In a 1906 interview with Christian Rimestad, Harald Kidde exclaimed, "Thi jeg elsker Livet overalt og over alt, Livet der for mig er hundrede gange mere værd end Kunsten" (Because I love life everywhere and more than anything else, life is to me a hundred times more valuable than art). In its brevity, this statement comprises three significant characteristics that surface in any portrait of Kidde. First, its pathos is a thematic pointer to the passionate landscapes of personal contemplation and interpersonal conflicts that dominate his novels. Secondly, despite its brevity, it clearly overemphasizes its point by doubly stating it, thus recalling Kidde's lengthy, wordy novels--encircling, probing, interpreting, and reassessing psychological dramas. Finally, it is paradoxical because more than any other Danish author, at least since Hans Christian Andersen, Kidde embodied the social role of the lonely, if not secluded, then somewhat mysterious, artist completely devoted to...