Hans Henrik Jæger (2 September 1854,

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such as Konne ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

– 8 February 1910,

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

writer, philosopher and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...

political

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

who was part of the Oslo (then Kristiania)-based

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

group known as the Kristiania Bohemians. In 1886 he was prosecuted for his book '' Fra Kristiania-bohêmen'', then convicted and sentenced to 60 days' imprisonment and a fine of for infringement of modesty and public morals, and for

blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religio ...

. He also lost his position as a stenographer at the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

. Jæger was defended in court by barrister

Ludvig Meyer Ludvig Meyer (22 April 1861 – 3 January 1938) was a Norwegian barrister, newspaper editor and politician. He belonged to the Norwegian Labour Party 1891 to 1903, and was both party leader, party secretary as well as editor of the party organ ''S ...

. He and other bohemians tried to live by the nine commandments he had formulated in ''Fra Kristiania-bohêmen''. The following year he was forced to flee Norway. He had been sentenced to 150 more days in prison after the Norwegian government learned that he had sent 300 copies of ''Fra Kristiania-bohêmen'' to Sweden under the pretense that it was a volume of Christmas stories. He was a friend of

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( , ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, '' The Scream'' (1893), has become one of Western art's most iconic images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the d ...

and was the subject of one of Munch's paintings, swiftly painted in the rented room of one of Munch's friends. Hans Jæger maintained that sexuality should be unrestricted in relationships, arguing that the traditional values of marriage and social class encroached on personal freedom and fulfillment. Jæger asserted that the institution of marriage should be abolished and that there should be "full

sexual freedom A sexual norm can refer to a personal or a social norm. Most cultures have social norms regarding sexuality, and define '' normal sexuality'' to consist only of certain sex acts between individuals who meet specific criteria of age, consanguinit ...

between the sexes in the same social class."Anarchy Archives
/ref>

Published works

Portrett av Hans Jæger (1854-1910) (11833017563)

* ''Kants fornuftskritik'' (''Kant's critique of pure reason'') 1878 * ''Olga'' (play) 1883 * ''En intellektuel Forførelse'' (play) (''An Intellectual Seduction'') 1884 * '' Fra Kristiania-bohêmen'' (''From the Christiania Bohemians'') 1885 * ''Julefortællinger av Hans Jæger'' (''Christmas Stories by Hans Jæger'', in reality the second volume of ''From the Christiania Bohemians'') 1886 * ''Albertine'' (with

Christian Krohg Christian Krohg (13 August 1852 – 16 October 1925) was a Norwegian naturalist painter, illustrator, author and journalist. Krohg was inspired by the realism art movement and often chose motifs from everyday life. He was the director and s ...

) 1886 * ''Min forsvarstale i høyesterett'' (''My Defence Speech in the Supreme Court'') 1886 * ''Kristianiabilleder'' (''Images of Christiania'') 1888 * ''Novelletter'' (''Short Stories'') 1889 * ''Bohemens erotiske bekjennelser'' (''The Erotic Confessions of the Bohemians'') ** ''Syk kjærlihet'' (part 1 of 3) 1893 (''Twisted Love'') ** ''Bekjendelser'' (part 2 of 3) 1902 (''Confessions'') ** ''Fængsel og fortvilelse'' (part 3 of 3) 1903 (''Prison and Despair'') * ''Anarkiets bibel'' (''The Bible of Anarchism'') 1906 * ''Socialismens ABC'' (written between 1906 and 1910, never finished) (''The ABC of Socialism'')

References

Biography

* "'Jæger: en rekonstruksjon'', a biography by

Ketil Bjørnstad Ketil Bjørnstad (born 25 April 1952) is a pianist, composer and author. Initially trained as a classical pianist, Bjørnstad discovered jazz at an early age and has embraced the emergence of "European jazz". Store Norske Leksikon (in Norwegian) ...

External links

*
Hans Jæger Page
at the Anarchist Encyclopedia
Digitized books by Jæger
in the

National Library of Norway The National Library of Norway ( no, Nasjonalbiblioteket) was established in 1989. Its principal task is "to preserve the past for the future". The library is located both in Oslo and in Mo i Rana. The building in Oslo was restored and reopened ...

1854 births 1910 deaths Anarchist writers Censorship in Norway Edvard Munch Norwegian anarchists Norwegian male writers Norwegian prisoners and detainees People convicted of blasphemy Prisoners and detainees of Norway {{anarchist-stub