It removes any possible
flaw in the title to immortality. Lie was now lifted into the
illustrious triumvirate in which Bjoernson and Ibsen were his
predecessors. Great expectations were entertained of his literary
future. But, oddly enough, this official recognition did not have a
favorable effect upon Lie. He felt himself almost oppressed by a sense
of obligation to yield full returns for what he consumed of the public
revenues. In 1875 he published a versified tale, "Faustina Strozzi,"
dealing with the struggle for Italian liberty. In spite of many
excellences it fell rather flat, and was roughly handled by the critics.
Even a worse fate befell its successor, "Thomas Ross" (1878), a novel of
contemporary life in the Norwegian capital. It is a pale, and rather
labored story, in which a young girl, of the Rosamond Vincy type, is
held up to scorn, and the atrocity of flirtation is demonstrated by the
most tragic consequences. There is likewise an air of triviality about
"Adam Schrader" (1879); and Lie became seriously alarmed about himself
when he had to register a third failure.
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