[The story Det eviga leendet is Lagerkvist's] first successful attempt at utilizing the architectonic principles of cubism. Instead of the parallel, static reflections found in his earlier works, we now find a "simultaneous dichotomy" of aspect, a process of "cubist dialectics" which is necessary for the total synthesis of perspective….

[Cubist perspective, according to Braque,] purposely perpetrates an ambiguity through the juxtaposition of two opposing aspects. (p. 38)

In Det eviga leendet, Lagerkvist has abandoned the expressionist influence of Strindberg, and has managed to construct the simplicity of narration and dialogue which he had called for in Ordkonst och bildkonst. (p. 39)

[In Det eviga leendet, the dead reminisce], and by doing so, they speak and "reflect" on their past lives. Each "reflection" is a different plane of reality and from a different time-continuum. It is as if Lagerkvist has "destructed" Stendhal's mirror and re-constructed the pieces in such a...