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64 Norway ajid the Norzvegians 



posterity. He seems by his character, his physique 

 (he is a man of powerful and robust frame), and the 

 circumstances of his birth, to be the poet not only of 

 Xorse scenery, but of the Norse peasant, and of his 

 rough and strenuous life seen at its best. Bjornson's 

 finest work in this kind is to be found in what may be 

 called the novels of his early and middle period, such 

 as Synnove Solhakken, Arne (Arne is a poet-peasant, 

 illegitimate sou of a drunken father, a fiddler who has 

 a touch of genius in liim along with ferocity and even 

 semi-insanity), F71 glad Gut (The Happy Boy), Fiske- 

 jenten (The Fisher Maiden). This last is more psycho- 

 logical, and has a wider scope than the preceding ones. 

 It is a transition towards the novels of Bjornson's later 

 manner, of which we have to speak hereafter. 



It is to be noted that here again in the peasant tales, 

 there was a prototype for Bjoruson in the German 

 peasant novel, the BauerngcscMcMen of writers such as 

 Auerbach and Werner. 



There are, beside, the numerous plays which Bjornson 

 has written. One is of great length, a ' trilogy ' on Sigurd 

 Slcmbe (Slembidjakn, the rival of Harald Gilli), which, 

 we may assume with confidence, has taken Wallenstein 

 for its model. Another of Bjornson's historical dramas 

 is Mallcm Drahiingcrne (Between the Fights), a one-act 

 tragedy, which is concerned with the picturesque time 

 of the rivalry between Sverri and Magnus. This was 

 one of Bjornson's earliest dramatic efforts. He has also 

 written Kong Sverri and Sigurd Jorslafar, the last, in 

 my opinion, the least successful of his dramas, and, 

 not fearing to associate his name with that of Schiller, 

 Maria Stvart i SJcotland. Halte Hvlda (Lame Hulda) is 



