Most authors are
satisfied if they succeed in giving currency to one happy phrase
involving a novel use of the language, or to an extremely limited
number; I know of no one who has undertaken the renovation of his
mother-tongue on so extensive a scale as Jacobsen. To say that he has in
most cases done it well is, therefore, high praise. "Mistress Marie
Grubbe" is not, however, easy reading; and the author's novelettes,
entitled "Mogens and Other Stories," seem to be written, primarily, for
literary connoisseurs, as their interest as mere stories is scarcely
worth considering. They are, rather, essays in the art of saying things
unusually and yet well. They do not seem to me, even in this respect, a
success. There are single phrases that seem almost an inspiration; there
are bits of description, particularly of flowers and moods of nature,
which are masterly; but the studious avoidance of the commonplace
imparts to the reader something of the strain under which the author has
labored. He begins to feel the sympathetic weariness which often
overcomes one while watching acrobatic feats.
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