graphically with a commentary on the geography, history and literature of each. The same objection may be lodged against these synopses of literature as against the ones on Spain. They cannot be appreciated by our boys and girls of high-school age. Their reference value is very slight.

The Flores de España and the Flores de América are anthologies of representative lyric poets of the old and the new world. The canciones bring to us some of the old favorites.

Eight of the ten appendices furnish statistics of more or less valuable information.

There are not as many concessions made to the commercial side as one might expect from the foreword; of business correspondence there is nothing. Exercises, written and oral, are wholly lacking.

The vocabulary deserves notice. It is a repository for all sorts of lore, more or less related. It suggests the old-time polyhistory, needlessly gone afield. Much information is stored up here that is not readily accessible to many a teacher, even in some of the larger communities, and if it were, many would not care to find it out for ourselves; surely the students would not. Some of the marginalia will revive the memory as well as add fresh store to the teacher's own fund of knowledge. One can not escape the feeling that much of this was not intended solely for the pupil. Several of the glosses are disproportionate to their importance in a school reader. For example, Cristóbal Colón and Magallanes are dismissed with mere anglicization of the name, no other data are given; whereas the great mariner's son and heir, Fernando, gets 12 lines; Cortez gets 31, Drake 42, King David 20, and Alfred Nobel 24 lines of commentary. The word "Corán” comes in for 22 lines, and "moro" for one and a third columns.

The illustrations, with the legends in Spanish, are a treat to the eye and a joy to the heart. They cannot fail to interest even the dullard.

(E) We have here a well-planned book. Its spirit of youth and liveliness is most contagious and the reader reluctantly lays the book aside, for therewith he has parted company with the charming family about whom it centers, especially the two boys.

The unity of execution of this book becomes apparent before one gets very far along. The authors, both practical and experienced high-school men, did their work thoroughly and may safely predicate that "most schools will find the book suitable for first-year work." This volume is but another testimony to the fact that those readers, or parts thereof, written by the editors themselves are invariably more satisfying, because more consistent, than any possible assortment of selections or extracts from unrelated sources pieced together.

This book cannot fail of sustained interest with both pupil and teacher. For after all, what can be more fascinating than the well-knit account of present-day travel to a forward-looking land of new delights, especially if seen through the eyes of one of one's own age and recounted by himself? We have that situation here,-the itinerary of an American family, the journey and everything incident thereto, recorded and interpreted to us, largely

through conversation, by the two boys, fortunate enough to have mastered Spanish in high school.

The pedagogy of the book is sound. Very successful grading has been done; progression is in easy stages, without being stilted.

The fact that the vocabulary (about 4000 words) comprises nearly onethird of the volume need not startle, as the vocables are mostly of common use, or else such as to be easily associated with the context; they form a good working stock.

The idiomatic expressions are well handled. The subjunctive is not introduced until p. 51, and occurs only in 40 instances, each use expleained in a simple footnote.

The 30 sets of questions are stimulating and recapitulate the respective chapters on which they are based. An equal number of easy exercises for translation follows. But why disconnected sentences? Idiom can be drilled in connected discourse as well.

Some of the otherwise splendid illustrations, two dozen of them, might have been replaced by others of more distinctly local atmosphere and much more typical, e. g., those of Buenos Aires.

The copy is very clean, the paper good and the print clear, and the binding substantial,-features characteristic of the whole "Hispanic Series."

(F) The mission of this book is unmistakable. Its distinguished compiler, long identified with South-American educational officialdom, is superbly qualified to interpret to us our neighbor republics to the south.

An educator and a consistent and enthusiastic worker for the establishment of closer social and educational relations between the Americas, it seemed to him that the eagerness with which the American youth is taking up the study of Spanish affords the best possible opportunity for inserting the "entering wedge" as it were, of that sympathetic understanding which will eventually break down the barrier which has hitherto kept the independent peoples of this continent apart from each other, despite the progress in science, art, and education.

Part I, written by the editor, contain 37 chapters on various socioeconomic items; eight of these chapters are constructed so as to emphasize the use of various common words and idioms; six of them are formed about topical vocabularies. These selections are frankly utilitarian and deal wholly with commercial themes, but not at all in a dry and lifeless fashion; in fact they are composed with verve. Any educated person will be better off for acquaintance with the every-day business matters under discussion here. The various subjects are entertainingly treated in the form of a dialogue between the editor and the reader.

Part II comprises 88 excerpts by almost as many South-American authors of diverse topics pertaining to natural history, life and customs, historic personages, and literature. The final chapter under the title "El Ideal Americano" brings a symposium of meditations and prophecies by South-American writers.

There is stored here a great amount of valuable information of the most varied nature, which is amplified greatly by the novel method of handling the footnotes. The latter are not only textual and grammatical. By means of "variant readings" and "related words" the vocabulary is skillfully broadened. These footnotes are treated in such a way as to make the customary set of questions and oral exercises quite superfluous. The wealth of paraphrase makes conversational drill both natural and easy.

Such a wealth of ideas is brought together here that an index becomes quite essential to make this the ready reference book that it has turned out to be for the class of pupils into whose hands it is likely to be put, as well as for the private adult student.

The editor presupposes a preparation on the part of the students which would hardly warrant the use of this book before the end of the second year, for he assumes that they "will have acquired a fairly extensive working vocabulary." This supposition accounts for the fact that so many uncommon words used in the text and notes are missing in the vocabulary.

GEORGE W. H. SHIELD

MANUAL ARTS HIGH SCHOOL

Los ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

The Literary History of Spanish America, by Alfred Coester, Ph. D. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1916. XII + 495 pages.

Dr. Coester's purpose in writing this literary history was, as he tells us in the preface, to offer a guide to those of us in English-speaking America who desire a better acquaintance with the mentality of our Spanish-American neighbors. By thus limiting his purpose to the production of a reliable guidebook; by calling his book a literary history rather than a history of literature; by directing our attention to the difficulties of the task, the lack of eliable sources of information in the various countries treated and the nonexistence of adequate collections of books by Spanish-American writers, Dr. Coester disarms adverse criticism. Moreover, the pioneer is judged by what he accomplishes, not by what he fails to do; Dr. Coester, a pioneer in the study of Spanish-American literature, should be given credit for the great mass of information that he has assembled in attractive form, and should not be criticized too severely for certain errors of judgment or of omission.

The choice of a general plan of treatment is a difficult matter when the literatures of eighteen countries, large and small, are to be treated in one volume. To treat separately each country, or certain groups in the case of the smaller ones, would require more than one volume and would result in much repetition of historical facts and general comments, especially for the Colonial period, when similar conditions of life and close political union resulted in a certain homogeneity of literature. Similarly in the second period, that of the struggle for freedom from Spain, a common aim and political

coöperation make it possible to group the Spanish colonies of South America into one division and those of North America into another. As soon as the various colonies gained independence from the mother country family bonds were severed. "Freedom won, each country pursued its own course in literature as in politics.”

The general plan adopted by Dr. Coester would seem, therefore, to be a reasonable one; namely, one chapter on the Colonial Period, the second chapter on the Revolutionary Period in South America, the third on the same period in North America, ten chapters on the political development and the literature of each of the countries of Spanish-America from the third decade of the nineteenth century until about 1890. A final chapter brings together once more the various parts of Spanish-America in a unified treatment of their literary productions of the last twenty-five years, in so far as they have been affected by the "Modernista" movement.

Chapter I, the Colonial Period, gives us a brief account of the historical background of three centuries, the spread of Spanish culture in the New World and the production of literature, especially in the two vice-regal capitals, Mexico City and Lima. Of literature in its restricted sense, poetry easily holds first place. In chapter II somewhat more attention is given to the historical background, for the reason, presumably, that the general reader in this country knows even less about the wars of independence in SpanishAmerica than about the Spanish conquest and the Colonial régime. The story of the long struggle by which South America gained independence from Spain is told clearly and succinctly, the campaigns of the North and the South under the leadership of Bolívar and San Martín, respectively, followed by the concentration of their victorious armies in the final struggle against the royalist forces of Perú. For the reason that most of the writers of this period found their chief inspiration in the ideals and events of the struggle for freedom, the literary and political threads are interwoven more successfully in this chapter than in the preceding one.

In chapter III, after giving briefly the course of the revolution that gave national independence to Mexico, the author discusses the writings inspired by the struggle. These are fewer proportionately and less important than in South America, for the reason that the revolution in its inception and progress was supported mainly by the uneducated masses, whereas in South America the intellectuals formed the backbone of the opposition to Spain. The second half of the chapter, treating of Cuban literature during the same period, gives to Heredia more than twelve pages, a space out of proportion to his importance when compared with the briefer treatment of such men as Bello and Andrade. It is the opinion of the reviewer that all the best writers should have been treated with equal generosity, the necessary space to be gained by the elimination of scores of third-rate authors, of interest only to the specialist.

Only the most general comments can be made here upon the ten chapters in which each country is given a separate treatment. In the case of each the most important events in the growth of republican government are noticed and the relation between political events and literature pointed out. This

combining of the political and literary history is done with notable success in the treatment of certain countries, such as Mexico, Cuba, and Argentina, for the reason perhaps that in these countries the points of contact between the literature and politics are most numerous. Some attempt is made to find an explanation for the predominance here and there of certain kinds of literature in the national character and peculiar political development of the various countries, a matter worthy of more attention than it receives. For example, the virile, practical, comparatively unimaginative character of the Chileans "reveals itself spontaneously in prose forms of literature, especially historical writing and the kindred novel"; poetry with them is a "cultivated plant" in spite of the large number of poets. On the other hand, poetry forms the greater part of the literature of the Colombians, the highly imag inative, idealistic, rhetorical descendants of the Andalusian colonists. Similarly, certain phases of literature receive special attention in the treatment of certain countries. The Americanization of literature manifests itself mainly in the "criollismo" of the naturalistic fiction of Venezuela, Argentina, and Uruguay; indigenous inspiration in Uruguayan poetry and in the "gaucho" literature of Argentina; poetry of high moral and social significance in Argentina and Cuba; the political tract in Cuba. Gay wit and subtle irony give a peculiar individuality to Peruvian literature. In Mexico all the literary genres are well represented, poetry, drama, novel, and history; this fact and the skilful combining of political and literary history make this one of the most interesting chapters in the book.

The final chapter gives an account of the recent literary tendencies known as the "Modernista" movement. The fact that this movement has raanifested itself throughout Spanish-America without any regard for national frontiers makes possible a unified treatment, admirably conceived and carried out. Mexico, Cuba, and Colombia supplied the precursors of the movement in Gutiérrez Nájera, Julián del Casal, and José Asunción Silva, respectively. Rubén Darío of Central America, combining with rare genius their literary innovations with those of the French Parnassian, decadent and symbolist schools, became the recognized leader of the movement in its first phase; the second, present-day phase, the tendency toward complete Americanization, has for leader the Peruvian poet, José Santos Chocano, rightly called "El Poeta de América." If Dr. Coester has been content in the preceding chapters with being the. chronicler of the facts of literary history, in this final chapter he shows what he can do as literary historian.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

G. W. UMPHREY