The summary of this
poet's work and personality in Dr. Brandes's book is a masterpiece of
analytical criticism. It enriches and expands the territory of one's
thought. It is no less witty, no less epigrammatic, than Sainte-Beuve at
his best; and it has flashes of deeper insight than I have ever found in
Sainte-Beuve.
The last book of Dr. Brandes's that has been presented to the American
public is his "Impressions of Russia." The motto of this work (which in
the Danish edition is printed on the back of the title-page) is "Black
Earth," the significance of which is thus explained in the concluding
paragraph:
"Black earth, fertile soil, new soil, wheat soil ... the wide, rich,
warm nature ... the infinite expanses, which fill the soul with
melancholy and with hope ... the impenetrable, duskily mysterious ...
the mother-womb of new realities and new mysticism ... Russia, the
future."
The prophetic vagueness of this paragraph, big with dim possibilities,
conveys the very impression to which all observations and experiences in
Russia finally reduce themselves.
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