Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-04-11
(BY G. S.

In a discussion of intellectual re-
lations between the United States and
Scandinavia it is. obviously, of some
interest to note the character Of the
Impressions which S~candinavians form
Of Americans through the agency of
literature.
1t may be said at the outset that
American literature has found it diff
fcult to gain a foothold in the north
ern countries because of the preju-
dice prevailing there for many years,
that everything coming from beyond
the Atlantic Of necessity must be
grotesQue or sensational; artistic re-
finement and polish were not looked
for in a nation whose most conspicu-
Gus trait was thought to be its spirit
.ual crudity.
\ That time has passed long ago. and
Of most of the traditional prejudices,
a yearning for understanding things
American became very apparent.
An older Scandinavian generation
took delight in reading trarslations Of
Cooper's Indian stories, Uncle Toms
Cabin" Bret Harte's Californian
novels and Hawthorne's Scarlet
Letter."
Taste Changes With Periods
In poetry, Longfellow was a favor
ite, partly because he had been a visi-
tor in Sweden and Denmark, and part
ly because his works often dug their
motives out of ancient northern his
tory. Most of his longer poems and
many Of the shorter have been trans
lated into Dano-Norwegian and Swed-
ish, and his Golden Legend" has en-
joyed a popularity quite unusual for
a work written by a foreign author.
At the end of the nineteenth CEN
fury, however, the most widely popu-
lar American writer in Scandinavia
was Mark Twain. Practically all he
has written was translated and enjoy
ed an immense circulation through
q the north.
In circles more ,fastidious, Poe and
Walt Whitman appealed to a large
public, and were read in English as
often as in TRANSACTIONS. During a
certain period, no school boy in Scan
dinavia would think of his education
being anywhere near completion I'M
less he had made at least one attempt
at translating 1.-THE Raven or
''Ulalume."
other. writer's of the same period
who were widely read in Scandinavia
were Emerson and Thoreau; there
was a rather general impression that
these two men were representatives
Of a new school of philosophy which
promised relief from the tyranny of
the European continental systems.
But times change n taste changes.
What a public liked five years ago. it
does not cherish today. Nothing is
popular appreciation, for one day it
raises new ideals out of obscurity and
buries those by which it formerly was
wont to swear.
Some ModeFns IAked.
A few years ago Frank Norris and.
Jack London were almost rs popular
in Scandinavia as was Rudyard kip
ling. It was assumed that in work
like THE Pit" and 1.-THE Call of the
Wild" you heard the throbs Of the
real American heart and for that rea-
o those books and others of its type
made a deep impression.
Nowadays, Poe is still gaining new
friends all over Scandinavia and Is. in
fact, more generally read n appre-
ciated than in his W country; but
at the same time the public has be-
come enthusiastic over works by 20,
Henry" Churchill, John Fox, Jr.,
Edith Wharton, Markaret Deland,
Robert ". Chambers, Booth Tarking-
ton, John McCutcheon. James Lane
Allen. Hamlin Garland and-to some
- Bell wright.
It Is not always the literary quality
Of the work that interests the Scandi-
navtan reader: What he desires more
than anything else, is to get a series
of pictures Of American life and
manners in various parts Of the Unit
ed States.
When he compares his own litera-
ture with sthat Of the Americans, he
finds in the latter a highly developed
tech1ique andtmuch attention paid to
the intricacy Of the plot, but less re-
spect for what he places very high,
namely, style and form. He has come
to expect something clever in Ameri-
car novels and short stories-looks
for the surprise. the unexpected, the
hid den point In the story. and he
generally finds 1t.
Many Read EnGihh.
while American books are being
translated IN Scandinavian almost
every. week, an Increasing number Of
people read American literature in
the original. Although knowledge OF
English has always been considered
desirable In the Northern countries, it
was formerly the custom I o devote
more Attention to French and Ger
man, hut during the last Afteen 8
q . Gngiish has begun TO take the
IeaA.