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

felt their existence and sought to do their own will to guide, instead of merely to listen to
the commands of the individual. Everywhere now is detected a tendency to break apart
the formerly aggregated masses; everything that has felt itself to be a distinctive feature,
attempted also to present itself and assert itself as such in external appearance. This
tendency must naturally first and foremost direct itself against the colossus which
Napoleon himself--the Revolution's son--with a strange misconception of his calling, had
conglomerated: the kingdom of France had to be reduced to the French nation. Over
almost the whole of Europe the process continued: Norway seceded from Denmark,
Belgium from Holland, Greece from Turkey; the Poles made a desperate attempt to crawl
out of the clutches of Russia. Similar movements are detected now, even though they are
taking place more quietly. Accordingly Austria is apparently threatened with being split
into at least three parts, Ireland is zealously occupied with the issue of repeal, the Prussian
Poles grumble behind their beards, and it is only fear which holds them back. In order to
show how far the division can go, one can recall the splitting of the "Baseler Landschaft"
from the town of Basel. One sees accordingly a striving to create continually smaller and
smaller states; the same principle which claims citizenship, freedom and independence
for the single individual in the state, claims also recognition for every society which on
the basis of a distinctive character can be regarded as an individual.
This striving for independence, this process of individualization, is accordingly,
then, considered from one point of view, without purpose and end; since the common
charactistics recede as they become more concrete, continually gathering in narrower and
narrower circles, and who determines the boundary where a certain distinctive
characteristic ends to be able to be a nationality? Acccordingly, on the occasion of
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