Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1944, Page 181

REVUE LITTÉRAIRE
U9
the country, its charting and geo-
graphy, the anthropological com-
position of the population, Danish
prehistoric archaeology, the Danish
language, settlement and place
names, folklore, and general popu-
lation conditions. The next section
deals with political life, the central
and local administration, and the
status of the German minority in
Slesvig. Then follow sections deal-
ing with the administration of
justice, defence, public health ser-
vices, social conditions in general,
and particular aspects of the latter
such as the social welfare services,
housing, the small holders’ move-
ment, co-operation, labour condi-
tions, and the position of women
in the Danish community. A sub-
sequent section contains accounts of
central and local finance, and cur-
rency. Then follow a number of
articles dealing with technology,
including the means of communi-
cation, and with economic life.
Here, the main stress is laid on
agriculture, but there are also de-
tailed accounts of Danish industries,
handicrafts, and commerce. A sec-
tion dealing with Danish religious
life is followed by an account of
the various aspects of popular edu-
cation, etc. (schools, folk high
schools, popular libraries, broad-
casting services, and the press), and
about science and scholarship (in-
cluding the universities, the scienti-
fic foundations, libraries, and ar-
chives, as well as Danish achieve-
ments in the various branches of
science and scholarship). Danish
Art forms the subject of a section
which includes chapter on the pic-
torial arts, architecture, applied
art, music, the stage, films, and
literature. Then follow chapters
about physical culture, sports, and
the hikers’ movement, and the book
ends with accounts of conditions in
Slesvig, the Faeroes and Greenland,
Danish participation in interna-
tional co-operation, and the past
and present work which aims at
spreading a knowledge of Danish
civilization abroad. A detailed in-
dex enables the reader to find his
way among the details of this very
copious mass of information.
A book which, like this, is the
work of a large number of writers
cannot avoid being somewhat hetero-
geneous: it is not possible to get
considerably over a hundred people
to write in the same way or to
adopt the same style. Nor is it pos-
sible to co-ordinate their contri-
butions in such a manner that every
subject is treated on exactly the
same lines, or to avoid a certain
amount of repetition, especially as
each article must be so written that
it can, if necessary, be read in-
dependently of the rest. Indeed, the
editors have not regarded a very
high degree of uniformity as desi-
rable. They have deliberately al-
lowed a certain scope for individual
tastes, in the conviction that the
very fact of each writer giving a