© Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg, Best. 340 Grimm Nr. Z 34 
aus : 
Boston Evening Traveller, 
1885,Dez. 14 
aus : ?,1885,Dez.19 
Essays by Herman Grimm: Literature. 
Cupples, Upham & Co. These essays by 
the eminent Professor of Art and Literature 
at the University of Berlin are varied in 
ränge. They comprise two papers on Emer 
son, one written twenty-five years ago and 
another published after bis death, France 
and Voltaire, Frederick the Great, Macaulay 
and Frederick the Great, The Brothers 
Grimm, Bettina von Arnim, and Dante and 
the Recent Political Changes in Italy. Her 
man Grimm is one of the marked characters 
in modern literature. His Life of Michel 
Angelo, his Lectures on Goethe, wilh his 
Raphael, place him among the first writers 
and thinkers of our day. It takes a great 
mind truly to comprehend the genius and 
originality of such men as Emerson, Goethe, 
and Michel Angelo. Grimm has lived all 
his life in an atmosphere charged with the 
highest culture and pure intellect. Son of 
William Grimm, one of the noble men 
known with a world-wide reputation as the 
Brothers Grimm, he has well sustained the 
family narae as a synonyme for the finest in- 
tellectual thought of Germany. No man has 
done more in the present day for German 
literature and national growth of thought 
than Herman Grimm. Miss Adams has 
done her work so admirably that the highest 
praise one can give her is to say we only 
read Grimm, we are brought face to face 
with the great German himself. This was 
no light task set herseif by Miss Adams, for 
the essays are very strong in idiomatic ex- 
pressions; and Grhmn’s style is peculiarly 
individual and quite exceptional. She has 
given us a charming little preface, making us 
regret that she does not do some original 
Work; for she can write as well as translate. 
Herrn au GrimnTs Essays. 
~ SfeVeral essays by Herman Grimm, on ‘'Ralph i 
WaTdo Emerson,” “France and Voltaire,” “Vol- I 
taiie and Frederick the Great,” “Frederick the 
Great and Macaulay,” “Albert Dürer,” “The j 
Brothers Grimm,” “Bettina von Arnim” and / 
“Dante on the Reccnt Italien Strug-rle,” have ! 
been translated by Miss Sarah H. Adams, and 
form a very valnable addition to Contemporary 
literature. Prof. Herman Grimm is the son of 
William Grimm, and was born at Cassel in 1828. 
It was his father and his uncle, Jacob, who are 
know as the “Brothers drimm,” who have ren- 
dered such Service to letters. In their early 
youth they set before themselves the destined 
aim of a revival of aucient German literature, 
and in their united publicatlons they omitted 
their Christian names, preferring to be known as 
the “Brothers Grimm.” “In them,” says Miss 
Adams, “we find the truest repräsentatives of 
Germantf—her highest culture, sweet sincerity 
and simple, soulful life.” The clearnes3 with 
which Hermann Grimm States his impressions 
will be marked by the reader of these valuable 
essays. In referrina to the sense of iiberation 
that Emerson gave him, he says: 
I assume that there rests upon the soul of 
every man wbo has grown to mauhood a certain 
buroen, the sums of bis experiences, recolkc- 
tions, hopes, fears, and daily environments, and 
that his bappiness is in proportion to bis success 
in escaping from this pressure and living in a 
sense of freedom We rarely know what 
the specific property is in an intellectual work 
that has captivated us or which the word that 
compels us to listen and obey But those 
artists stand highest who, by their produetfons, 
accomplish the still greater miracle of taking up 
with steady hand this sorry every-day life, to 
unravel artisticaily the confused web, and bring 
out its intnnsic beauty In Raphael and 
Goethe we have examples of this elevating in- 
lluence in its füllest potency Hiev recon- 
cile us to life Emerson possesses this 
power in the highest degree What is to 
be compared with the voiee of one who is speak- 
ing out es his deepest soul what he belleves to 
he true? 
Again the reader findssuch ^ptences asthe3e: 
■“A natlon has attained alT its 
powers, great and small, are 
productive activity". Emerson views every 
pbenomenon in connection with the highest 
ldea.” Referring to the lailure of a learned 
German to appreciate Emerson, Prof. Grimm 
says: “Every man has the right to turn aside 
from what does not plaase him. I did not feel 
called upon to convert the worid by fire and 
sword to Emerson.” Tbe essays are all suffi- | 
cienlly fine and thoughtful to well-merit trans- ■ 
lation. It is the highest type of appreciativc 
writingthat Prof. Grimtn gives us,—that which 
i s vital with the life of the writer. Miss Adams's 
translation is in pure and elegant English, and 
the ’solutne is charmingly brought out by the 
classic “Old Corner” Publishing house. It is 
one of the most permanently valuable woiks. 
(Boston: Cupples, Upham & Co.]