280 
THE AMERICAN-SCAN DIN A VI AN REVIEW 
vations written in a personal style. He did not win the general public, 
but gained instead great recognition among connoisseurs. After 
many years of silence he has now written a book entitled Little Erik 
(Ben Lille Erik ). Although his name appears only on the title page 
of the book, this circumstance has not deceived any one; it is simply 
due to natural modesty: the tale is an autobiography. These reminis¬ 
cences from his childhood are treated in the most delicate manner, and 
the leading principle in the narrative is love of truth. While most 
writers cast a beautifying veil over the days of childhood, trying to 
produce as much sentiment as possible, Simon Koch has been most 
scrupulous and faithful in his account, yet through his genuine art he 
often creates a most intimate and touching effect. 
Among the poets of the younger generation, two have issued large 
novels this year. One is Emil Bonnelycke: Margrethe Menckel 
(Hagerup), the other Tom Kristensen: Life’s Arabesque (Livets 
Arabesk , Hagerup). 
Bonnelycke who has particularly gained a name as a lyric poet 
and who created a stir with his earlier novel The Spartans ( Spar - 
tanerne ) describes in his latest book a vagabond and poet of a decided¬ 
ly impressionable temperament who seems possessed by the most irre¬ 
concilably contrasting feelings. The author has given a very interest¬ 
ing, almost typical account of a young man who, a prey of sudden im¬ 
pulses, is moved from deep depression to a state of exaltation, from 
self-abasement to self-worship. It is written without irony, and the 
reader hardly realizes that the author is simply an observer; as a matter 
of fact one gains the impression that it is a more or less accurate self- 
confession. From an artistic point of view the nature descriptions are 
of most value, as, for instance, the beautiful account of the journey 
through Sjaelland. 
A work of far greater significance is Tom Kristensen’s Life’s 
Arabesque (Livets Arabesk) which is the most important contribution 
of the younger generation to our prose fiction. The author describes 
the deep moral decadence among the upper as well as the lower classes 
in all its bitter truth, and his descriptions from the “depths,” the under¬ 
world, are rendered with such uncompromising frankness as has per¬ 
haps never before been seen in Danish literature. The author shows a 
most intimate knowledge of the lower classes, their manner of thinking 
and living, and renders their phraseology with all its minute shades of 
expression. In the chapters dealing with the upper classes the matter 
becomes much more complex: fantasy and symbolism are here min¬ 
gled with actual facts, realities are made to fit the idea, which is to 
show how life to these cold hearts and empty brains appears as utter 
chaos, a game without meaning or purpose, guided by whimsical and 
casual forces. The book is written in a tense, strained style in which 
various sense-elements are evolved into impressions of a condensed 
