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interest in historical works and memoirs, the chief among them being a series of biograph- 

 ical memoirs at present some twenty volumes dealing with Danish life in town and 

 country, in camp or at court, at various periods from 1600 to 1870. While Henrik Pon- 

 toppidan (b. 1857) has been silent since he completed his great novel of eight volumes, 

 Lykke-Per, he has found a competitor in the same field in Martin Andersen-Nexo (b. 

 1869), whose Pelle Erobreren (Pelle the Conqueror), still incomplete, secured for this 

 author a place in the first rank among the popular writers of Denmark. 



The agricultural labourers of Denmark, for whom the high schools, the agricultural 

 colleges, intended especially for them, and the small-holding movement have proved a 

 boon in more than one sense, have found two authors, who in poetry and prose describe 

 their struggle for existence on the Jutland heaths or on the newly acquired state small- 

 holding. Jeppe Aakjaer (b. 1866) bids fair to become a second Steen Steensen Blicher 

 (see E. B. viii, 42) both in his prose in the Jutland patois, and in his poetry. His Rugens 

 Sange (Songs of Rye) a volume of poetry showing him to be a true disciple of Robert 

 Burns, some of whose songs have been translated by Aakjaer have become popular in 

 wide circles and several of them have been set to music. 



Johan Skjoldborg (b. 1861), formerly a village school teacher, has found favour by 

 his novels on life among the small-holders. A many sided writer of great freshness and 

 originality has appeared in Johannes V. Jensen (b. 1873), whom enthusiasts compare 

 with Kipling. His rapid output includes such prominent works as Myths, of which the 

 fourth volume appeared in 1912, Stories of Himmerland, the author's native district in 

 Jutland, a series completed in 1910; Braeen (The Glacier), a novel dealing with neolithic 

 man, and stories of the Far East. 



Valdemar Rordam (b. 1872) has followed the great success of Den Gamle Kaptain 

 (The Old Captain), a cycle of songs in three volumes dealing with various episodes of 

 the disastrous war of 1864, by similar works appealing to Danish patriotism to look to 

 the defence of the country, e.g. Luft og Land (Air and Land) 1910. Prominent among 

 the playwrights besides Gustav Wied (b. 1858), whose Satyrspil (Satiric Plays) and 

 novels show a tendency to humour of a very coarse type, are Hjalmar Bergstrom (b. 

 1868), and Baron Palle Adam Vilhelm Rosenkrantz (b. 1867). The voluminous literary 

 output of the latter includes several successful plays, detective stories with plots well 

 spun, and some historical novels dealing with the Tudor Period, e.g. Anne Boleyn. 



Karl Larsen (b. 1860) has temporarily forsaken novels and plays for other literary 

 work. His Under vor sidste Krig (During our Last War), a psychological study of war 

 during its various phases, based on the numerous letters and diaries placed at the disposal 

 of the author, proved a great success in Denmark and in Germany, and in 1910 was 

 followed by Danske Nybyggere (Danish Colonists), also based on letters telling of their 

 struggles on the prairies and backwoods of the United States a generation or more ago. 

 Del Table Land, 1911 (The Lost Country, i.e. Sleswick), has been the principal work of 

 J. J. Jorgensen (b. 1866) during the last four years. The leading woman writer of the 

 period has been Mrs. Karin Michaelis (b. 1872) now Mrs. Stangeland. Her much 

 discussed work Den farlige Alder (The Dangerous Age) ran into eight editions in 1910. 

 This study of the life of woman at the age of forty was quickly translated into French. 

 German and English, and has been followed by a continuation, Elsie Lindtner (1912). 



Sophus Michaelis (b. 1865) struck out a new line by his dramas relating to the French 

 Revolution or to Napoleon, Et Revolutionsbryllup (A Wedding under the Revolution), 

 and St. Helena (1911), and also by Den evige Sovn (Eternal Sleep), a romance of the 

 retreat from Moscow. 



The celebrated critic Georg Morris Cohen Brandes (b. 1842) celebrated his 7oth 

 birthday on the fourth of February 1912. Besides the complete works of Brandes a 

 volume of his essays and newspaper articles has been published in book form, Fra mange 

 Tider og Lande (From Many Ages and Countries) 1910. A younger literary critic and 

 historian, Professor Vilhelm Andersen (b. 1864) has commenced the publication of Tide 

 og Typer af dansk Aands Historic (Periods and types from the history of Danish Culture), 

 a work on a large scale, the first volume of which was published in 1909. A series of excel- 



