The Washington times., 1906-06-03

temporary old world liter
ature. Henrik Ibsen Is at
once an inveterate poseur
and a misanthrope. Nor
does he care II all the world, pointing
It's finger 1T him eIclRim. '-5our old
mani" 50 that II notices him at all.
He breads the possibility OF anyone
passing him without recognition. He
loves the gaze OF tho crowd as he
loves his daily tippls OF brandy and
soda He In on record m n rrvciloT
IN pezsirnIsm for itA own sad sake,
and he - as outspoksn In his dislike
Of strangers a. he is anxious that they
should cape At him and comment on
his personal appearance Ibssn, great
genius and sociological scholar ss he
in. has acquired In bis Later years the
small vices Of . vain child he - an
intellectual poacOck
He has a trtok OF bruEhinS his hat
with the sleeve OF his coat Now and
then he paUses, looking long and
earnestly into the opening OF his head
piece He presents at such a time the
picture OF a Ieonine sage OF the Sagas,
deep IN the mAzs OF some vast prob
lem Of the COSMOS. 1t In all a mis-
u
Ibsen. There Is a mirror fastened IN
the bottom of his hat. and he Il look
ing after the twist OF his cravRt'
This. according to Perr4ton Maxwell.
in the Bookman. not so very long ago.
before tho beginning OF the long III
ness which only the other day ended
fatally. is the real Ibsen-"an enigma
personally. a churl socially. and--if we
pt-nvICCl T3fOr0UoU--fh foremost urrfrar
Of his race"
One would Ike 20 lay this descrip-
ton at the door OF an iconoclasm more
ruthless than Ibsen's own. a clever
cynicism that would spare no idols
IN its desire TO launch q few neat cpl
grams. But. unfortunately, IL Is not
only Perriton Maxwell who thus de-
scribes the real Ibsen during the last
decade OF his life. All who have jour
ney 10 Christiania primarily 70 wor-
ship at the shrine OF the master"
cOrroborate Il.
And after all why should he not in
those last years surfeit his soul IN the
vanity OF a long delayed recognition.
Think what his life had been. IN
happy from its earliest childhood. sun
less and poverty-pinched through all
y
even well into his prime Success which
came TO him abundantly IN his later
years. came too late. when capacity
for enjoying wealth and fame had
passed from him He was for years be-
fore his death the dean Of modern
Morse literature. the most interesting
person IN the Norwegian capital, and
he knew it-none better
mist, q socialist, an iconoclast. Fe was
perhaps all OF these things by turns.
Above all, he was an individualist.
And what he was the circumstances Of
his life made him. He was born March
= 20. ISIS, at Skien, a small lumber port,
near Christiania- His father was a
merchant In easy circumstances. but
he failed IN business when Henrik was
only eight years old. and the boys ac-
quaintance with real life began early.
The friends OF those days tried by the
touchstone OF trouble were found want
ing. Tho family. he noticed, was treated
with less respect than formerly. Many
OF their old friends fell away and the
new ones were among those who for
one reason or another. had failed TO
keep step with the rank and file.
From that time on TO one could
have told him anything about the ad
vantages OF plain living and hiSh
thinking. He had plenty OF experi-
ence in those lines. He was first an
prenticed to a druggist at Grimstad.
and spent his youth there. cribbcd.
cabined. and confined. and passiveIy
enduring. In 1850 he went to Chris
tiania. a poor student. but full Of a
passionate desire TO reform the world,
a passionate protest against its sham.
The passivity OF Grimstad gave place
TO an activity that was tumultuous.
undisciplined. frightful. asserting it
self. wasting its energy, boiling over
IN all directions. making unnecessary
enemies estranging unnecessarily nee
essary friends.
In 1880 he wrote CatiIlna.' and pub
hshed IT at his own expense on poor
paper IN ugly type. Perhaps thirty
SoP'es OF IL were sold. q few more
gwen away and the only money that
ever came from II was when the
whole edition was sold as waste paper.
1t did. however. bring him TO the at
tenton OF good people, and on The
strength OF II Ole Bull made him a
sort Of playwright in ordinary to the
new National Theater at Bergen.
There. from 1851 to 1885, he wrote at
least one play year Ordinary pieces
they were. which anyone might have
written. IN 1858 he was transferred
10 the Norwegian Theater AT Chris
tiania. and IN the same year published
The Warriors Of Helgoland." which
was really the beginning Of the mod
ern Ibsen. For. in the strenuous
deeds. the loves and hates Of the
Volsunga-Saga, he caught the tragic