Completing the
list, we have "Daglannet," another domestic drama of simple
structure, and "When the New Wine Blooms," a study of modernity
as exemplified in the young woman of to-day, of the estrangement
that too often creeps into married life, and of the stirrings
that prompt men of middle age to seek to renew the joys of youth.
During the years that have passed since the publication of
"Dust," Bjornson has produced four volumes of fiction,--his two
great novels, a third novel of less didactic mission, and a
second collection of short stories. The first of the novels,
"Flags Are Flying in City and Harbor," saw the light during
the year following the publication of "A Glove," and the
teaching of that play is again enforced with uncompromising
logic in the development of the story. The work has two other
main themes, and these are heredity and education. So much
didactic matter as this is a heavy burden for any novel to
carry, and a lesser man than Bjornson would have found the
task a hopeless one. That he should have succeeded even in
making a fairly readable book out of this material would have
been remarkable, and it is a pronounced artistic triumph that
the book should prove of such absorbing interest.
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