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THE AMERICAN-SC AN DINA VI AN REVIEW 
The fundamental view of 
this work is contained in the sim¬ 
ple doctrine: ‘ ‘ The upper classes 
are the privileged, exploiting 
classes, who are always in the 
wrong; the lower classes are the 
suffering and exploited classes, 
who are always in the right. The 
first are spoiled by selfishness and 
empty pleasure-seeking, while 
the latter have retained their 
fresh and unspoiled nature; only 
among them do we find genuine 
kindness and the faculty for self- 
sacrifice.” If this view has actu¬ 
ally been the predominant fea¬ 
ture of the book, the work would 
no doubt have made very little 
impression, but there is some¬ 
thing much greater in this novel: 
it is a masterpiece which, though 
guided by a certain purpose, is 
free and independent in its views. Life is described as it is lived 
without being confined by any one idea. 
In Pelle the Conqueror Andersen-Nexo gave a rich and imperish¬ 
able proof of the genuine sentiment that is his. Pelle s father, Old 
Lasse, is one of the most beautiful characters in modern Danish fiction. 
This old man is the personification of kindness, innocence, purity, 
patience, and gentleness. The figure leaves an indelible impression on 
our mind; we perceive the beauty of his character; hidden, invisible 
treasures are revealed to us. In Ditte, Daughter of Man we find a 
character which, although it does not move us by the same poetical and 
human strength, somewhat resembles Old Lasse; it is the grandmother 
by whom Ditte, the illegitimate child, is brought up. 
The impression one receives of Ditte, however, is deeper and more 
intense than that of Pelle. While her fate like his is typical, the in¬ 
dividuality of her life is felt much more strongly than that of the latter. 
Behind Ditte, the illegitimate child and unmarried mother, who is re¬ 
warded for her naive, whole-hearted devotion by a life which continually 
drags her downward till she finally finds herself in utter loneliness and 
poverty, we see her thousands of nameless sisters who suffer the same 
fate, unjustly, absurdly, hideously; but at the same time we recognize 
in her an individual by whose sufferings we are deeply moved and 
touched, and whose fate has our sincere sympathy. This in a poetic 
sense is the only vital fact. 
Martix Andersex-Nexo 
