Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/302

284 of inward struggle, which finally led to a rupture with the old principles. He has now completely embraced the new tendency, as is seen by his recent prose works, especially the story "Uden Midtpunkt" (without centre). In this work he exposes, with a keen faculty of observation and with great satirical humor, the weaknesses of the times, particularly as they are to be found in Denmark.

The pseudonym "author of Jason with the golden fleece," as he styles himself after his first book, has assumed the task of portraying the wrongs of his own time, and in this work he has had marked success in his "Nutidsbilleder," which are written with spirit and ability.

One of the most important works of the new school, one in which the leading principles are prominently set forth, is "Fru Marie Grubbe," which is a series of loosely connected sketches from the seventeenth century. They consist in historical pictures drawn from life, written with a rare command of language, and distinguished by their truthfulness in regard to the historical details and by a subtle psychological insight. The book is exceedingly entertaining, though it contains little or nothing of what has hitherto been regarded as poetry.

In this chapter we have thus far occupied ourselves exclusively with the modern æsthetical literature, which in the beginning of this century assumed unprecedented proportions. Meanwhile there was no less activity in the other domains of thought, and in no previous epoch has there been achieved so much in all directions as during the last fifty years. A detailed account of all this grand activity would