SOURCE: Ratner, Marc L. “The Romantic Spencerian.” Norwegian-American Studies 23 (1967): 204-19.

In the following essay, Ratner describes Boyesen's development from European Romantic evolutionist to a more socially conscious Realist.

One of the strongest influences affecting American thought during the late nineteenth century came from the natural sciences. Discoveries and theories in geology and organic evolution undermined the strong religious beliefs of many, affected the idealistic philosophy of romantic transcendentalism, and encouraged a greater interest in the ethical and social implications of man's place in society.¹ In the work of Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen, Norwegian-American critic and novelist, we can observe the development of a writer who began in the tradition of the European romantic evolutionist and was influenced by the writings of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer toward a new view of evolution. Boyesen was interested in a number of specific social and literary problems, viz., education in a militant...