Christen Christian Dreyer Collin (21 November 1857 – 1 April 1926) was a Norwegian literary historian. He was born in

Trondhjem Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

as a son of Georg Fredrik Collin (died 1867) and Marie Fredrikke Dreyer (1833–1901). When his father died at the age of ten, Christen Collin was raised by his maternal grandfather in

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the 21s ...

e. He took the cand.philol. degree at the

Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

in 1887, and studied abroad while writing for ''

Verdens Gang ''Verdens Gang'' ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. ''VG'' is n ...

'' before returning home and founding the periodical ''

Nyt Tidsskrift ''Nyt Tidsskrift'' is a former Norwegian literary, cultural and political periodical issued from 1882 to 1887, and with a second series from 1892 to 1895. The periodical had contributions from several of the leading intellectuals of the time, includ ...

''. He started teaching at the Royal Frederick University in 1892, and was promoted to

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de con ...

in the history of European literature in 1895. He was a member of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Unive ...

from 1897. He was a professor from 1914 to his death, and is best known for his research on

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

and

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 distinguished ...

. He biographed the early Bjørnson in the 1907 book ''Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Hans barndom og ungdom''. A collection of letter correspondence between Bjørnson and Collin was released in 1937. A

William 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 ...

biography was planned but never finished, but Collin wrote articles on Shakespeare, reissued ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

'' and translated English poetry. Collin was not uncontroversial in his time. He criticized Naturalism, especially in the 1894 book ''Kunsten og moralen'', and received rebuttals from people like

Gunnar Heiberg Gunnar Edvard Rode Heiberg (18 November 1857 – 22 February 1929) was a Norwegian poet, playwright, journalist and theatre critic. Personal life He was born in Christiania a son of judge Edvard Omsen Heiberg (1829–1884) and his wife Minna (Vi ...

Nils Kjær Nils Kjær (11 September 1870 – 9 February 1924) was a Norwegian playwright, short story writer, essayist, literary critic and theatre critic. Personal life Kjær was born in Holmestrand as the son of Nils Henrik Kjær and Christine Smes ...

Arne Garborg Arne Garborg (born Aadne Eivindsson Garborg) (25 January 1851 – 14 January 1924) was a Norwegian writer. Garborg championed the use of Landsmål (now known as Nynorsk, or New Norwegian), as a literary language; he translated the Odyssey into i ...

and

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 ...

. He, especially in his later career, wrote several books where he diagnosed the European culture of the time with "cultural diseases" or "cultural problems". In them, he fused his cultural knowledge with sociology, natural sciences and medicine. Such books include (1910), (1912), (1914), (1916), (1917), (1917), (1921) and (1922). From 1918 to 1925 he edited his own periodical, ''Atlantis''. He was branded as a socialist by some, but shunned by the socialists after supporting the existence of a military. During the First World War he strongly supported of the

Triple Entente The Triple Entente (from French ''entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well as ...

. In July 1894 he married Astrid Greve (1874–1947), a daughter of

Mathias Sigwardt Greve Mathias Sigwardt Greve (17 September 1832 – 27 December 1912) was a Norwegian physician, best known as the director of Rikshospitalet from 1883 to 1911. Personal life He was born in Bergen as a son of curate Arent Wittendorph Greve and Ulrike El ...

and sister of

Ulrikke Greve Ulrikke Eleonore Sigwardt Greve (1868–1951) was a leading Norwegian textile artist in the early 20th-century, excelling in tapestry work. In 1900, she was appointed director of the weaving school at the National Museum of Decorative Arts (Norden ...

and

Bredo Greve Adolf Bredo Stabell Greve (28 June 1871 – 30 March 1931) was a Norwegian architect. Biography Greve was born at Hamar in Hedmark, Norway. He was a son of Mathias Sigwardt Greve (1832–1912) and Blanca Olivia Juell (1836–1918). He was a brot ...

. He died in April 1926 in

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collin, Christen 1857 births 1926 deaths University of Oslo alumni University of Oslo faculty Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Norwegian literary historians Norwegian editors Norwegian biographers Norwegian male writers Male biographers Norwegian translators Translators from English