92. New Books

Hans Ostwald: “Vagabonds”

Hans Ostwald's “Vagabonds” (Berlin, 1900, Bruno and Paul Cassirer publishers) is a charming literary work. I would call it the experiences of a “travelling journeyman” in the best sense of the word. A young man with an open mind and a great deal of worldly wisdom goes out into the world and then shares his fine observations. It is with great pleasure that one reads what the author observed on his travels and what he recorded with an unbiased and always stimulating spirit. A Prussian landscape as it is presented to us in its entirety; the lowlands of human existence, the fate of the disinherited, are described by Hans Ostwald in a captivating manner.

Victor von Reisner: “My Right as a Gentleman”

I have derived great satisfaction from reading Victor von Reisner's beautiful little book “Mein Herrenrecht” (Berlin. Verlag der Romanwelt). Anyone who, like me, is familiar with life in the Croatian-Slavonian regions, which the author describes, will know that a piece of folk psychology is presented here in a vivid and interesting way, with genuine humor. The warm-heartedness with which von Reisner describes and the lively style that is his own should make his little book a pleasant gift for all those who want to be introduced to the customs and ideas of a people that is remarkable in [its] own way in an artistic and stimulating way.

U. Rollet: “Shadows”

A modest little book, “Shadows” (Ernstes und Heiteres) by J. Rollet (Dresden and Leipzig, E. Pierson), must be read with great interest for the author. A man who has borne much suffering and a quiet destiny away from the path speaks out. J. Rollet is a subtle naturalist and an observer of the human heart, where it bears hidden suffering and joys that easily remain invisible to the world. You get to know a person from the book, in whose soul life has dug deep furrows.