Abu Telfan ; or, the Return from the Mountains of
the Moon, a novel, by Wilhelm Raabe, translated from the German by Sofia Delffs (Chapman and Hall), is introduced with a considerable flourish of trumpets by the translator as "one of the best novels that have lately appeared in German." We are also informed that "one of Raabe's chief charms is his rich vein of the truest, most genial humour." We confess, however, that we see nothing in Abu Milan to justify such enthusiasm. It is most unconscionably long drawn- out. The plot is involved, and the tragedy with which the story ends appears quite unnecessary. It is impossible to say whether the
hero, Leonhard Hagebuolier, who returns to his native Germany from imprisonment in Darfur, is more fool or German metaphysician. As for Raabe's humour, we sometimes find in it far-off echoes of Sterne—and of Mr. Toole—and it is quite genuine, so far as it goes ; but then it goes such a little way, after all, and the vein is so poor. This may be all insular prejudice and ignorance, but we utterly fail. to see in the author of Abu Tel/an a new light in the firmament of fiction.
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