THE LONG JOURNEY

by Johannes Jensen ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 16, 1945

Danish Nobel Prize winner, published originally in English in three volumes (the Danish original was in six), now reissued in one volume....It is an extraordinary blend of myth and legend, of saga and lyrical verse -- a panoramic epic of the Gothe, tracing the emergence of man from brute, and the gropings towards civilisation. His heroic figures compass successive ages, but in Norna Gest, he combines many ages in one figure, a sort of Norse Wandering Jew, who appears and reappears, finally linking the men of the Northlands with Central America, as he is hailed as the White God, Quetsalcoatl, and greeted in supposed reincarnation later through Columbus and the Conquistadores who spelled disaster. Jensen has a musical quality in his prose which gives it the sweep of ancient sagas, he has a sense of drama -- and a pictorial quality that makes even prehistoric landscapes live. Not for a wide market -- but rather a literary one.

Pub Date: April 16, 1945

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1945

Categories: FICTION