t as a piece of literature it is not to be taken
seriously. Like Lassen's work, it is honest, faithful, and utterly
uninspired.

The opening scene of _Hamlet_ is no mean test of a translator's
ability--this quick, tense scene, one of the finest in dramatic
literature. Foersom did it with conspicuous success. Blom has reduced
it to the following prosy stuff:

_Bernardo_:
Hvem der?

_Francisco_:
Nei, svar mig forst; gjor holdt og sig hvem der!

_Ber_:
Vor konge laenge leve!

_Fra_:
De, Bernardo?

_Ber_:
Ja vel.

_Fra_:
De kommer jo paa klokkeslaget.

_Ber_:
Ja, den slog tolv nu. Gaa til ro, Francisco.

_Fra_:
Tak for De loser av. Her er saa surt, og jeg er dodsens traet.

_Ber_:
Har du hat rolig vagt?

_Fra_:
En mus har ei
sig rort.

_Ber_:
Nu vel, god nat.
Hvis du Marcellus og Horatio ser,
som skal ha vakt med mig, bed dem sig skynde.

_Fra_:
Jeg horer dem vist nu. Holdt hoi! Hvem der.
(Horatio og Marcellus kommer.)

_Horatio_:
Kun landets venner.

_Marcellus_:
Danekongens folk!

_Fra_:
God nat, sov godt!

_Mar_:
Godnat, du bra soldat!
Hvem har lost av?

_Fra_:
Bernardo staar paa post.
God nat igjen. (Gaar.)

It requires little knowledge of Norwegian to dismiss this as dull
and insipid prose, a part of which has accidentally been turned into
mechanical blank verse. Moreover, the work is marked throughout by
inconsistency and carelessness in details. For instance the king begins
(p. 7) by addressing Laertes:

Hvad melder _De_ mig om _Dem_ selv, Laertes?

and two lines below:

Hvad kan _du_ be mig om?

It might be a mere slip that the translator in one line uses the formal
_De_ and in another the familiar _du_, but the same inconsistency occurs
again and again throughout the volume. In itself a trifle, it indicates
clearly enough the careless, slipshod manner of work--and an utter lack
of a sense of humor, for no one with a spark of humor would use the
modern, essentially German _De_ in a Norwegian translation of
Shakespeare. If a formal form must be used it should, as a matter
of course, be _I_.

Nor is the translation itself so accurate as it should be. For example,
what does it mean when Marcellus tells Bernardo that he had implored
Horatio "at vogte paa minutterne inat" (to watch over the minutes this
night)? Again, in the King's speech to Hamlet (Act I,