cultural resources in henrik ibsen's early environment - Ibsen.net

that it still remembers about the ancestors and before all else the language, the speaking
witness of a people's common origins.
It is only through memories that the ancestors still live among us, it is through
memories alone that we are able to acquire for ourselves the past, - but it is in the past
that what exists is based; if the foundation is shaken, then the building erected on it must
also totter. A people without a past or without memories of the past has no basis in
tradition ("Faren"); memory bears witness of former greatness, in it, for those who come
after, lies an increased demand not to enfeeble its radiance; if the memory is sad, it also
possesses rich experiences. In every person's breast there is instilled a certain feeling of
piety for the conceptions and impressions he has received in his childhood; if one thinks
of a nation as an individual, then the past is its childhood memories; they will always
speak faithfully and warningly, they will be a strong bulwark against the demoralisation,
from which this still might have its source.
In the recognition of the significance memories of the ancestors have, also lies a
duty to maintain them. By this is understood naturally not merely the visible reminders of
the past, but also every spiritual witness, every trait from the vanished time interwoven in
the folk-character, and especially the retention of the ancestors' language, which certainly
creates one of the most important bonds between them and us. By this it is not meant that
a nation should safeguard the past and its memories by stagnation and irrational holding-
fast to the old; on the contrary, it is by continuing to develop and improve what is
received, without in any way losing sight of its source, that succeeding generations rightly
honor the memory of the generations who have consigned to them the past's rich
inheritance.
435