Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1944, Page 184

i6z
LE NORD
treatment of individual subjects. It
is also, so it appears to the present
writer, more evenly balanced as re-
gards the space allotted to the vari-
ous subjects. No doubt there are
sections in the new work as regards
which one might argue that some
subject has been given more, or
less, space than was due to it in
comparison with the treatment of
other subjects; the critical reader
may perhaps wish that it had in-
cluded things and persons which
have been omitted, but on the
whole one dare say that its general
plan is better worked out than that
of its predecessor. With all due re-
spect for the latter, there seems to
be a general consensus of opinion
among critics that the newer work
has a monumental quality lacking
in the older one.
It has been objected that “Danish
Civilization in 1940,” in spite of
the wealth of information which it
contains, gives no integral analysis
of the inmost essence of our na-
tional culture. This is not quite cor-
rect. In the first volume, Professor
Niels Bohr has given such an ana-
lysis which is both acute and witty,
and which is based on examples
from Danish cultural life in many
spheres and throughout many
epochs. In this analysis Professor
Bohr stresses a trait which he re-
gards as characteristic of Danish
civilization: our claim to world
citizenship and our sense of respon-
sibility for the common stock of
civilization, which are combined
with a loyalty to our own national
traditions. He shows conclusively
how great has been the influence
on our national civilization, both
in the material and the intellectual
field, of the constant interplay of
Danish traditions and foreign cul-
tural currents. This, he maintains,
has given our people a bend which
makes it well qualified to take part
in the work of international co-
operation.
To this co-operation the Danish
Society wishes to contribute its share
by diffusing among foreign nations
an objective knowledge of our coun-
try. By many different means, and
through many different channels,
the Society proposes to inform other
nations, when the war is over, about
our people and our civilization in
all its ramifications. The present
work is one of the means by which
this is to be done. It is meant to
serve as a tool for an information
service which bases itself on facts
presented in an objective spirit. It
bears itself the stamp of this
genuine objectivity, and its most
distinctive trait is the avoidance of
everything resembling propaganda,
in the less respectable sense of the
word. If it sets out to be a monu-
ment of Danish democratic civili-
zation, it is at least not by slurring
over the weaknesses or unduly
magnifying the strength of the lat-
ter that it attempts to achieve its
object.
In fact, the idea underlying the
work may be summed up in the