Everything about Bj Rnstjerne Bj Rnson totally explained
Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson (born
December 8,
1832, died
April 26,
1910) was a
Norwegian writer and the 1903
Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. Bjørnson is considered as one of "The Great Four" Norwegian writers; the others being
Henrik Ibsen,
Jonas Lie, and
Alexander Kielland. Bjørnson is celebrated for his lyrics to the Norwegian National Anthem, "
Ja, vi elsker dette landet".
Childhood and education
Bjørnson was born at the farmstead of Bjørgen in
Kvikne, a secluded village in the
Østerdalen district, some sixty miles south of
Trondheim. In 1837 Bjørnson's father, who was the pastor of Kvikne, was transferred to the parish of
Nesset, outside
Molde in
Romsdal. It was in this scenic district that Bjørnson spent his childhood. After a few years studying in the neighboring city
Molde, Bjørnson was sent to Heltbergs Studentfabrikk in
Christiania to prepare for university, at the age of 17. He had realized that he wanted to pursue his talent for poetry (he had written verses since age eleven). Bjørnson matriculated at the
University of Oslo in 1852, soon embarking upon a career as a
journalist, focusing on criticism of drama.
Early production
In 1857 Bjørnson published
Synnøve Solbakken, the first of his peasant novels. In 1858 this was followed by
Arne, in 1860 by
En glad Gut (A Happy Boy), and in 1868 by
Fiskerjenten (The Fisher Maiden). These are the most important specimens of his
bonde-fortellinger or peasant tales.
Bjørnson was anxious "to create a new saga in the light of the peasant," as he put it, and he thought this should be done, not merely in prose fiction, but in national dramas or
folke-stykker. The earliest of these was a one-act piece set in the
12th century,
Mellem Slagene (Between the Battles), written in
1855 and produced in
1857. He was especially influenced at this time by the study of
Jens Immanuel Baggesen and
Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, during a visit to
Copenhagen.
Mellem Slagene was followed by
Halte-Hulda (Lame Hulda) in 1858, and
Kong Sverre (King Sverre) in
1861. His most important work to date was the poetic trilogy of
Sigurd Slembe (Sigurd the Bad), which Bjørnson published in 1862.
The mature author
At the close of 1857 Bjørnson had been appointed director of the theater at
Bergen, a post which he held for two years, when he returned to
Christiania. From 1860 to 1863 he traveled widely throughout
Europe. Early in 1865 he undertook the management of the Christiania theatre, and brought out his popular comedy of
De Nygifte (The Newly Married) and his romantic tragedy of
Mary Stuart in
Scotland. In 1870 he published
Poems and Songs and the epic cycle
Arnljot Gelline; the latter volume contains the ode
Bergliot, one of Bjørnson's finest contributions to
lyrical poetry.
Between 1864 and 1874, Bjørnson displayed a slackening of the intellectual forces very remarkable in a man of his energy; he was mainly occupied with politics and with his business as a theatrical manager. This was the period of Bjørnson's most fiery propaganda as a radical agitator. In 1871 he began to supplement his journalistic work by delivering lectures throughout
Scandinavia.
From 1874 to 1876 Bjørnson was absent from
Norway, and in the peace of voluntary exile he recovered his imaginative powers. His new departure as a dramatic author began with
En fallit (A Bankruptcy) and
Redaktøren (The Editor) in 1874, social dramas of an extremely modern and realistic cast.
The "national poet"
Bjørnson settled on his estate of
Aulestad in
Gausdal. In 1877 he published another novel,
Magnhild, in which his ideas on social questions were seen to be in a state of fermentation, and gave expression to his
republican sentiments in the polemical play
Kongen (The King). In a later edition of the play, he prefixed an essay on "Intellectual Freedom" in further explanation of his position.
Kaptejn Mansana (Captain Mansana), an episode of the
war of Italian independence, was written in to 1878.
Extremely anxious to obtain full success on the stage, Bjørnson concentrated his powers on a drama of social life,
Leonarda (1879), which raised a violent controversy. A satirical play,
Det nye System (The New System), was produced a few weeks later. Although these plays of Bjørnson's second period were greatly discussed, few were financially successful.
Bjørnson produced a social drama,
En Handske (A Gauntlet), in 1883, but was unable to persuade any manager to stage it except in a modified form. In the autumn of the same year, Bjørnson published a mystical or symbolic drama
Over Ævne (Beyond Powers), dealing with the abnormal features of religious excitement with extraordinary force; this wasn't acted until 1899, when it achieved a great success.
Political interests
Bjørnson's political opinions had brought upon him a charge of high
treason, and he took refuge for a time in
Germany, returning to Norway in 1882. Convinced that the theater was practically closed to him, he turned back to the novel, and published in 1884
Det flager i Byen og paa Havnen (Flags are Flying in Town and Port), embodying his theories on heredity and education. In 1889 he printed another long and still more remarkable novel,
Paa Guds veje (On God's Path), which is chiefly concerned with the same problems. The same year saw the publication of a comedy,
Geografi og Kærlighed (Geography and Love), which met with success.
A number of short stories, of a more or less
didactic character, dealing with startling points of emotional experience, were collected and published 1894. Later plays were a political tragedy called
Paul Lange og Tora Parsberg (1898), a second part of
Over Ævne (Beyond Powers II) (1895),
Laboremus (1901),
På Storhove (At Storhove) (1902), and
Daglannet (Dag's Farm) (1904). In 1899, at the opening of the National Theatre, Bjørnson received an ovation, and his saga-drama of
Sigurd the Crusader was performed at the opening of
Nationaltheatret in
Oslo.
A subject which interested him greatly was the question of the
bondemaal, the adopting of a national language for Norway distinct from the
dansk-norsk (Dano-Norwegian), in which most Norwegian literature had hitherto been written. Bjørnson's strong and sometimes rather narrow
patriotism didn't blind him to what he considered the fatal folly of such a proposal, and his lectures and pamphlets against the
målstræv in its extreme form were very effective. At an early stage, before
1860, Bjørnson had himself experimented with at least one short story written in
landsmål. The interest, however, didn't last, and he soon abandoned this enterprise altogether. Afterwards, he regretted that he never felt he gained the mastery of this language.
Bjørnson's attitude towards the Landsmål and farmers altered drastically through his life. Although he seems to have been supportive of
Ivar Aasen and friendly towards farmers (in the peasant-novels), he later denounced this, and stated in 1899 that there was limits to a farmer's cultivation.
I can draw a line on the wall. The farmer can cultivate himself to this level, and no more, he wrote in 1899.
Last years
Bjørnson was, from the beginning of the
Dreyfus Affair, a staunch supporter of
Alfred Dreyfus, and, according to a contemporary, wrote "article after article in the papers and proclaimed in every manner his belief in his innocence".
Bjørnson was one of the original members of the
Nobel Committee, and was re-elected in 1900. In 1903 he was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature.
Bjørnson had done as much as any other man to rouse Norwegian national feeling, but in
1903, on the verge of the rupture between
Norway and
Sweden, he preached conciliation and moderation to the Norwegians.
He died on
April 26,
1910 in
Paris, where for some years he'd spent his winters, and was buried at home with every mark of honor. The Norwegian
coastal defence ship HNoMS Norge was sent to convey his remains back to his own land.
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