February 2012
2 posts
The Scandinavian gloom
“The story of Arne is simple though pathetic, and its incidents serve very well as the occasions for descriptions of the country life with which the author is familiar. These sketches are remarkably pretty – weddings, dancing-parties, nutting-parties, and the like.
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The general tone of this tale is happy and genial, though there are one or two shades of truly Scandinavian gloom...
Arne as instructive literature
‘It is not exactly a book to put into the hands of little children; and children of a larger growth will do well not to accept all its principles, nor catch the inspiration of its spirit. There are touches of heathenishness about it – heathenishness of tone, and sentiment, and language – which is not to be admired.’
London Quarterly Review, London: April 1867