tions of his youth appeared as a more or
less arbitrary play of fancy emancipated from the stern logic of
reality. It was his purpose henceforth to consecrate his powers to the
study of the deeper soul-life of his own age and the exposition of the
forces which in their interdependence and interaction make modern
society.

This is the significance of the four-act drama "Bankruptcy," with which,
in 1874, he astounded and disappointed the Scandinavian public. I have
called it a drama, in accordance with the author's designation on the
title-page; but it is, in the best sense, a comedy of manners, of the
kind that Augier produced in France; and in everything except the
mechanics of construction superior to the plays of Sardou and Dumas. The
dialogue has the most admirable accent of truth. It is not unnaturally
witty or brilliant; but exhibits exactly the traits which Norwegians of
the higher commercial plutocracy are likely to exhibit. All the poetic
touches which charmed us in Bjoernson's saga dramas were conspicuous by
their absence. Scarcely a trace was there left of that peculiar and
delightful language of his early novels, which can only be described by
the term "Bjoernsonian."

"Dry, prosaic, trivial," said the reviewers; "Bjoernson has evidently
worked out his vein. He has ceased to be a poet. He has lost with his
childhood's faith his ideal view of life, and become a mere prosy
chronicler of uninteresting everyday events."

This was, indeed, the general verdict of the public twenty years ago.
Scarcely anyone had a good word to say for the abused play that marked
the poet's fall from the idealism of his early song. But, for all that,
"Bankruptcy" made a strong impression upon the boards. It not only
conquered a permanent place in the _repertoires_ of the theatres of the
Scandinavian capitals, but it spread through Austria, Germany, and
Holland, and has finally scored a success at the _Theatre Libre_ in
Paris. There is scarcely a theatre of any consequence in Germany which
has not made "Bankruptcy" part of its _repertoire_. At the Royal Theatre
in Munich it was accorded a most triumphant reception, and something
over sixty representations has not yet exhausted its popularity.

The effort to come to close quarters with reality is visible in every
phrase. The denial of the value of all the old romantic stage machinery,
with its artificial climaxes and explosive effects, is perceptible in
the quiet endings of the act