What distinguishes the Norsemen above other nations is, generally
speaking, an indestructible self-respect and force of individuality. The
old Norse sagas abound in illustrations of this untamable vigor and
ruthless self-assertion. It was the looseness of the social structure,
resulting from this sense of independence and consequent jealousy and
internecine warfare, which destroyed the Icelandic republic and made
Norway for four centuries a province of Denmark. In all the great men of
Norway we recognize something of the rampant individualism of their
Viking forefathers. Ibsen is the modern apostle _par excellence_ of
philosophic anarchism; and Bjoernson, too, has his full share of the
national aggressiveness and pugnacity. For all that there is a radical
difference between the two. The sense of social obligation which Ibsen
lacks, Bjoernson possesses in a high degree. He fights, not as a daring
guerilla, but as the spokesman and leader of thousands. He is the
chieftain who looms a head above all the people.
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