Page:Woman Triumphant.djvu/228

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Among American women of German descent we find likewise a number of gifted poets. The two anthologies "Deutsch in Amerika" (Chicago, 1892) and "Vom Lande des Sternenbanners" (Ellenville, N. Y., 1905) contain many contributions of Dorothea Boettcher, Elizabeth Mesch, Edna Fern, Amalie von Ende, Marianne Kuenhold, Maria Raible, Minna Kleeberg, Bella Fiebing, Henni Hubel, Martha Toeplitz, and others, distinguished in form as well as rich in imagination and powerful in expression. Several German-American women also became favorably known by valuable works in prose, as for instance Therese Albertine Louise Jacob, the wife of Professor Robinson, of New York. Under the name of Talvj, she wrote historical works about Captain John Smith and the colonization of New England, and a "Historical Review of the Language and Literature of the Slavic Nations, with a Sketch of their Popular Poetry." Of her many poems and translations Goethe spoke with great admiration. Her novels are far superior to the average in style and interest.

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In the Netherlands the novels of Elizabeth Bekker were extremely popular at the end of the 18th Century. She ranks high among Dutch authors. Her "Historie van William Levend," the "Historie van Sara Burgerhart," "Abraham Blankaart" and "Cornelia Wildshut" are her greatest works. The poems of Agathe Dekken are to this day esteemed master-pieces of Dutch poetry. During the 19th Century Mrs. Bosboom-Toussaint's novels, and Helen Swarth's poems "Passiebloemen" have been widely read.

The most eminent woman writer of Denmark was Thomasine Kristine Baroness Gyllembourg-Ehrensvard, who introduced into Danish literature a novel vein of realism and domestic humor. Although she has had many imitators, she is still without a rival. Hadda Raonkilde has exerted a powerful influence upon Scandinavian literature.

The two most successful women-novelists of Norway are Anna Magdalene Thoresen and Jacobine Camilla Collet, author of the excellent novel "Amtmandens Döttre" ("The Governor's Daughters"). In 1894 all Norway celebrated her eightieth birthday as a national holiday.

The most eminent Swedish novelist of the 19th Century was Frederika Bremer. Her "Sketches of Every Day Life" attracted immediate attention. But this success was far surpassed by the novels "The H——— Family" and "The Neighbors." Both manifest the author's purity, simplicity, and love of domestic life. These books as well as almost all of the author's later works have been translated into English, German and French.

Another Swedish author of note was Anne Charlotte Edgren.

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