Nevertheless the most beautiful is perhaps: "Der gynged en fugl

i min lind –" ["A bird sways in my linden tree –"] and "finale"; the last in particular, which

is so rich in all its simplicity. The poem:

"A bird sways in my linden tree –" reminds me

of You, I do not know why. Have you been

associating with Wiegdehl lately?, he does not mention it

himself. He has just sent me a print of

his first engraving; there is much that is fine and

beautiful in it, – strange that he can straight-

away nearly perfectly create a

technique of his own. I bought practically all of

the new books that were published at Christmas in order to "follow

the times a bit"; yet there was nothing exceptional about most of them.

Kink, whom I have always admired, was his old self

and I feel the same about the detested Th P. Krag (he is

one of our best writers, I cannot believe otherwise). On the

other hand I have nothing but terrible things to say about Mons Lie, whom I had

expected so much from. I bought 3 books by Sienkiewictz

who is acclaimed by all the critics, – they were expensive but nothing more than

salon rubbish – and I feel the same about Ekkehardt. I spent

35 kroner on books, yet had no pleasure from half of them. Best of all

was Obstfelder’s posthumous papers, the most lovely [texts] that

have been written in Norway; but on the other hand it was not the fruit of this year.

Now You must write to me and tell me what the

young [artists] are thinking and feeling and a little about the art "trends". My best and

most heartfelt greetings to You and Your sister from your devoted Astrup

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