278 
THE AMERIC AN -SC AN DIN A VI AN REVIEW 
which, by depicting the life of wholesome and harmonious beings in a 
sound and happy community, are aimed as a satire against all the ugly 
and low instincts and appetites that made possible the world war, the 
narrative of the flight through the universe is written by an epic-lyric 
poet who possesses an eminent descriptive imagination combined with 
a rare command of language which in its pregnant and plastic foim 
reminds one of Flaubert. 
Among novels written by authors belonging to the older genera¬ 
tion, I shall especiallv call attention to two: Knud Hjorto’s Faust 
(Gyldendal) and Emil Rasmus¬ 
sen’s Beyond the Distant Blue 
Mountains (Bag de fjerne hlaa 
Bjerge). Hjorto is one of 
Denmark’s most extraordinary 
writers who, however, has not at¬ 
tained the popularity which his 
rare and singular talent deserves. 
He possesses a remarkable orig¬ 
inality, and his talent for describ¬ 
ing the most spontaneous and in¬ 
tuitive forces in the emotional 
and erotic life of a young woman 
is unsurpassed. In some of his 
works he selects a large general 
perspective representing true 
types, as for instance in Two 
Worlds (To Verdener), but his 
real strength lies in his power to 
depict the individuality in the 
spirit and emotional life of his 
characters. He shows a rare gift 
in treating the spoken language, 
giving its minute shades and all 
its imperfections and ambiguities. 
But above all, Hjorto is a poet. The observer and psychologist 
in him are only there to serve the poet, who transforms reality into a 
cobweb of sentiment. In several of his works we find a strange, 
charmed atmosphere and we follow him as through visions and dreams. 
Faust is a keen study of a man who comes back to earth to live his 
life again and who is persecuted by his former existence as if it were 
by Mephisto himself. It is the thinker and constructor in Hjorto 
rather than the impulsive poet who is responsible for this original and 
highly intellectual work which calls forth in the reader more reflec¬ 
tions and thoughts than spontaneous feeling. 
A talent of an entirely different nature is Emil Rasmussen. His 
Knud Hjorto 
