The most
grotesque, weird, and uncanny imaginings (such as Stevenson would
delight in) are crowded together in these tales, some of which are
derived from folk-lore and legends, while others are free fantasies.
Before taking leave of Jonas Lie, a word about his style is in order.
Style, as such, counts for very little with him. Yet he has a distinctly
individual and vigorous manner of utterance, though a trifle rough,
perhaps, abrupt, elliptic, and conversational. Mere decorative
adjectives and clever felicities of phrase he scorns. All scientific and
social phenomena--all that we include under the term modern
progress--command his most intense and absorbed attention. Having since
1882 been a resident of Paris (except during his annual summer
excursions to Norway or the mountains of Bavaria) he has had the
advantage of seeing the society which he describes at that distance
which, if it does not lend enchantment, at all events unifies the
scattered impressions, and furnishes a convenient critical outpost.
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