Abstract

The Quenchless Spark

This article focuses on two books, "The Challenge to Sirius," by Sheila Kaye-Smith and "The Great Hunger," by Johan Bojer. The theme of "The Challenge to Sirius," is that every human life a challenge. "The Challenge to Sirius," is a life story. It escorts a human being not quite from the cradle to the grave, but from a dreaming childhood to that hour when, past his middle years, the man finds himself. The motive of "The Great Hunger," is not dissimilar to that of "The Challenge to Sirius," but the atmosphere of the book is that of the clear, in contrast with the misty, scented, sluggish airs of Kaye-Smith's work. In the boy Peer, illegitimate son of a good-natured town gentleman and a light woman, is mysteriously born the hunger for some ultimate good which shall justify his existence.