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Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of
modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playwrights of his time. His major works include ''
Brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create ...
'', '' Peer Gynt'', '' An Enemy of the People'', '' Emperor and Galilean'', ''
A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' ( Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having be ...
'', ''
Hedda Gabler ''Hedda Gabler'' () is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The world premiere was staged on 31 January 1891 at the Residenztheater in Munich. Ibsen himself was in attendance, although he remained back-stage. The play has been ca ...
'', '' Ghosts'', '' The Wild Duck'', '' When We Dead Awaken'', '' Rosmersholm'', and '' The Master Builder''. Ibsen is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
, and ''A Doll's House'' was the world's most performed play in 2006. Ibsen's early poetic and cinematic play ''Peer Gynt'' has strong surreal elements. After ''Peer Gynt'' Ibsen abandoned verse and wrote in realistic prose. Several of his later dramas were considered scandalous to many of his era, when European theatre was expected to model strict morals of family life and propriety. Ibsen's later work examined the realities that lay behind the façades, revealing much that was disquieting to a number of his contemporaries. He had a critical eye and conducted a free inquiry into the conditions of life and issues of morality. In many critics' estimates '' The Wild Duck'' and '' Rosmersholm'' are "vying with each other as rivals for the top place among Ibsen's works"; Ibsen himself regarded '' Emperor and Galilean'' as his masterpiece. Ibsen is often ranked as one of the most distinguished playwrights in the European tradition,Valency, Maurice. ''The Flower and the Castle''. Schocken, 1963. and is widely regarded as the foremost playwright of the nineteenth century. He influenced other playwrights and novelists such as
George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
, Oscar Wilde,
Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are ''All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...
,
Marguerite Yourcenar Marguerite Yourcenar (, , ; born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour; 8 June 1903 – 17 December 1987) was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist, who became a US citizen in 1947. Winner of the ''Prix Fem ...
,
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
,
Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Nobel Prize in Literature, literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama tech ...
, and
Miroslav Krleža Miroslav Krleža (; 7 July 1893 – 29 December 1981) was a Yugoslav and Croatian writer who is widely considered to be the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century. He wrote notable works in all the literary genres, including poetry (''Ba ...
. Ibsen was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1902, 1903, and 1904. Ibsen wrote his plays in Danish (the common written language of
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...
and
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a 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 Jan Mayen and the ...
during his lifetime) and they were published by the Danish publisher
Gyldendal Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag A/S, usually referred to simply as Gyldendal () is a Danish publishing house. Founded in 1770 by Søren Gyldendal, it is the oldest and largest publishing house in Denmark, offering a wide selection of ...
. Although most of his plays are set in Norway—often in places reminiscent of
Skien Skien () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the ...
, the port town where he grew up—Ibsen lived for 27 years in Italy and Germany, and rarely visited Norway during his most productive years. Ibsen's dramas were informed by his own background in the merchant elite of Skien, and he often modelled or named characters after family members. He was the father of Prime Minister Sigurd Ibsen. Ibsen's dramas had a strong influence upon contemporary culture.


Early life and background


Family and childhood

Henrik Johan Ibsen was born on 20 March 1828 in '' Stockmanngården'' into an affluent merchant family in the prosperous port town of
Skien Skien () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the ...
in Bratsberg. He was the son of the merchant Knud Plesner Ibsen (1797–1877) and Marichen Cornelia Martine Altenburg (1799–1869). Both parents' belonged to the city's and county's elite. Ibsen's ancestors were primarily merchants and shipowners in large cities, or members of the " aristocracy of officials" of Upper Telemark. Henrik Ibsen later wrote that "my parents were members on both sides of the most respected families in Skien", and that he was closely related to "just about all the patrician families who then dominated the place and its surroundings." He was
baptised Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
at home in the Lutheran state church—membership of which was mandatory—on 28 March and the baptism was confirmed in Christian's Church on 19 June. When Ibsen was born, Skien had for centuries been one of Norway's most important and internationally oriented cities, and a centre of seafaring, timber exports and early industrialization that had made Norway the developed and prosperous part of Denmark–Norway. His parents, though not closely related by blood, had been reared as social first cousins, sometimes described as near-siblings in a social sense. Knud Ibsen's father, ship's captain and merchant Henrich Johan Ibsen (1765–1797), died at sea when he was newborn in 1797 and his mother Johanne Plesner (1770–1847) married captain Ole Paus (1766–1855) the following year; Knud grew up as a member of the Paus family. His stepfather Ole Paus was a descendant of the " aristocracy of officials" in Upper Telemark; as a child Paus had been taken in by a relative, Skien merchant Christopher Blom, and he had become a ship's captain and shipowner in Skien, acquiring the burghership in 1788. Like Henrich Johan Ibsen before him Paus became the brother-in-law of one of Norway's wealthiest men,
Diderik von Cappelen Diderik von Cappelen (21 June 1761 – 3 April 1828) was a Norwegian wholesaler, merchant, shipowner, estate owner and politician in 1814. He is often referred to as Diderik von Cappelen but he spelt his name ''Didrich von Cappelen'' and is also ...
, whose first wife Maria Plesner was Johanne's sister. In 1799 Ole Paus sold the Ibsen House in Skien's Løvestrædet (Lion's Street), which he had inherited from his wife's first husband, and bought the estate Rising outside Skien from a sister of his brother-in-law von Cappelen. Knud grew up at Rising with most of his many half-siblings, among them the later governor Christian Cornelius Paus and the shipowner Christopher Blom Paus. In the 1801 census the Paus family of Rising had seven servants. Marichen grew up in the large, stately Altenburggården building in central Skien as the daughter of the wealthy merchant Johan Andreas Altenburg (1763–1824) and (1763–1848), who was the sister of Knud's stepfather. Altenburg was a shipowner, timber merchant and owned a liquor distillery at Lundetangen and a farm outside of town; after his death in 1824 the widow Hedevig, Henrik's grandmother, took over the businesses. During Henrik's childhood the families of Ole and Hedevig Paus were very close: Ole's oldest son, Knud's half-brother Henrik Johan Paus was raised in Hedevig's home, and the children of the Paus siblings, including Knud and Marichen, spent much of their childhood together. Older Ibsen scholars have claimed that Henrik Ibsen was fascinated by his parents’ “strange, almost incestuous marriage,” and he would treat the subject of incestuous relationships in several plays, notably his masterpiece '' Rosmersholm''. On the other hand, Jørgen Haave points out that his parents' close relationship wasn't that unusual among the Skien elite. In 1825 Henrik's father Knud acquired the burghership of Skien and established an independent business as a timber and luxury goods merchant there with his younger brother Christopher Blom Paus, then aged 15, as his apprentice. The two brothers moved into the Stockmanngården building, where they rented a part of the building and lived with a maid. On the first floor the brothers sold foreign wines and a variety of luxury items, while also engaging in wholesale export of timber in cooperation with their first cousin Diderik von Cappelen (1795–1866). On 1 December 1825 Knud married his stepfather's niece Marichen, who then moved in with them. Henrik was born there in 1828. In 1830 Marichen's mother Hedevig left Altenburggården and her properties and business ventures to her son-in-law Knud, and the Ibsen family moved to Marichen's childhood home in 1831. During the 1820s and 1830s Knud was a wealthy young merchant in Skien, and he was the city's 16th largest taxpayer in 1833. In his unfinished biography ''From Skien to Rome'' Henrik Ibsen wrote about the Skien of his childhood: When Henrik Ibsen was around seven years old, his father's fortunes took a turn for the worse, and in 1835 the family was forced to sell Altenburggården. The following year they moved to their stately summer house, ', outside of the city. They were still relatively affluent, had servants and socialised with other members of the Skien elite, e.g. through lavish parties; their closest neighbours on Southern Venstøp were former shipowner and mayor of Skien Ulrich Frederik Cudrio and his family, who also had been forced to sell their townhouse. In 1843, after Henrik left home, the Ibsen family moved to a townhouse at Snipetorp, owned by Knud Ibsen's half-brother and former apprentice Christopher, who had established himself as an independent merchant in Skien in 1836 and who eventually become one of the city's leading shipowners. Knud continued to struggle to maintain his business and had some success in the 1840s, but in the 1850s his business ventures and professional activities came to an end, and he became reliant on the support from his successful younger half-brothers.


Myths and reassessment

Older Ibsen historiography has often claimed that Knud Ibsen experienced financial ruin and became an alcoholic tyrant, that the family lost contact with the elite it had belonged to, and that this had a strong influence on Henrik Ibsen's biography and work. Newer Ibsen scholarship, in particular Jørgen Haave's book ''Familien Ibsen'' he Ibsen Family has refuted such claims and Haave has pointed out that older biographical works have uncritically repeated numerous unfounded myths about both of Ibsen's parents, and about the playwright's childhood and background in general. Haave points out that Knud Ibsen's economic problems in the 1830s were mainly the result of the difficult times and something the Ibsen family had in common with most members of the bourgeoisie; Haave further argues that Henrik Ibsen had a happy and comfortable childhood as a member of the upper class, even after the family moved to Venstøp, and that they were able to maintain their lifestyle and patrician identity with the help of their extended family and accumulated cultural capital. Contrary to the incorrect claims that Ibsen had been born in a small or remote town, Haave points out that Skien had been Eastern Norway's leading commercial city for centuries, and a centre of seafaring, timber exports and early industrialization that had made Norway the developed and prosperous part of Denmark–Norway. Haave points out that virtually all of Ibsen's ancestors had been wealthy burghers and higher government officials, and members of the local and regional elites in the areas they lived, often of continental European ancestry. He argues that "the Ibsen family belonged to an elite that distanced itself strongly from the common farmer population, and considered itself part of an educated European culture" and that "it was this patrician class that formed his cultural identity and upbringing." Haave points to many examples of both Henrik Ibsen and other members of his family having a condescending attitude towards common Norwegian farmers, viewing them as "some sort of primitive indigenous population," and being very conscious of their own identity as members of the sophisticated upper class; Haave describes Henrik as a boy who was pampered by his father, who liked to be creative in solitude, and who provoked peers with his superiority and arrogance. Haave points out that the Ibsen family—Knud, Marichen and Henrik's siblings—disintegrated financially and socially in the 1850s, but that it happened after Henrik had left home, at a time when he was establishing himself as a successful man of theatre, while his extended family, such as his uncles Paus, were firmly established in Skien's elite. Haave argues that the story of the Ibsen family is the story of the slow collapse of a patrician merchant family amid the emergence of a new democratic society in the 19th century, and that Henrik Ibsen, like others of his class, had to find new opportunities to maintain his social position.


Literary influence of his childhood

Many Ibsen scholars have compared characters and themes in his plays to his family and upbringing; his themes often deal with issues of financial difficulty as well as moral conflicts stemming from dark secrets hidden from society. Ibsen himself confirmed that he both modelled and named characters in his plays after his own family.Michael Meyers. ''Henrick Ibsen''. Chapter one. However, Haave criticizes the uncritical use of Ibsen's dramas as biographical sources and the "naive" readings of them as reflections of his family members.


Early career


Grimstad years

At fifteen, Ibsen left school. He moved to the small town of
Grimstad Grimstad () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It belongs to the geographical region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the Grimstad (tow ...
to become an apprentice pharmacist. At that time he began writing plays. In 1846, when Ibsen was 18, he had a liaison with Else Sophie Jensdatter Birkedalen which produced a son, Hans Jacob Hendrichsen Birkdalen, whose upbringing Ibsen paid for until the boy was fourteen, though Ibsen never saw Hans Jacob. Ibsen went to Christiania (later spelled Kristiania and then renamed Oslo) intending to matriculate at the university. He soon rejected the idea (his earlier attempts at entering university were blocked as he did not pass all his entrance exams), preferring to commit himself to writing. His first play, the
tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
'' Catilina'' (1850), was published under the pseudonym "Brynjolf Bjarme", when he was only 22, but it was not performed. His first play to be staged, '' The Burial Mound'' (1850), received little attention. Still, Ibsen was determined to be a playwright, although the numerous plays he wrote in the following years remained unsuccessful. Ibsen's main inspiration in the early period, right up to '' Peer Gynt'', was apparently the Norwegian author Henrik Wergeland and the Norwegian folk tales as collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and
Jørgen Moe Jørgen Engebretsen Moe (22 April 1813–27 March 1882) was a Norwegian folklorist, bishop, poet, and author. He is best known for the '' Norske Folkeeventyr'', a collection of Norwegian folk tales which he edited in collaboration with Pe ...
. In Ibsen's youth, Wergeland was the most acclaimed, and by far the most read, Norwegian poet and playwright.


Ibsen as a theatre director

He spent the next several years employed at Det norske Theater (Bergen), where he was involved in the production of more than 145 plays as a writer, director, and producer. During this period, he published five new, though largely unremarkable, plays. Despite Ibsen's failure to achieve success as a playwright, he gained a great deal of practical experience at the Norwegian Theater, experience that was to prove valuable when he continued writing. Ibsen returned to Christiania in 1858 to become the creative director of the
Christiania Theatre Christiania Theatre, or ''Kristiania Theatre'', was Norway's finest stage for spoken drama from 4 October 1836 (opening date) to 1 September 1899. It was located at Bankplassen by the Akershus Fortress, in central Christiania. It was the fir ...
. He married
Suzannah Thoresen Suzannah Ibsen (née Thoresen; 26 June 1836 – 3 April 1914) was a Norwegian woman who was the wife of playwright and poet Henrik Ibsen and mother of noted politician Sigurd Ibsen. Biography Suzannah Daae Thoresen was born in Herøy, Møre og Ro ...
on 18 June 1858 and she gave birth to their only child Sigurd on 23 December 1859. The couple lived in difficult financial circumstances and Ibsen became very disenchanted with life in Norway.


Years in exile

In 1862, he left Christiania and went to
Sorrento Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana ra ...
in Italy in self-imposed exile. He spent the next 27 years in Italy and Germany and would only visit Norway a few times. His next play, ''
Brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create ...
'' (1865), brought him the critical acclaim he sought, along with a measure of financial success, as did the following play, '' Peer Gynt'' (1867), to which
Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...
composed incidental music and songs. Although Ibsen read excerpts of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and traces of the latter's influence are evident in ''Brand'', it was not until after ''Brand'' that Ibsen came to take Kierkegaard seriously. Initially annoyed with his friend Georg Brandes for comparing Brand to Kierkegaard, Ibsen nevertheless read ''
Either/Or ''Either/Or'' ( Danish: ''Enten – Eller'') is the first published work of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Appearing in two volumes in 1843 under the pseudonymous editorship of ''Victor Eremita'' (Latin for "victorious hermit"), it ...
'' and '' Fear and Trembling''. Ibsen's next play ''Peer Gynt'' was consciously informed by Kierkegaard. With success, Ibsen became more confident and began to introduce more and more of his own beliefs and judgements into the drama, exploring what he termed the "drama of ideas". His next series of plays are often considered his Golden Age, when he entered the height of his power and influence, becoming the center of dramatic controversy across Europe. Ibsen moved from Italy to
Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
, Germany, in 1868, where he spent years writing the play he regarded as his main work, '' Emperor and Galilean'' (1873), dramatizing the life and times of the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate. Although Ibsen himself always looked back on this play as the cornerstone of his entire works, very few shared his opinion, and his next works would be much more acclaimed. Ibsen moved to
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
in 1875 and began work on his first contemporary realist drama '' The Pillars of Society'', first published and performed in 1877. ''
A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' ( Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having be ...
'' followed in 1879. This play is a scathing criticism of the marital roles accepted by men and women which characterized Ibsen's society. Ibsen was already in his fifties when ''A Doll’s House'' was published. He himself saw his latter plays as a series. At the end of his career, he described them as “that series of dramas which began with ''A Doll’s House'' and which is now completed with '' When We Dead Awaken''”. Furthermore, it was the reception of ''A Doll’s House'' which brought Ibsen international acclaim. '' Ghosts'' followed in 1881, another scathing commentary on the morality of Ibsen's society, in which a widow reveals to her pastor that she had hidden the evils of her marriage for its duration. The pastor had advised her to marry her fiancé despite his philandering, and she did so in the belief that her love would reform him. But his philandering continued right up until his death, and his vices are passed on to their son in the form of syphilis. The mention of venereal disease alone was scandalous, but to show how it could poison a respectable family was considered intolerable. In '' An Enemy of the People'' (1882), Ibsen went even further. In earlier plays, controversial elements were important and even pivotal components of the action, but they were on the small scale of individual households. In ''An Enemy'', controversy became the primary focus, and the antagonist was the entire community. One primary message of the play is that the individual, who stands alone, is more often "right" than the mass of people, who are portrayed as ignorant and sheeplike. Contemporary society's belief was that the community was a noble institution that could be trusted, a notion Ibsen challenged. In ''An Enemy of the People'', Ibsen chastised not only the conservatism of society, but also the liberalism of the time. He illustrated how people on both sides of the social spectrum could be equally self-serving. ''An Enemy of the People'' was written as a response to the people who had rejected his previous work, ''Ghosts''. The plot of the play is a veiled look at the way people reacted to the plot of ''Ghosts''. The protagonist is a physician in a vacation spot whose primary draw is a public bath. The doctor discovers that the water is contaminated by the local tannery. He expects to be acclaimed for saving the town from the nightmare of infecting visitors with disease, but instead he is declared an 'enemy of the people' by the locals, who band against him and even throw stones through his windows. The play ends with his complete ostracism. It is obvious to the reader that disaster is in store for the town as well as for the doctor. As audiences by now expected, Ibsen's next play again attacked entrenched beliefs and assumptions; but this time, his attack was not against society's mores, but against overeager reformers and their idealism. Always an iconoclast, Ibsen saw himself as an objective observer of society, “like a lone franc tireur in the outposts”, playing a lone hand, as he put it. Ibsen, perhaps more than any of his contemporaries, relied upon immediate sources such as newspapers and second-hand report for his contact with intellectual thought. He claimed to be ignorant of books, leaving them to his wife and son, but, as
Georg Brandes Georg Morris Cohen Brandes (4 February 1842 – 19 February 1927) was a Danish critic and scholar who greatly influenced Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century. He is seen as the theorist behind ...
described, "he seemed to stand in some mysterious correspondence with the fermenting, germinating ideas of the day." '' The Wild Duck'' (1884) is by many considered Ibsen's finest work, and it is certainly one of the most complex, alongside '' Rosmersholm''. It tells the story of Gregers Werle, a young man who returns to his hometown after an extended exile and is reunited with his boyhood friend Hjalmar Ekdal. Over the course of the play, the many secrets that lie behind the Ekdals' apparently happy home are revealed to Gregers, who insists on pursuing the absolute truth, or the "Summons of the Ideal". Among these truths: Gregers' father impregnated his servant Gina, then married her off to Hjalmar to legitimize the child. Another man has been disgraced and imprisoned for a crime the elder Werle committed. Furthermore, while Hjalmar spends his days working on a wholly imaginary "invention", his wife is earning the household income. Ibsen displays masterly use of irony: despite his dogmatic insistence on truth, Gregers never says what he thinks but only insinuates, and is never understood until the play reaches its climax. Gregers hammers away at Hjalmar through innuendo and coded phrases until he realizes the truth: that Gina's daughter, Hedvig, is not his child. Blinded by Gregers' insistence on absolute truth, he disavows the child. Seeing the damage he has wrought, Gregers determines to repair things, and suggests to Hedvig that she sacrifice the wild duck, her wounded pet, to prove her love for Hjalmar. Hedvig, alone among the characters, recognizes that Gregers always speaks in code, and looking for the deeper meaning in the first important statement Gregers makes which does not contain one, kills herself rather than the duck in order to prove her love for him in the ultimate act of self-sacrifice. Only too late do Hjalmar and Gregers realize that the absolute truth of the "ideal" is sometimes too much for the human heart to bear. Late in his career, Ibsen turned to a more introspective drama that had much less to do with denunciations of society's moral values and more to do with the problems of individuals. In such later plays as ''
Hedda Gabler ''Hedda Gabler'' () is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The world premiere was staged on 31 January 1891 at the Residenztheater in Munich. Ibsen himself was in attendance, although he remained back-stage. The play has been ca ...
'' (1890) and '' The Master Builder'' (1892), Ibsen explored psychological conflicts that transcended a simple rejection of current conventions. Many modern readers, who might regard anti-Victorian didacticism as dated, simplistic or hackneyed, have found these later works to be of absorbing interest for their hard-edged, objective consideration of interpersonal confrontation. ''Hedda Gabler'' and ''A Doll’s House'' are regularly cited as Ibsen's most popular and influential plays, with the title role of Hedda regarded as one of the most challenging and rewarding for an actress even in the present day. Ibsen had completely rewritten the rules of drama with a realism which was to be adopted by
Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
and others and which we see in the theatre to this day. From Ibsen forward, challenging assumptions and directly speaking about issues has been considered one of the factors that makes a play art rather than entertainment. His works were brought to an English-speaking audience, largely thanks to the efforts of
William Archer William or Bill Archer may refer to: * William Archer (British politician) (1677–1739), British politician * William S. Archer (1789–1855), U.S. Senator and Representative from Virginia * William Beatty Archer (1793–1870), Illinois politician ...
and
Edmund Gosse Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...
. These in turn had a profound influence on the young James Joyce who venerates him in his early autobiographical novel '' Stephen Hero''. Ibsen returned to Norway in 1891, but it was in many ways not the Norway he had left. Indeed, he had played a major role in the changes that had happened across society. Modernism was on the rise, not only in the theatre, but across public life.. Ibsen intentionally obscured his influences. However, asked later what he had read when he wrote ''
Catiline Lucius Sergius Catilina ( 108 BC – January 62 BC), known in English as Catiline (), was a Roman politician and soldier. He is best known for instigating the Catilinarian conspiracy, a failed attempt to violently seize control of the ...
'', Ibsen replied that he had read only the Danish
Norse saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to the Pl ...
-inspired Romantic tragedian Adam Oehlenschläger and
Ludvig Holberg Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano-Norwegian dual monarchy. He was influenced by Humanism, ...
, "the Scandinavian Molière".


Critical reception

At the time when Ibsen was writing, literature was emerging as a formidable force in 19th century society. With the vast increase in literacy towards the end of the century, the possibilities of literature being used for subversion struck horror into the heart of the Establishment. Ibsen's plays, from ''A Doll’s House'' onwards, caused an uproar: not just in Norway, but throughout Europe, and even across the Atlantic in America. No other artist, apart from Richard Wagner, had such an effect internationally, inspiring almost blasphemous adoration and hysterical abuse. After the publication of ''Ghosts'', he wrote: “while the storm lasted, I have made many studies and observations and I shall not hesitate to exploit them in my future writings.” Indeed, his next play ''An Enemy of the People'' was initially regarded by the critics to be simply his response to the violent criticism which had greeted ''Ghosts''. Ibsen expected criticism: as he wrote to his publisher: “''Ghosts'' will probably cause alarm in some circles, but it can’t be helped. If it did not, there would have been no necessity for me to have written it.” Ibsen didn't just read the critical reaction to his plays, he actively corresponded with critics, publishers, theatre directors and newspaper editors on the subject. The interpretation of his work, both by critics and directors, concerned him greatly. He often advised directors on which actor or actress would be suitable for a particular role. (An example of this is a letter he wrote to Hans Schroder in November 1884, with detailed instructions for the production of ''The Wild Duck''.) Ibsen's plays initially reached a far wider audience as read plays rather than in performance. It was 20 years, for instance, before the authorities would allow ''Ghosts'' to be performed in Norway. Each new play that Ibsen wrote, from 1879 onwards, had an explosive effect on intellectual circles. This was greatest for ''A Doll’s House'' and ''Ghosts'', and it did lessen with the later plays, but the translation of Ibsen's works into German, French and English during the decade following the initial publication of each play and frequent new productions as and when permission was granted, meant that Ibsen remained a topic of lively conversation throughout the latter decades of the 19th century. When ''A Doll’s House'' was published, it had an explosive effect: it was the centre of every conversation at every social gathering in Christiania. One hostess even wrote on the invitations to her soirée, “You are politely requested not to mention Mr Ibsen’s new play”.


Death

On 23 May 1906, Ibsen died in his home at Arbins gade 1 in Kristiania (now Oslo) after a series of strokes in March 1900. When, on 22 May, his nurse assured a visitor that he was a little better, Ibsen spluttered his last words "On the contrary" ("Tvertimod!"). He died the following day at 2:30 pm. Ibsen was buried in
Vår Frelsers gravlund The Cemetery of Our Saviour ( no, Vår Frelsers gravlund) is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It is located adjacent to the older Old Aker Cemetery and was created in 1808 as a result of the great ...
("The Graveyard of Our Savior") in central Oslo.


Centenary

The 100th anniversary of Ibsen's death in 2006 was commemorated with an "Ibsen year" in Norway and other countries. In 2006, the homebuilding company Selvaag also opened ''Peer Gynt'' Sculpture Park in Oslo, Norway, in Henrik Ibsen's honour, making it possible to follow the dramatic play '' Peer Gynt'' scene by scene. Will Eno's adaptation of Ibsen's ''Peer Gynt'', titled ''Gnit'', had its world premiere at the 37th Humana Festival of New American Plays in March 2013. On 23 May 2006, The Ibsen Museum in Oslo re-opened, to the public, the house where Ibsen had spent his last eleven years, completely restored with the original interior, colours, and decor.


Legacy

Ivo de Figueiredo argues that "today, Ibsen belongs to the world. But it is impossible to understand bsen'spath out there without knowing the Danish cultural sphere from which he sprang, from which he liberated himself and which he ended up shaping. Ibsen developed as a person and artist in a dialogue with Danish theater and literature that was anything but smooth." The social questions which concerned Ibsen belonged unequivocally to the 19th century. From a modern perspective, the aspects of his writing that appeal most are the psychological issues which he explored. The social issues, taken up so prominently in his own day, have become dated, as has the late-Victorian middle-class setting of his plays. The fact that, whether read and staged, they still possess a compelling power is testament to his enduring quality as a thinker and a dramatist. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Ibsen's death in 2006, the Norwegian government organised the
Ibsen Year The Ibsen Year (Norwegian: ''Ibsenåret'') was the Norwegian government's official celebration of Henrik Ibsen in 2006, marking the 100th anniversary of his death. The Ibsen Year included cultural events in multiple countries, including an opening ...
, which included celebrations around the world. The NRK produced a miniseries on Ibsen's childhood and youth in 2006, '' An Immortal Man''. Several prizes are awarded in the name of Henrik Ibsen, among them the
International Ibsen Award The International Ibsen Award (Norwegian: ''Den internasjonale Ibsenprisen'') honours an individual, institution or organization that has brought new artistic dimensions to the world of drama or theater. The committee consists of figures in the the ...
, the Norwegian Ibsen Award and the
Ibsen Centennial Commemoration Award The Ibsen Centennial Commemoration Award (Norwegian: ''Ibsenstatuetten'') was awarded by the Government of Norway in commemoration of playwright Henrik Ibsen on the occasion of the 2006 Ibsen Year, the 100th anniversary of Ibsen's death. The prize ...
. Every year, since 2008, the annual "Delhi Ibsen Festival", is held in
Delhi, India Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
, organized by the Dramatic Art and Design Academy (DADA) in collaboration with The Royal Norwegian Embassy in India. It features plays by Ibsen, performed by artists from various parts of the world in varied languages and styles. The Ibsen Society of America (ISA) was founded in 1978 at the close of the Ibsen Sesquicentennial Symposium held in New York City to mark the 150th anniversary of Henrik Ibsen's birth. Distinguished Ibsen translator and critic Rolf Fjelde, Professor of Literature at Pratt Institute and the chief organizer of the Symposium, was elected Founding President. In December 1979, the ISA was certified as a non-profit corporation under the laws of the State of New York. Its purpose is to foster through lectures, readings, performances, conferences, and publications an understanding of Ibsen's works as they are interpreted as texts and produced on stage and in film and other media. An annual newsletter ''Ibsen News and Comment'' is distributed to all members.


Ancestry

Ibsen's ancestry has been a much studied subject, due to his perceived foreignness and due to the influence of his biography and family on his plays. Ibsen often made references to his family in his plays, sometimes by name, or by modelling characters after them. The oldest documented member of the Ibsen family was ship's captain Rasmus Ibsen (1632–1703) from
Stege, Denmark Stege is the largest town on the island of Møn in south-eastern Denmark. In January 2022 its population was 3,792. Stege is now part of Vordingborg Municipality and belongs to Region Zealand. Once a prosperous herring fishing port, tourism is ...
. His son, ship's captain Peder Ibsen became a
burgher Burgher may refer to: * Burgher (social class), a medieval, early modern European title of a citizen of a town, and a social class from which city officials could be drawn ** Burgess (title), a resident of a burgh in northern Britain ** Grand Bu ...
of
Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...
in Norway in 1726. Henrik Ibsen had Danish, German, Norwegian and some distant Scottish ancestry. Most of his ancestors belonged to the merchant class of original Danish and German extraction, and many of his ancestors were ship's captains. Ibsen's biographer Henrik Jæger famously wrote in 1888 that Ibsen did not have a drop of Norwegian blood in his veins, stating that "the ancestral Ibsen was a Dane". This, however, is not completely accurate; notably through his grandmother Hedevig Paus, Ibsen was descended from one of the very few families of the patrician class of original Norwegian extraction, known since the 15th century. Ibsen's ancestors had mostly lived in Norway for several generations, even though many had foreign ancestry. The name Ibsen is originally a
patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
, meaning "son of Ib" (Ib is a Danish variant of
Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...
). The patronymic became "frozen", i.e. it became a permanent family name, in the 17th century. The phenomenon of patronymics becoming frozen started in the 17th century in bourgeois families in Denmark, and the practice was only widely adopted in Norway from around 1900.


Descendants

From his marriage with
Suzannah Thoresen Suzannah Ibsen (née Thoresen; 26 June 1836 – 3 April 1914) was a Norwegian woman who was the wife of playwright and poet Henrik Ibsen and mother of noted politician Sigurd Ibsen. Biography Suzannah Daae Thoresen was born in Herøy, Møre og Ro ...
, Ibsen had one son, lawyer, government minister, and Norwegian Prime Minister Sigurd Ibsen. Sigurd Ibsen married Bergljot Bjørnson, the daughter of
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguishe ...
. Their son was Tancred Ibsen, who became a film director and was married to
Lillebil Ibsen Lillebil Ibsen (née Sofie Parelius Monrad Krohn) (6 August 1899 – 12 August 1989) was a Norwegian dancer and actress. Personal life Lillebil was born in Kristiania, as the daughter of engineer Georg Monrad Krohn and actress Gyda Martha Kristi ...
; their only child was diplomat Tancred Ibsen, Jr. Sigurd Ibsen's daughter, Irene Ibsen, married Josias Bille, a member of the Danish ancient noble Bille family; their son was Danish actor
Joen Bille Joen Steensen Bille (born 11 April 1944 in Frederiksberg) is a Danish actor. He is a member of the noble Bille family, and is also a great-grandson of Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. He is the son of Irene Ibsen and grandson of Norwegi ...
.


Honours

Ibsen was decorated Knight in 1873, Commander in 1892, and with the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav in 1893. He received the Grand Cross of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog, and the Grand Cross of the Swedish
Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star ( Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden'') is a Swedish order of chivalry created by King Frederick I on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the Sword and the Order of the Seraphim. The Order of t ...
, and was Knight, First Class of the
Order of Vasa The Royal Order of Vasa () is a Swedish order of chivalry, awarded to citizens of Sweden for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. It was instituted on 29 May 1772 by King Gustav III. It was u ...
. Well known stage directors in Austria and Germany as Theodor Lobe (1833–1905), Paul Barnay (1884–1960),
Max Burckhard Max Burckhard (14 July 1854, Korneuburg, Lower Austria - 16 March 1912, Vienna) was director of the Burgtheater, Vienna, from 1890 to 1898. Vita Max Burckhard, a lawyer, was the artistic director of the Burgtheater when it opened as the “ ...
(1854–1912), Otto Brahm (1956–1912), Carl Heine (1861–1927), Paul Albert Glaeser-Wilken (1874–1942), Victor Barnowsky (1875–1952), Eugen Robert (1877–1944), Leopold Jessner (1878–1945), Ludwig Barnay (1884–1960), Alfred Rotter (1886–1933),
Fritz Rotter Fritz Rotter (1900–1984) was an Austrian writer and composer.Otte p.246 Along with his brother Alfred he owned several Berlin theatres during the Weimar Republic but, due to his Jewish background, was forced to emigrate following the Nazi rise ...
(1888–1939), (1900–1973) and
Peter Zadek Peter Zadek (; 19 May 1926 – 30 July 2009) was a German director of theatre, opera and film, a translator and a screenwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest directors in German-speaking theater. Biography Peter Zadek was born on 19 May ...
(1926–2009) performed the work of Ibsen. In 1995, the asteroid 5696 Ibsen was named in his memory. In 2011 Håkon Anton Fagerås made two busts in bronze of Ibsen. One for Parco Ibsen in
Sorrento Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana ra ...
, Italy and one in
Skien Skien () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the ...
kommune. In 2012 Håkon Anton Fagerås made a statue in marble of Ibsen for the Ibsen Museum in Oslo.


Works


Plays

Plays entirely or partly in verse are marked v. * 1850 ''
Catiline Lucius Sergius Catilina ( 108 BC – January 62 BC), known in English as Catiline (), was a Roman politician and soldier. He is best known for instigating the Catilinarian conspiracy, a failed attempt to violently seize control of the ...
'' (''Catilina'')v * 1850 '' The Burial Mound'' also known as ''The Warrior's Barrow'' (''Kjæmpehøjen'')v * 1852 '' St. John's Eve'' (''Sancthansnatten'')v * 1854 '' Lady Inger of Oestraat'' (''Fru Inger til Østeraad'') * 1855 ''
The Feast at Solhaug ''The Feast at Solhaug'' (or in the original Norwegian ''Gildet paa Solhoug'') is the first publicly successful drama by Henrik Ibsen. It was written in 1855 and had its premier at ''Det norske Theater'' in Bergen on 2 January 1856. Part of the s ...
'' (''Gildet paa Solhaug'')v * 1856 '' Olaf Liljekrans'' (''Olaf Liljekrans'')v * 1858 '' The Vikings at Helgeland'' (''Hærmændene paa Helgeland'') * 1862 '' Love's Comedy'' (''Kjærlighedens Komedie'')v * 1863 '' The Pretenders'' (''Kongs-Emnerne'')v * 1866 ''
Brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create ...
'' (''Brand'')v * 1867 '' Peer Gynt'' (''Peer Gynt'')v * 1869 '' The League of Youth'' (''De unges Forbund'') * 1873 '' Emperor and Galilean'' (''Kejser og Galilæer'') * 1877 ''
Pillars of Society ''The Pillars of Society'' (or "Pillars of the Community"; original Norwegian title: ''Samfundets støtter'') is an 1877 play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen had great trouble with the writing of this play. The ending is ...
'' (''Samfundets Støtter'') * 1879 ''
A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' ( Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having be ...
'' (''Et Dukkehjem'') * 1881 '' Ghosts'' (''Gengangere'') * 1882 '' An Enemy of the People'' (''En Folkefiende'') * 1884 '' The Wild Duck'' (''Vildanden'') * 1886 '' Rosmersholm'' (''Rosmersholm'') * 1888 ''
The Lady from the Sea ''The Lady from the Sea'' ( no, Fruen fra havet, link=no) is a play written in 1888 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen inspired by the ballad '' Agnete og Havmanden''. The drama introduces the character of Hilde Wangel who is again portrayed ...
'' (''Fruen fra Havet'') * 1890 ''
Hedda Gabler ''Hedda Gabler'' () is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The world premiere was staged on 31 January 1891 at the Residenztheater in Munich. Ibsen himself was in attendance, although he remained back-stage. The play has been ca ...
'' (''Hedda Gabler'') * 1892 '' The Master Builder'' (''Bygmester Solness'') * 1894 ''
Little Eyolf Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...
'' (''Lille Eyolf'') * 1896 ''
John Gabriel Borkman ''John Gabriel Borkman'' is a 1896 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was his penultimate work. Plot The Borkman family fortunes have been brought low by the imprisonment of John Gabriel who used his position as a bank manager to ...
'' (''John Gabriel Borkman'') * 1899 '' When We Dead Awaken'' (''Når vi døde vaagner'')


Other works

* 1851 '' Norma or a Politician's Love'' (''Norma eller en Politikers Kjaerlighed''), an eight-page political parody * 1871 ''
Digte ''Digte'' (English: "Poems") is a collection of poetry by Henrik Ibsen, published on 3 May 1871. It included poems written between 1847 and 1870, the best known being the poem "Terje Vigen ''Terje Vigen'' is a poem written by Henrik Ibsen, publi ...
'' – only released collection of poetry, included '' Terje Vigen'' (written in 1862 but published in ''
Digte ''Digte'' (English: "Poems") is a collection of poetry by Henrik Ibsen, published on 3 May 1871. It included poems written between 1847 and 1870, the best known being the poem "Terje Vigen ''Terje Vigen'' is a poem written by Henrik Ibsen, publi ...
'' from 1871)


English translations

Major translation projects include: * ''The Collected Works of Henrik Ibsen'', in twelve volumes, edited by
William Archer William or Bill Archer may refer to: * William Archer (British politician) (1677–1739), British politician * William S. Archer (1789–1855), U.S. Senator and Representative from Virginia * William Beatty Archer (1793–1870), Illinois politician ...
(Heinemann, 1906-1912). 21 plays. *'' The Oxford Ibsen'', edited by James McFarlane (Oxford, 1960-1977). The most comprehensive version available. * Michael Meyer's translations (1960-1986). Fourteen plays. *''Ibsen: The Complete Major Prose Plays'', translated by Rolf G. Fjelde (Plume, 1978). Twelve plays. *''Eight Plays'', translated by
Eva Le Gallienne Eva Le Gallienne (January 11, 1899 – June 3, 1991) was a British-born American stage actress, producer, director, translator, and author. A Broadway star by age 21, Le Gallienne gave up her Broadway appearances to devote herself to founding t ...
(Modern Library, 1982). * ''Ibsen's Selected Plays: A Norton Critical Edition'', edited by Brian Johnston, with translations by Brian Johnston and Rick Davis (W. W. Norton, 2004). Five plays. * ''Ibsen – 3 Plays'' (Kenneth McLeish & Stephen Mulrine, translators (
Nick Hern Books Nick Hern Books is a London-based independent specialist publisher of plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen drama editor Nicholas Hern in 1988. History Nick Hern Books was founded in June 1988,Sara ...
, 2005) *''The New Penguin Ibsen'', in four volumes, edited by Tore Rem, with translations by Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife, Barbara Haveland, Deborah Dawkin, Erik Skuggevik and Geoffrey Hill (Penguin, 2014-2019). Fourteen plays.


See also

* Centre for Ibsen Studies * Ibsen Studies * Norwegian Ibsen Award * Naturalism (theatre) * Nineteenth-century theatre *
Problem play The problem play is a form of drama that emerged during the 19th century as part of the wider movement of realism in the arts, especially following the innovations of Henrik Ibsen. It deals with contentious social issues through debates between th ...


Notes


References


Further reading

* Boyesen, Hjalmar Hjorth
''A Commentary on the Works of Henrik Ibsen''
(New York: Macmillan, 1894) *Ferguson, Robert (2001) ''Henrik Ibsen: A New Biography''. New York: Dorset Press. *Goldman, Michael, ''Ibsen: The Dramaturgy of Fear'', Columbia University Press, 1998 * * Haugan, Jørgen,'' Henrik Ibsens Metode:Den Indre Utvikling Gjennem Ibsens Dramatikk'' (Norwegian: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. 1977) * Haave, Jørgen, ''Familien Ibsen'', Museumsforlaget, 2017, . *Jensen, Morten Høi, "Escape Artist" (review of Ivo de Figueiredo, ''Henrik Ibsen: The Man and the Mask'', translated from the Norwegian by Robert Ferguson, Yale University Press, 694 pp.), ''
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
'', vol. LXVI, no. 17 (7 November 2019), pp. 26–28. * Johnston, Brian: '' The Ibsen Cycle'', Pennsylvania State University Press 1992 * Johnston, Brian
''To the Third Empire: Ibsen's Early Plays''
University of Minnesota Press (1980) * Johnston, Brian
''Text and Supertext in Ibsen's Drama''
Pennsylvania State Press (1988) * Koht, Halvdan. ''The Life of Ibsen'' translated by Ruth Lima McMahon and Hanna Astrup Larsen. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 1931 *Krys, Svitlana,
A Comparative Feminist Reading of Lesia Ukrainka’s and Henrik Ibsen’s Dramas
'' Canadian Review of Comparative Literature 34.4 (Dec. 2007 ept 2008: pp. 389–409 * Lucas, F. L. ''The Drama of Ibsen and Strindberg'', Cassell, London, 1962. (A useful introduction, giving the biographical background to each play and detailed play-by-play summaries and discussion for the theatre-goer, including the less well-known plays) * Meyer, Michael. ''Ibsen''. History Press Ltd., Stroud, reprinted 2004 * Moi, Toril (2006) ''Henrik Ibsen and the Birth of Modernism: Art, Theater, Philosophy''. Oxford and New York: Oxford UP. * Shaw, George Bernard. '' The Quintessence of Ibsenism'' (1891). The classic introduction, setting the playwright in his time and place. *Sprinchorn, Evert,
Ibsen's Kingdom: The Man and His Works
', Yale University Press, 2021. ISBN 9780300228663


External links

;Digital collections * * * *
Multilingual edition of all Ibsen Plays in the Bibliotheca Polyglotta

Digitized books and manuscripts by Ibsen
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 ...
;Scholarly work *
Ibsen Studies
': The only international academic journal devoted to Ibsen
Online course by Ibsen scholar Brian Johnston author of ''The Ibsen Cycle'' and ''To the Third Empire: Ibsen's Early Drama''


– a critical, conservative view of Ibsen's works, written by Theodore Dalrymple
''Henrik Ibsen: Critical Studies''
by
Georg Brandes Georg Morris Cohen Brandes (4 February 1842 – 19 February 1927) was a Danish critic and scholar who greatly influenced Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century. He is seen as the theorist behind ...
(1899). Retrieved 5 January 2017.
Ibsen's Kingdom: The Man and His Works
- a review of the book of that title, as well as discussions of "Brand", "A Doll's House", and "Ghosts". ;Other biographies * (the biography by
Edmund Gosse Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...
)
Henrik Ibsen – A Bibliography of Criticism and Biography
by Ina Ten Eyck Firkins, from Project Gutenberg ;Other links
The Ibsen Society of America Official Website

ibsen.nb.no

Extensive resource in several languages from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs



Ibsen Museum
– Former home of the famous playwright is situated in Henrik Ibsen's gate 26, across from the Royal Palace {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibsen, Henrik 1828 births 1906 deaths 19th-century Norwegian dramatists and playwrights 19th-century Norwegian writers Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour The Four Greats
Henrik Henrik is a male given name of Germanic origin, primarily used in Scandinavia, Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia. In Poland, the name is spelt Henryk but pronounced similarly. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Heiki (Estonian), Heik ...
Modernist theatre Norwegian male dramatists and playwrights Norwegian people of Danish descent Paus family People from Skien