670 
THE AMERICAN-SCANDIN AVIAN REVIEW 
ertines, innocence, and murder. Francesco Morosini, a famous naval 
hero and a Don Juan, is the main character. He commanded the 
Venetian fleet which defeated the Turks at Argos. In the San Giorgio 
Maggiore church, while attending the mass in celebration of the vic¬ 
tory, the old admiral hears the silvery voice of a child. Its clear, bell¬ 
like notes rise up to heaven and seem to voice the inmost desires of his 
heart, to express the vague longings which have made him restless for 
so long. The child has been brought up in a convent and is a sister of 
Ancilla, a courtezan, of whom Morosini buys her. But his efforts to 
gain her love and confidence are in vain. He finally reaches the point 
where he loves and hates her at the same time, and in order to end the 
struggle, one night during the carnival, in a moment of generous pity 
for her still unsullied innocence, he thrusts her into the dark waters of 
the canal. Then he seeks refuge in a Trappist monastery to spend the 
rest of his days in a life of repentance. 
Anna Lenah Elgstrom has a powerful imagination which she 
allows to play and sparkle, and a pathos that is gripping. Her style, 
on the other hand, is not always sure; at times she becomes theatrical. 
However, it is better to have an imagination that needs to be curbed, 
than not to have any at all. One is led to wish that the author would 
undertake to paint a historical picture on a larger scale, a web of many 
colors, where the dreams and sufferings of mankind would stand out 
like a red warp against a dark background. 
Henning Berger has long been famous for his impressionistic pen- 
pictuies of modern city life, whose goading restlessness and feverish 
agitation he depicts with rare accuracy. But it has often been pointed 
out, and justly so, that his soul analysis does not reach the same high 
level as his descriptions of the merely physical. During the last few 
yeais the author seems to have passed through a crisis which has made 
his eye more penetrating, and which has also led him to seek new fields. 
Henning Berger’s latest novel, Who Knows (Hvem vet , Albert Bon¬ 
nier, 1921), may be regarded as his best work up to the present time. 
The book is a novel of manners which portrays moods and events dur¬ 
ing the years immediately after the war. The earlier state of optimism 
has grv en way to one of depression. It is a period of readjustment. 
eiy face bears a look of restless seeking, something of anxiety, sus- 
pense, and weariness. It is a time when the gilding has grown dingy, 
illusions aie gone, mankind has become introspective and uneasily 
inquires what life’s drama may mean. 
The scene is laid in Copenhagen and, as might be expected of 
-Berger, is depicted with exuberant vivacity. The novel opens with 
a street-scene sketched with rapid, broad strokes. This is followed 
immediately by a masterly description of the big dinner at the home 
of Martin Lootring, one of the best chapters in the book. But it is the 
