Björnstjerne Björnson, 1832-1910
- Pages
- about 53
- Category
- History
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 59 min at 250 wpm
From the opening
Eight years ago, taking a bird's-eye view of the mountain peaks of
contemporary literature, and writing with particular reference to
Bjoernson's seventieth birthday, it seemed proper to make the following
remarks about the most famous European authors then numbered among
living men. If one were asked for the name of the greatest man of
letters still living in the world, the possible claimants to the
distinction would hardly be more than five in number. If it were a
question of poetry alone, Swinburne would have to be named first, with
Carducci for a fairly close second. But if we take literature in its
larger sense, as including all the manifestations of creative activity
in language, and if we insist, furthermore, that the man singled out
for this preeminence shall stand in some vital relation to the
intellectual life of his time, and exert a forceful influence upon the
thought of the present day, the choice must rather be made among the
three giants of the north of Europe, falling, as it may be, upon the
great-hearted Russian emotionalist who has given us such deeply moving
portrayals of the life of the modern world; or upon the passionate
Norwegian idealist whose finger has so unerringly pointed out the
diseased spots in the social organism, earning by his moral surgery the
name of pessimist, despite his declared faith in the redemption of
mankind through truth and freedom and love; or, perchance, upon that
other great Norwegian, equally fervent in his devotion to the same
ideals, and far more sympathetic in his manner of inculcating them upon
his readers, who has just rounded out his scriptural tale of three
score years and ten, and, in commemoration of the anniversary, is now
made the recipient of such a tribute of grateful and whole-souled
admiration as few men have ever won, and none have better deserved.
A short sample. Read the whole book
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