
GABRIELE D'ANNUNZIO. His poems are well-conceived, though not
particularly musical in diction, but as a novelist he is quite the
first. He excels in descriptions. Nowhere else can such word-painting
be found, with the possible exception of the books of travel of EDMONDO
DE AMICIS. TULLIO GIORDANA has written a most interesting monograph on
Gabriele d'Annunzio's _Trionfo della Morte,_ but perhaps the best works
he has produced as yet are _Il Piacere_ and _Giovanni Episcopo._ He
is not always particularly happy in his choice of subjects; but if he
exercises discretion in that respect, there is no saying to what height
he may not in future ascend.
In Italy, as elsewhere, the extreme popularity of the novel has
overshadowed every other branch of literature. To enumerate the various
authors and their works would be like counting the sands of the
sea-shore and the stars of the Heavens, suffice it to observe that
everywhere skill and ingenuity are manifest, and if some authors become
repulsive from excess of realism, others, and those the most recent,
have, in emulation of Gabriele d'Annunzio, thrown over their realism
the garb of fancy and imagination, thus presenting a happy augury for
the future.