Page:Anthology of Modern Slavonic Literature in Prose and Verse by Paul Selver.djvu/367

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LITERARY NOTES
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character of the district and inhabitants, not by paraphrasing their legends and traditions, but by narrating purely imaginative incidents in the spirit and often in the language of the people. His novels dealing with society life present, in tone and feeling, a complete contrast to the naivity and freshness of these peasant tales.218

Tsensky (N. S. Sergeyev-Tsensky). Russian novelist, whose early work, written under the influence of Andreyev, is consequently pessimistic in character. In his prose style he has endeavoured to create new devices for the vivid presentment of objects and ideas. Although this desire to avoid the hackneyed has led him into the use of affected impressionistic images, he often succeeds admirably in reproducing the atmosphere suited to the setting of his stories.58
Theer, Otakar (b. 1880). One of the most gifted among the younger Czech poets. The rather obtrusive decadence of his very early verses was followed, after an interval of over ten years, by the collection "Anguish and Hope," in which his personality is revealed in stronger and