Let us enlarge a little upon
these two themes. Ernest Renan, speaking at the funeral of
Tourguenieff, described the deceased novelist as "the incarnation
of a whole people." Even more fittingly might the phrase be applied
to Bjornson, for it would be difficult to find anywhere else in
modern literature a figure so completely and profoundly representative
of his race. In the frequently quoted words of Dr. Brandes, to speak
the name of Bjornson in any assembly of his countrymen is like
"hoisting the Norwegian flag." It has been maliciously added that
mention of his name is also like flaunting a red flag in the sight
of a considerable proportion of the assembly, for Bjornson has always
been a fighter as well as an artist, and it has been his self-imposed
mission to arouse his fellow countrymen from their mental sluggishness
no less than to give creative embodiment to their types of character
and their ideal aspirations. But whatever the opposition aroused by
his political and social radicalism, even his opponents have been
constrained to feel that he was the mouthpiece of their race as no
other Norwegian before him had been, and that he has voiced whatever
is deepest and most enduring in the Norwegian temper.
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