ze, cleared his eyes of the film
of dreams, and with a sharp, wide-awake intensity focussed them to the
actual aspect of the actual world. He has sat down with his windows wide
open, and allowed the sounds and sights and smells of reality to pour in
upon him. And the magic spectacles are his which enable him to gauge the
significance of the phenomena and divine the causes which lurk behind
them. Therefore his characterizations are often extremely
unconventional, and amid all their picturesque vigor of phrase hint at
the kind of knowledge which could only be possessed by a family
physician. In "Absalom's Hair" we have no mere agglomeration of
half-digested scientific data, but a scientific view of life. The story
moves, from beginning to end, with a beautiful epic calm and a grand
inevitableness which remind one of Tolstoi, and reaches far toward the
high-water mark of modern realism. Take, for instance, the
characterization of Kirsten Ravn (pp. 11-15), and I wonder where in
contemporary fiction so large and deep a comprehension is shown both of
psychic and of physical forces. Emma, the heroine of Flaubert's "Madame
Bovary" is the only parallel I can recall, as regards the kind and
method of portraiture, though there is no resemblance between the
characters. In the development of the character of Rafael Kaas, there
is the same beautiful respect for human nature, the same unshrinking
statement of "shocking" facts, and the same undeviating adherence to the
logic of reality. The hair by which Rafael, as his prototype, the son of
David, is arrested and suspended in the midst of his triumphant race is
sensuality. His life is on the point of being wrecked, and his splendid
powers are dissipated by his inability to restrain his passions. The
tragic fate which hovers over him from the moment of his birth is
admirably hinted at, but not emphasized, in the sketch of his parents.
The carnal overbalance, supplied by the blood of the Kurts, wellnigh
neutralizes the mechanical genius which is hereditary in the blood of
the Ravns.

It is reported that "Absalom's Hair" has aroused great indignation in
Christiania, because it is claimed that the characters are drawn, with
scarcely an attempt at disguise, from well-known persons in the
Norwegian capital.

The remaining stories of the volume, "An Ugly Reminiscence of
Childhood," "Mother's Hands," and "One Day" betray the same contempt for
romantic standards, the same capacity for making