Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson (/ˈbjɜːrnsən/BYURN-sən,[1]Norwegian:[ˈbjø̂ːɳstjæːɳəmɑrˈtiːnɪʉ̂sˈbjø̂ːɳsɔn]; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit". The first Norwegian Nobel laureate, he was a prolific polemicist and extremely influential in Norwegian public life and Scandinavian cultural debate.[2] Bjørnson is considered to be one of thefour great Norwegian writers, alongsideIbsen,Lie, andKielland.[3] He is also celebrated for his lyrics to the Norwegian national anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet".[4] The composerFredrikke Waaler based a composition for voice and piano (Spinnersken) on a text by Bjørnson, as didAnna Teichmüller (Die Prinzessin).
After a few years studying in the neighbouring city Molde, Bjørnson was sent at the age of 17 toHeltberg Latin School [no] (Heltbergs Studentfabrik) inChristiania to prepare for university. This was the same school that trainedIbsen,Lie, andVinje.
Bjørnson had realized that he wanted to pursue his talent for poetry (he had written verses since age eleven). He matriculated at theUniversity of Oslo in 1852, soon embarking upon a career as a journalist, focusing on criticism of drama.[4][5]
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 orfolke-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 ofJens Immanuel Baggesen andAdam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, during a visit toCopenhagen.Mellem Slagene was followed byHalte-Hulda [no;nl] (Lame Hulda) in 1858, andKong Sverre (King Sverre) in 1861.[6] His most important work to date was the poetic trilogy ofSigurd Slembe (Sigurd the Bad), which Bjørnson published in 1862.[4][7]
At the close of 1857 Bjørnson had been appointed director of the theatre atBergen, a post which he held for two years, when he returned toChristiania. From 1860 to 1863 he travelled widely throughout Europe. Early in 1865 he undertook the management of theChristiania Theatre,[9] and brought out his popular comedy ofDe Nygifte [no;sv;ar;zh] (The Newly Married) and his romantic tragedy ofMary Stuart in Scotland. In 1870 he publishedPoems and Songs and the epic cycleArnljot Gelline; the latter volume contains the odeBergliot, one of Bjørnson's finest contributions tolyrical poetry.[6]
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.[6]
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 withEn fallit (A Bankruptcy) andRedaktøren (The Editor) in 1874, social dramas of an extremely modern and realistic cast.[6]
In the 1870's Bjørnson and the composerEdvard Grieg, who shared his interests in Norwegian self-government, became friends. Grieg set several of his poems to music, includingLandkjenning andSigurd Jorsalfar.[10] Eventually they decided on an opera based onKing Olav Trygvason, but a dispute as to whether music or lyrics should be created first led to Grieg being diverted to working on incidental music forHenrik Ibsen's playPeer Gynt, which naturally offended Bjørnson. Eventually their friendship was resumed.[11]
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Karoline Bjørnson at Aulestad
Bjørnson settled on his estate ofAulestad inGausdal Municipality. 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 hisrepublican sentiments in the polemical playKongen (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 thewar of Italian independence, was written in to 1878.[6]
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.[why?] 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.[6]
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 [no;fr;nl;pl] (Beyond Powers), dealing with the abnormal features of religious excitement with extraordinary force; this was not acted until 1899, when it achieved a great success.[6]
From his youth and forwards, Bjørnson admiredHenrik Wergeland, and became a vivid spokesman for the Norwegian left-wing movement. In this respect, he supportedIvar Aasen, and joined forces in the political struggles in the 1860s and 1870s. When the great monument over Henrik Wergeland was to be erected in 1881, it came to political struggle between left and right, and the left wing got the upper hand. Bjørnson presented the speech on behalf of Wergeland, and also honouring the constitution and the farmers.[3]
Bjørnson's political opinions[clarification needed] had brought upon him a charge of high treason,[why?] and he took refuge for a time in Germany, returning to Norway in 1882.[how?] Convinced that the theatre was practically closed to him,[why?] he turned back to the novel, and published in 1884Det 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 [no] (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.[3][6]
A number of short stories, of a more or lessdidactic character, dealing with startling points of emotional experience, were collected and published 1894. Later plays were a political tragedy calledPaul Lange og Tora Parsberg [no] (1898), a second part ofOver Ævne (Beyond Powers II) (1895),Laboremus (1901),På Storhove (At Storhove) (1902), andDaglannet (Dag's Farm) (1904). In 1899, at the opening of the National Theatre, Bjørnson received an ovation, and his saga-drama of KingSigurd the Crusader was performed at the opening ofNationaltheatret in Oslo.[6]
Bjørnson was one of the contributors of the anti-Union magazineRingeren, edited bySigurd Ibsen in 1898.[12]
A subject which interested him greatly was the question of thebondemaal, the adopting of a national language for Norway distinct from thedansk-norsk (Dano-Norwegian), in which most Norwegian literature had hitherto been written.[6] At an early stage, before 1860, Bjørnson had himself experimented with at least one short story written inlandsmål. The interest, however, did not last, and he soon abandoned this enterprise altogether. Afterwards, he regretted that he never felt he gained the mastery of this language. Bjørnson's strong and sometimes rather narrow patriotism did not blind him to what he considered the fatal folly of such a proposal, and his lectures and pamphlets against themålstræv 'language strife' in its extreme form were very effective.
His attitude towards this must have changed sometime after 1881, as he still spoke on behalf of the farmers at this point. Although he seems to have been supportive ofIvar 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. Rumour has it that he had been insulted by a farmer at some point, and uttered the statement in sheer anger. In 1881, he spoke of the farmer's clothing borne by Henrik Wergeland, and his opinion then states that this garment, worn by Wergeland, was "of the most influential things" in the initiation of the national day. Bjørnson's attitude towards the farmers remain ambiguous. His father himself was a farmer's son. During the last twenty years of his life he wrote hundreds of articles in major European papers. He attacked the French justice in theDreyfus Affair, and he fought for the rights of children in Slovakia to learn their own mother tongue. "To detach children from their mother tongue is identical to tearing them away from their mothers' breasts," he wrote.
Bjørnson wrote in multiple newspapers about theČernová massacre under the titleThe greatest industry of Hungary – which was supposedly "to produce Magyars".
He took part in thesexual morality debate (sedelighetsdebatten) of the time, arguing that free love did not allow for the development of positive traits such as self-restraint and a focus on virtue. Bjørnson held some 60 lectures in the Nordic countries on the issue; his strongly held views led to a rift withGeorg Brandes.[13]
Illustration fromVikingen of a telegram exchange between Michelsen and Bjørnson.
Bjørnson was, from the beginning of theDreyfus Affair, a staunch supporter ofAlfred Dreyfus, and, according to a contemporary, wrote "article after article in the papers and proclaimed in every manner his belief in his innocence".
Bjørnson had done as much as any other man to rouse Norwegian nationalistic feeling, but in 1903, on the verge of the rupture between Norway and Sweden, he preached conciliation and moderation to the Norwegians.[6] However, in 1905 he largely remained silent.
When Norway was attempting to dissolve the forced union with Sweden, Bjørnson sent a telegram to the Norwegian Prime minister stating, "Now is the time to unite." The minister replied, "Now is the time to shut up."[3] This was in fact a satirical illustration published inVikingen, but the story got so popular and widespread that Bjørnson had to deny it, claiming that "Michelsen has never asked me to shut up; it would not help if he did".[16]
He died on 26 April 1910 in Paris, where for some years he had spent his winters, and was buried at home with every mark of honour. The Norwegiancoastal defence shipHNoMS Norge was sent to convey his remains back to his own land.
Bjørnson was the son of the Reverend Mr. Peder Bjørnson and Inger Elise Nordraach. He marriedKaroline Reimers (1835–1934) in 1858.[4] They had six children, five of whom lived to adulthood:Bjørn Bjørnson (1859–1942), Einar Bjørnson (1864–1942),Erling Bjørnson (1868–1959),Bergliot Bjørnson (1869–1953), Dagny Bjørnson (1871–1872), Dagny Bjørnson (1876–1974).[17]
In 1860, Bjørnson met and began an affair withMagda von Dolcke while he was inDenmark. Just two years after he had been married, his wife Karoline was in Norway at the time, recovering from a fever she had contracted after the birth of their first son in November 1859. Even after he returned to Norway, Bjørnson continued to exchange intimate letters with Dolcke and described their relationship as a "Pagt med en Sjel" (English:Pact with a Soul). His affair with Dolcke ended after he reconciled with Karoline in late 1861.[18]
In his early fifties, Bjørnson had an affair with 17-year-old Guri Andersdotter (died 1949), which resulted in the birth of their son,Anders Underdal (1880–1973). The affair was kept a secret, though early on Anders Underdal, a poet, would talk about his origins with his children. Later in life he stopped discussing the matter, no reason was given. Anders was the father of Norwegian-Swedish authorMargit Sandemo. Audun Thorsen has written a book about Bjørnson's affair,Bjørnsons kvinne og Margit Sandemos "familiehemmelighet" (lit.'Bjørnson's woman and Margit Sandemo's 'family secret'') (Genesis forlag, Oslo 1999).
^"Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson – The Nobel Prize in Literature 1903". The Nobel Foundation (From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1901–1967, Editor Horst Frenz, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1969. This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures.). 1903.Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved6 September 2009.
Haugen, Eva Lund; andEinar Haugen (1978).Bjørnson: Land of the Free. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson's American Letters 1880–1881. Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian-American Historical Association.
Haugen, Einar (1978).The Vocabulary of Bjørnson's Literary Works. N.Y.: Columbia University Press.
Amdam, Per (1978).Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. J.W. Cappelen.
Schmiesing, Ann (2004). "The Christiania Theater and Norwegian Nationalism: Bjørnson's Defense of the 1856 Whistle Concerts in 'Pibernes Program',"Scandinavian Studies, Vol. 76, No. 3, pp. 317–340.
Willcox, Louise Collier (1910)."Bjornstjerne Bjornson,"The North American Review, Vol. 192, No. 656, pp. 44–55.
