I lived from 1832-1910.
I was from Norway, and am in the European category.
I influenced poet Henrik Johan Ibsen.
I was influenced by poet Henrik Johan Ibsen.
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was a Norwegian writer, editor, and theatre director. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1903. A friend and rival of Ibsen, he also wrote plays of social realism. However, his fame since his death has diminished, obscured by the fame of his friend Ibsen.
TRANSLATED FROM THE NORWEGIAN
IN THE ORIGINAL METERS
BY
ARTHUR HUBBELL PALMER (Yale University)
Read full description by Oldpoetry Research Team...
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was born in Kvikne, in northern Hedmark. His father, Peder Bjørnson, was a Lutheran pastor, and his mother, Elise Nordraak, a merchant's daughter. In 1849 he went to Christiania (now Oslo) to prepare for the university's entrance exams, before entering the university in 1852. However he soon abandoned his studies and joined the cultural scene instead. He became a theatre and literary critic for the Christiania daily Morgenbladet and later edited Illustreret Folkeblad.
He married an actress (Karoline Reimers) and had two children. His son became an actor and his daughter married Sigurd Ibsen
He had a successful career in the theatre and in 1857 he succeeded Ibsen as director of the Norske Theater in Bergen. Later he and Ibsen combined to organise the Norwegian Society for Theater, Music, and Language In 1859.
He left Norway the next year and lived abroad for 3 or 4 years mostly in Italy. Upon his return he was appointed director of the Christiania Theater (1865-1867) and from 1866 to 1871 he was also editor of the Norsk folkeblad.
In the 1860s he began to publish poetry, and some from his DIGTE OG SANGE were later set to music.
As an active participant in both political and cultural battles, Bjørnson's views were widely known and much debated. This brought upon him a charge of high treason. Consequently Bjørnson spent a long time abroad in the 1870s and '80s and in 1881 he visited the United States.
In 1893 Bjørnson settled on a farm, travelling from there to Denmark, France, Germany, and Italy. He wrote of the evils of industrialization, defended oppressed minorities and joined Emile Zola in the famous Dreyfus Affair.
Bjornson received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1903 "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry.
Although paralysed on one side, he continued working until his death in Paris on April 26, 1910.
JS
Picture Source: Corbis-Bettmann (britannica.com)
Links of interest include
http://classiclit.about.com/od/bjornsonbjornstjerne/Bjornson_Bjornstjerne.htm
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