THE AMERIC AN-SC AN DIN A VI AN REVIEW 
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order to conj ure up vivid dra¬ 
matic visions from the past. 
The two types have only this 
in common — the vehemence 
of her interpretation and a 
bitter, almost jarring pessi¬ 
mism. 
It seems that Anna Lenah 
Elgstrom has given much 
thought to the poet’s role in 
society. She wonders if he 
has the right to take a purely 
contemplative view of life and 
simply paint what he enjoys 
painting. Would it not be 
far better if the poet were an 
agitator filled with righteous 
indignation, who would so de¬ 
pict life that men would be 
inspired to combat evil? In 
her latest book, Martha and 
Mary (Martha och Maria , 
Albert Bonnier, 1921), the 
author has touched upon this 
very problem in a short story called Marthas Part (Marthas del). 
It is the story of the two women in the Bible, in whose home Jesus 
was a most welcome guest. The plague has come to the village. 
A never-ending procession of heavy-footed camels winds out to the 
burial grounds in the desert, accompanied by the plaintive notes of the 
flute and the muffled beat of drums. As usual Mary sits quietly by the 
door gazing at the evening sky, her thoughts with the Master who is 
gone. But Martha passes from house to house in the village, bringing 
help and comfort wherever she goes. And Mary wonders, as she con¬ 
tinues to sit and dream under the starry heavens, “O Lord, what did 
you mean that time? Is it not Martha who chose the good part?” 
Perhaps we had better not be too sure that that is what the Lord 
meant! Was it not ILe who said, upon one occasion when Judas 
jingled he purse: “Ye have the poor always with you?” He who was 
such an ardent lover of humanity, who was so deeply sympathetic, was 
also aware of the existence of other factors in life, quiet, shining values, 
which, like the stars, grow dim when the bustling activities of dav 
begin. 
However, the best story in this collection is The Singing Child 
(Det sjjungande harnet), a richly colored, somewhat melodramatic 
picture of Venice at the time of the Renaissance, with courtezans, lib- 
Anna Lenah Elgstrom 
