E-text prepared by Clare Boothby and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/) 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 Bjoernstjerne Bjoernson 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 BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON, 3 ALEXANDER KIELLAND, 107 JONAS LIE, 121 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, 155 CONTEMPORARY DANISH LITERATURE, 181 GEORG BRANDES, 199 ESAIAS TEGNER, 219 BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON I