DANISH LITERATUKE.]
DENMARK
sentiments on the marriage of the Princess Thyra to the Duke of Cumberland. The most noticeable feature in the internal history of Denmark is the constitutional struggle which has been going on for many years between successive Governments and the Lett party, which commands an overwhelming majority in the Folkething. No practical questions of great importance have been at the bottom of this disagreement save that of the fortification of Copenhagen. The Government considered this necessary, because without it the capital was exposed to a coup de main at any time, while the Left opposed it as a piece of aggressive militarism, which would be unnecessary if Denmark only proclaimed her neutrality in any war that might arise. For this reason the majority of the Folkething refused to sanction the outlay, but the Government, considering that the danger was real, and that the neutrality of a State cannot be secured by her own declaration but depends on the goodwill of her neighbours, which cannot be guaranteed, nevertheless carried out the work by means of a huge accumulated surplus. In the course of this conflict the majority in the Folkething even went the length of refusing supplies altogether; but under the Premiership of M. Estrup the Government collected the revenue nevertheless, and sought its justification in the approval of the Landsthing, whose political power according to the Charter is in every respect equal to that of the Folkething. This procedure met with no serious resistance in the country. The election in the spring of 1901 resulted in the return to the Folkething of 76 members of the Reform party of the Left, 16 members of the Moderate Left, 14 Social Democrats, and only 8 members of the Right, the party which had held the reins of power for so many years. Professor Deuntzer, one of the law professors in the University of Copenhagen, became the head of a Government composed of prominent men drawn from the different sections of his own side of the Folkething, and including amongst the number a simple peasant as Minister of Agriculture. The most prominent articles in the policy of the new Government were a reform of the customs, a readjustment of the system of taxation, a reform of the judicial procedure, a reform of primary education, and a reduction in the expenditure for military purposes. Danish literature is dealt with below. As regards the intellectual life of the Danish nation in other respects during the last quarter of the 19th century, there is not much that calls for notice. During the earlier part of the century not a few men could be mentioned who enjoyed an exceptional reputation in various departments of science, but they have gradually died away, and their places have not been filled. Danish scientists, nevertheless, continue to contribute their full share to the advancement of knowledge, and a full account of what has been published would occupy considerable space. The Society of Sciences, that of Northern Antiquaries, the Natural History and the Botanical Societies, &c., still publish their transactions and proceedings, but the Naturhistorisk Tidsskrift, of which 14 volumes with 259 plates were published 1861-84, and which really was in the foremost rank in its department, ceased with the death in 1884 of the editor, the distinguished zoologist, I. C. Schibdte. Another extremely valuable publication of wide general interest, the Meddelelser om Gronland which is published by the Commission for the Exploration of Greenland, and of which 23 volumes, richly illustrated with maps, &c., have appeared, is still being continued. Amongst the works on the history of Denmark which have appeared, the most important is the History of Denmark and Norway since 1720, by E. Holm. What may be called the modern “ art ” current, with its virtues and vices, is as strong in Denmark as in England (see Schools of Painting). In architecture the prevailing fashion is a return to the style of the first half of the 17th century, called the Christian IV. Style. Authorities.—J. P. Trap. Statistisk Topographisk Beskrivelse af Kongeriget Danmark. Copenhagen, 1859-60. 3 vols. 2nd edition, 1872-79.—V. Falbe-Hansen and W. Scharling. Danmarks Statistik. Copenhagen, 1878-1891. 6 vols.—[Various writers] Vort Folk i det nittende Aa/rhundrede. Copenhagen. 1899, &c., in progress. Illustrated.—J. Carlsen, H. Olrik, and C. N. Starcke. Lc Danemark. Copenhagen. 1900. 700 pp. Illustrated. Published in connexion with the Paris Exhibition.— Statistick Aarbog. 1896, &c. Annual publication, and other publications of Statens Statistiske Bureau. (c. A. G.) Danish Literature. The development of imaginative literature in Denmark became very closely defined during the latter half of the 19th century. The romantic movement culminated in several poets of great eminence, whose deaths prepared the way for a new school. In 1874 Bodtcher passed away, in 1875 Hans Christian Andersen {q.v.), in the last week of 1876 Winther (q.v.), and the greatest of all, Frederik PaludanMiiller (q.v.). The field was, therefore, left open to the
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successors of those idealists, and in 1877 the reaction began to be felt. The eminent critic, Dr Georg Braudes (q.v.), had long foreseen the decline of pure romanticism, and had advocated a more objective and more exact treatment of literary phenomena. Accordingly, as soon as all the great planets had disappeared a new constellation was perceived to have risen, and all the stars in it had been lighted by the enthusiasm of Brandes. The new writers were what he called Naturalists, and their sympathies were with the latest forms of exotic, but particularly of French literature. Among these fresh forces three immediately took place as leaders — Jacobsen, Drachmann, and Schandorph. In J. P. Jacobsen (1847-1885) (q.v.) Denmark was now taught to welcome the greatest artist in prose which she has ever possessed; his romance of Marie Grubbe led off the new school with a production of unexampled beauty. But Jacobsen died young, and the work was really carried out by his two companions. Holger Drachmann (b. 1846) (q.v.) began life as a marine painter; and a first little volume of poems, which he published in 1872, attracted slight attention. In 1877 he came forward again with one volume of verse, another of fiction, a third of travel; in each he displayed great vigour and freshness of touch, and he rose at one leap to the highest position among men of promise. He has known how, through many vicissitudes, to retain his place, and Drachmann is to-day, without rival, the leading imaginative writer in Denmark. For many years he made the aspects of life at sea his particular theme, and he contrived to rouse the patriotic enthusiasm of the Danish public as it had never been roused before. His various and unceasing productiveness, his freshness and vigour, and the inexhaustible richness of his lyric versatility, early brought Drachmann to the front and kept him there. Meanwhile prose imaginative literature was ably supported by Sophus Schandorph (1836-1901), who had been entirely out of sympathy with the idealists, and had taken no step while that school was in the ascendant. In 1876, in his fortieth year, he was encouraged by the change in taste to publish a volume of realistic stories, Country Life, and in 1878 a novel, Without a Centre. He has some relation with Guy de Maupassant as a close analyst of modern types of character, but he has more humour. He has been compared with such Dutch painters of low life as Teniers. His talent reached its height in the novel called Little Folk, 1880, a most admirable study of lower middle-class life in Copenhagen. He was for a while, without doubt, the leading living novelist, and he went on producing works of great force, in which, however, a certain monotony is apparent. The three leaders had meanwhile been joined by certain younger men who took a prominent position. Among these Karl Gjellerup and Erik Skram were the earliest, Gjellerup (b. 1857), whose first works of importance date from 1878, was long uncertain as to the direction of his powers; he was poet, novelist, moralist, and biologist in one; at length he settled down into line with the new realistic school, and produced in 1882 a satirical novel of manners which had a great success, The Disciple of the Teutons. Erik Skram (f>. 1847) had in 1879 written a solitary novel, Gertrude Coldbjbrnsen, which created a sensation, and was hailed by Brandes as exactly representing the “ naturalism ” which he desired to see encouraged; but Skram has written little else of importance. Other writers of reputation in the naturalistic school were Edvard Brandes (b. 1847) and Herman Bang (b. 1858). Peter Nansen (b. 1861) has come into wide notoriety as the author, in particularly beautiful Danish, of a series of stories of a pronouncedly sexual type, among which Maria (1894) has been the most successful. Meanwhile, several of the elder generation,
