Although this one conversation could not
be of any vast importance to me, it was nevertheless the first personal
link between me and the man who was and remained my greatly loved master
and deliverer, even though I mistrusted his essential teachings. I was
afraid that I had created a bad impression, as I had wasted the time
raising objections; but Taine knew human nature well enough to perceive
the personality behind the clumsy form and the admiration behind the
criticism. In reality, I was filled with passionate gratitude towards
Taine, and this feeling remained unaltered until his latest hour.
During this my first stay in Paris I added the impression of Taine's
personality to the wealth of impressions that I took back with me from
Paris to Copenhagen.
EARLY MANHOOD
Feud in Danish Literature--Riding--Youthful Longings--On the Rack--My
First Living Erotic Reality--An Impression of the Miseries of Modern
Coercive Marriage--Researches on the Comic--Dramatic Criticism--A Trip
to Germany--Johanne Louise Heiberg--Magdalene Thoresen--Rudolph Bergh--
The Sisters Spang--A Foreign Element--The Woman Subject--Orla Lehmann--
M. Goldschmidt--Public Opposition--A Letter from Bjoernstjerne Bjoernson--
Hard Work.
I.
After my return from France to Denmark, in 1867, my thoughts were taken
up once more by the feud that had broken out in Danish literature
between Science and so-called Revelation (in the language of the time,
Faith and Knowledge).
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