176 
THE AMERICAN-SCANDINAVIAN REVIEW 
Books 
Ditte, Daughter of Man. By Martin 
Anderson Nexo. Translated from the 
Danish by A. G. Chater and Richard 
Thirsk. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 
An American writer, reviewing Martin An¬ 
derson Nexo’s novel, Ditte, Girl Alive, re¬ 
marked that, although Nexo ranked as a 
realist, there was in Ditte a certain “fairy¬ 
tale atmosphere.” In no smallest degree is this 
true of the second volume in the series chron¬ 
icling the life story of Ditte— Ditte, Daugh¬ 
ter of Man. 
A realism, stern, relentless, at times vin¬ 
dictive, characterizes this stark and bitter 
story. The admirable translations offered 
to the English-speaking public of the mas¬ 
terpieces of contemporary Scandinavian liter¬ 
ature are, of course, intended to open that 
literature to English readers, and these 
stories, in their English dress, must inevitably 
be judged from the English standpoint; how¬ 
ever widely read, however cosmopolitan the 
English reader may be, he cannot approach a 
foreign book quite from the standpoint of the 
reader in whose tongue, be it Danish, Norse, 
Spanish, or Russian, it was originally writ¬ 
ten. 
Strong, vivid, keenly observant, even, in a 
sense, sympathetic, as is Mr. Nexo’s delinea¬ 
tion of Ditte, it will seem to many English 
readers that this celebrated Danish author 
lacks imagination; and that seems to us who 
take this point of view the vulnerable spot 
in all the more inexorable realists. Not only 
do such authors show a lack of imagination 
in themselves, they pre-suppose a lack of 
imagination in their readers. To make an 
abrupt comparison, — Charles Dickens, a 
mighty genius, writes in Little Dorrit of 
some old men living in a workhouse that 
each one of these old men smelled of all the 
others. Now this phrase contains all that is 
needed to make any reader with any imagina¬ 
tion realize those old men through every sense, 
and we may be sure that Dickens knew ex¬ 
actly why all these old men shared that un¬ 
pleasant peculiarity. He says just enough; 
but Mr. Nexo and other writers of his school 
will give pages to descanting, in nauseous de¬ 
tail, on the various repelling physical reasons 
for such a state of affairs. This is not good 
art, for it is unessential. 
In Ditte, Daughter of Man, the develop¬ 
ment of Ditte to womanhood is shown, with 
its rapid outcome in the cruel experience 
which makes her the mother of the little un¬ 
welcome child. Then follows her sordid ex¬ 
istence as a tireless drudge in many house¬ 
holds. The scenes at the baby farm are the 
finest thing in this novel; they strike the note 
of truth, and they are managed with skill and 
brilliancy. 
A book like this must be immensely difficult 
to translate, and great credit is due Messrs. 
Chater and Thirsk for their success in render¬ 
ing into nervous and forceful English a work 
so essentially alien to the English literary 
convention. Elizabeth N. Case. 
Brief Notes 
Conserving Historical Material 
An early systematic and thorough search 
for historical material relating to the Scandi¬ 
navians in the United States and the establish¬ 
ment of a centrally located and well equipped 
library for taking proper care of this mate¬ 
rial is something greatly desired by all who 
are genuinely interested in securing a correct 
appraisal of the contribution of the Northern 
races to American life. Unfortunately much 
valuable material in this field has already 
been lost; for the pioneers, whose deeds form 
the most important subject matter of the his¬ 
tory of the Scandinavians in America, had, 
except in rare instances, no conception of the 
historical value of their letters, diaries, books, 
or other records. Unless organized and per¬ 
sistent efforts are carried on in the near fu¬ 
ture for taking care of what remains, much 
more valuable material will be lost. Scat¬ 
tered about the country in numerous Scandi¬ 
navian denominational colleges and academies, 
church vaults, pastors’ studies, newspaper 
offices, or private collections, this material 
is subject to serious losses by fire and other 
causes, not the least among these being in¬ 
difference and ignorance of its worth. More¬ 
over, the material is of limited value as long 
as it is kept in a number of widely separated 
places and thus for the most part inacces¬ 
sible to the investigator. Under these condi¬ 
tions it is, besides, practically impossible to 
make any reasonably comprehensive catalogue 
or published list of material in this field. 
The Collection of the Swedish Historical 
Society 
It is very gratifying to know that the 
Minnesota Historical Society, with head¬ 
quarters in St. Paul, has in recent years inau¬ 
gurated a policy which greatly facilitates the 
