E-text prepared by Clare Boothby
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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ESSAYS ON
SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE

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 meto write a History of Scandinavian Literature. Iscarcely realized then what an enormous amountof reading would be required to equip me for thistask. My studies naturally led me much beyondthe scope of my original intention. There was afascination in the work which lured me perpetuallyon, and made me explore with a constantly increasingzest the great literary personalities of Norway,Sweden, and Denmark. Thus my chapter on HenrikIbsen grew into a book of three hundred andseventeen pages, which was published a year ago,and must be regarded as supplementary to thepresent volume. The chapter on BjörnstjerneBjörnson was in danger of expanding to similarproportions, and only the most heroic condensationsaved it from challenging criticism as an independentwork. As regards Norway and Denmark,I have endeavored to select all the weightiest andmost representative names. The Swedish authorsJohan Ludvig Runeberg, Mrs. Edgren, and AugustStrindberg, and the Dane Oehlenschlaeger,necessity has compelled me to reserve for a futurevolume.

COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW YORK,

February, 1895.

CONTENTS