The lost manuscript. A novel. 1890 Gustav Freytag 1816-1895

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https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007431960

The lost manuscript. A novel. 1890 2 volumes
Gustav Freytag 1816-1895


GUSTAV FREYTAG has expressed the central idea of his novel The Lost Manuscript in the motto which he has written for the American edition:

" A noble human life does not end on earth with death. It continues in the minds and the deeds of friends, as well as in the thoughts and the activity of the nation."

This idea of the continuity and preservation of soul-life permeates the whole work. It meets us at every hand. We observe the professor in his study, ever eager to fathom the thoughts of the great thinkers of the past and imbuing his students with their lofty spirit. We sympathize with the heroine of this novel, the strong, pious Saxon maiden, in her religious and intellectual development; we behold her soul enlarging under the influence of unusual and trying situations; we watch her mentally growing amid the new ideas crowding in upon her. We enjoy the droll characterizations of the half-educated, of Mrs. Rollmaus and the servants, in whose minds the mysteries of soul-life appear in the shape of superstitious notions.