iz., to
analyze the motives which led Judas to betray his Master and become
the typical traitor. The character he draws of him is original and
striking, and departs entirely from the accepted tradition. But bold
and subtle as the theory is, it is far from convincing. His Judas is
a dark, brooding spirit, fierce and inharmonious, divided between
extatic love and admiration of his Master and inward irresistible
forces of hatred and revolt: a double nature, thirsting for freedom
and love, yet predestined to evil, and led by fearful secret impulses
to the accomplishment of his destiny and the fulfilment of his
mission, necessary to the scheme of salvation. He rushes blindly to
his fate while struggling in vain to escape it. But in the very act of
betrayal, while obeying the command: "What thou doest, do quickly,"
his better nature triumphs for one instant and he falls on the neck of
his Master and embraces Him. It is the Judas kiss which betrays his
Lord. The last look of Jesus, however, showed him that he had been
understood and forgiven. The detestation of humanity to the end of the
world will be his expiation, but that look of Jesus has freed him.

Woman, represented by writers like Ellen Key, Selma Lagerloef, Sophie
Elkau, Alfhild Agress, Hilma Stanberg, and others, holds a high
position in Swedish letters. Ellen Key is an essayist of virile
power and argumentative breadth, of superior intellect and unfailing
erudition. She is a fearless and unfailing champion of free thought,
individualism, and woman's emancipation. As was said of Madame de
Stael, her writings are "the most masculine productions of the
faculties of woman." Selma Lagerloef occupies as a novelist a position
of her own. Her style and her manner in fiction are unique. Symbolism
and allegory are blended in it with the most realistic pictures of
everyday life. She thinks in parables, and describes realities, and
the realities convey the moral teachings of parables. With something
of the peculiar power of George Eliot in the delineation of character,
she makes each humble life preach some great moral truth. Her latest
book, _Jerusalem_, is one of extraordinary fascination, created quite
a sensation in Sweden, and places Selma Lagerloef quite among the
foremost writers of the day.

It may in general be said of Swedish writers that they have a high
idea of their calling. Few, if any, have accepted as their sole
function the idealization of form. They hold mos