He did not, however, find himself at once. His next major work, completed in 1892, was a long fantastic epic in prose, entitled Hans Alienus, which Professor Bo ^ o ^ k describes as a monument on the grave of his carefree and indolent youth. The hero, who is himself, is represented as a pilgrim in the storied lands of the East, a sort of Faustus type, who, to quote from Professor Bo ^ o ^ k again, ``even in the pleasure gardens of Sardanapalus can not cease from his painful search after the meaning of life. He is driven back by his yearning to the wintry homeland of his fathers in the forest of Tiveden.''

From this time on Heidenstam proceeded to find his deeper self. By the death of his father in 1888 he had come into possession of the family estate and had re-assumed its traditions. He did not, however, settle back into acquiescence with things as they were. Like his friend and contemporary August Strindberg he had little patience with collective mediocrity. He saw Sweden as a country of smug and narrow provincialism, indifferent to the heroic spirit of its former glory. Strindberg's remedy for this condition was to tear down the old structures and build anew from the ground up. Heidenstam's conception, on the contrary, was to revive the present by the memories of the past.

Whether in prose or poetry, all of Heidenstam's later work was concerned with Sweden. With the first of a group of historical novels, The Charles Men (Karolinerna), published in 1897 - 8, he achieved the masterpiece of his career. In scope and power it can only be compared to Tolstoy's War and Peace. About one-third as long, it is less intimate and detailed, but better coordinated, more concise and more dramatic. Though it centers around the brilliant and enigmatic figure of Charles 12,, the true hero is not finally the king himself. Hence the title of the book, referring to the soldiers and subjects of the king; on the fatal battlefield of Poltava, to quote from the novel, ``the wreath he twined for himself slipped down upon his people.''