Such a man was Georg Brandes. He undertook to put
his people _en rapport_ with the nineteenth century, to open new avenues
for the influx of modern thought, to take the place of those which had
been closed. We have seen that he interpreted to his countrymen the
significance of the literary and social movements both in England and in
France. But a self-satisfied and virtuous little nation which regards
its remoteness from the great world as a matter of congratulation is not
apt to receive with favor such a champion of alien ideas. The more the
Danes became absorbed in their national hallucinations, the more
provincial, nay parochial, they became in their interests, the less did
they feel the need of any intellectual stimulus from abroad; and when
Dr. Brandes introduced them to modern realism, agnosticism, and
positivism they thanked God that none of these dreadful isms were
indigenous with them; and were disposed to take Dr. Brandes to task for
disturbing their idyllic, orthodox peace by the promulgation of such
dangerous heresies.
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