It is a triumph
indeed, to have written a book like "The Family at Gilje."
From this time forth Jonas Lie's career presents an unbroken series of
successes. "A Maelstrom" (1884), "Eight Stories," "Married Life" (_Et
Samliv_), (1887), "Maisa Jons" (1888), "The Commodore's Daughters" and
"Evil Powers" (1890), which deal with interesting phases of contemporary
life, are all extremely modern in feeling and show the same effort to
discard all tinsel and sham and get at the very heart of reality.
He had by this series of novels established his reputation as a
relentless realist, when, in 1892, he surprised his admirers by the
publication of two volumes of the most wildly fantastic tales, entitled
"Trold." It was as if a volcano, with writhing torrents of flame and
smoke, had burst forth from under a sidewalk in Broadway. It was the
suppressed Finn who, for once, was going to have his fling, even though
he were doomed henceforth to silence. It was the "queer thoughts" (which
had accumulated in the author and which he had scrupulously imprisoned)
returning to take vengeance upon him unless he released them.
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