Essays on Scandinavian Literature

Essays on Scandinavian
Literature, by Hjalmar

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Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen
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Title: Essays on Scandinavian Literature
Author: Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen

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ESSAYS ON SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE
by
HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN

* * * * *

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
Goethe and Schiller. Their Lives and Works; with a commentary on
"Faust." Essays on German Literature. Essays on Scandinavian
Literature. A Commentary on the Writings of Henrik Ibsen. Literary
and Social Silhouettes. The Story of Norway. Gunnar. Tales from Two
Hemispheres. A Norseman's Pilgrimage. Falconberg. A Novel. Queen
Titania. Ilka on the Hill-top, and Other Tales. A Daughter of the
Philistines. The Light of Her Countenance. Vagabond Tales. The
Mammon of Unrighteousness. The Golden Calf. Social Strugglers.
Idyls of Norway, and Other Poems.
THE NORSELAND SERIES (JUVENILE).
The Modern Vikings: Stories of Life and Sport in the Northland.
Against Heavy Odds, and A Fearless Trio. Boyhood in Norway.
Norseland Tales.

* * * * *

ESSAYS ON SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE
by
HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN

Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures in Columbia College

London David Nutt, 270, Strand 1895.
Copyright, 1895, by Charles Scribner's Sons for the United States of
America Printed by the Trow Directory, Printing and Bookbinding
Company New York, U. S. A.

PREFACE
Some twenty years ago the ambition seized me to write a History of
Scandinavian Literature. I scarcely realized then what an enormous
amount of reading would be required to equip me for this task. My
studies naturally led me much beyond the scope of my original
intention. There was a fascination in the work which lured me
perpetually on, and made me explore with a constantly increasing zest
the great literary personalities of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Thus
my chapter on Henrik Ibsen grew into a book of three hundred and
seventeen pages, which was published a year ago, and must be regarded
as supplementary to the present volume. The chapter on Björnstjerne
Björnson was in danger of expanding to similar proportions, and only
the most heroic condensation saved it from challenging criticism as an
independent work. As regards Norway and Denmark, I have
endeavored to select all the weightiest and most representative names.
The Swedish authors Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Mrs. Edgren, and
August Strindberg, and the Dane Oehlenschlaeger, necessity has
compelled me to reserve for a future volume.
COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW YORK,
February, 1895.

CONTENTS

PAGE
BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON, 3
ALEXANDER KIELLAND, 107
JONAS LIE, 121
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, 155
CONTEMPORARY DANISH LITERATURE, 181
GEORG BRANDES, 199
ESAIAS TEGNÉR, 219

BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON
I
Björnstjerne Björnson is the first Norwegian poet who can in any sense
be called national. The national genius, with its limitations as well as its
virtues, has found its living embodiment in him. Whenever he opens
his mouth it is as if the nation itself were speaking. If he writes a little
song, hardly a year elapses before its phrases have passed into the
common speech of the people; composers compete for the honor of
interpreting it in simple, Norse-sounding melodies, which gradually
work their way from the drawing-room to the kitchen, the street, and
thence out over the wide fields and highlands of Norway. His tales,
romances, and dramas express collectively the supreme result of the
nation's experience, so that no one to-day can view Norwegian life or
Norwegian history except through their medium. The bitterest
opponent of the poet (for like every strong personality he has many
enemies) is thus no less his debtor than his warmest admirer. His
speech has stamped itself upon the very language and given it a new
ring, a deeper resonance. His thought fills the air, and has become the
unconscious property of all who have grown to manhood and

womanhood since the day when his titanic form first loomed up on the
horizon of the North. It is not only as their first and greatest poet that
the Norsemen love and hate him, but also as a civilizer in the widest
sense. But like Kadmus, in Greek myth, he has not only brought with
him letters, but also the dragon-teeth of strife, which it is to be hoped
will not sprout forth in armed men.
A man's ancestry and environment, no doubt, account in a superficial
manner for his appearance and mental