Johan Bojer (6 March 1872 – 3 July 1959) was a popular Norwegian novelist and dramatist. He principally wrote about the lives of the poor farmers and fishermen, both in his native Norway and among the Norwegian immigrants in the United States. He was nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

five times.

Biography

Bojer was born Johan Kristoffer Hansen in the village of Ørkedalsøren, now part of the town of Orkanger in

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

county. The son of unmarried parents—Hans Christophersen Bojer and Johanna Iversdatter Elgaaen—he grew up as a foster child in a poor family living in Rissa Municipality near Trondheim, Norway. Bojer learned early the realities of poverty. His early years were spent working on a farm and working as a bookkeeper. After the death of his father in 1894, he took the surname Bojer. His literary work began with the publication of ''Unge tanker'' in 1893, and continued to gather strength through the 1920s. Because of the range of topics he addressed, he won critical acclaim in Norway. He gained international fame after many of his works were published in foreign languages. Critics generally recognize his best work to be his novel, ', (English title: ''The Last of the Vikings''). This novel powerfully and realistically depicts the lives of fishermen from

, who spend the winter fishing in the

Lofoten Lofoten ( , ; ; ) is an archipelago and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches, and untouched lands. T ...

island archipelago within the Arctic Circle near the far north coast of Norway. Portrait of Johan Bojer

Bojer is best remembered for ''The Emigrants'', a major novel dealing with the motivations and trials of Norwegians emigrated on the plains of

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

. In 1923, Bojer journeyed to Litchville, North Dakota, to research the lives of the Norwegian immigrants who had settled there. The result of his visit became a novel originally published in Norway as ''Vor egen stamme''.''Johan Bojer'' (Read North Dakota - Fiction by North Dakota Authors)

Selected works

*''Unge tanker'' - novel published under the name Johan K. Hansson *''Et folketog'' – A Procession (1896) *''Troens magt'' - The Power of a Lie (1903/English 1909) *''Fangen som sang'' (1913) *''Den store hunger'' – The Great Hunger (1916/English 1918) *''Verdens ansigt'' - The Face of the World (1917) *' - The Last of the Vikings (1921/English 1923) *''Vor egen stamme'' -The Emigrants (1924/English 1925) *''Folk ved sjøen'' - The Everlasting Struggle (1929/English 1931)

References

Additional Sources

* Gad, Carl
''Johan Bojer: The Man and His Works ''
(Moffat, Yard and Company, 1920. translated by Elizabeth Jelliffe MacIntire) * Lödrup, Hans P. ''Johan Bojer'' (The American-Scandinavian Review, Vol. XIV, No. 4, April, 1926) * Jorgenson, Theodore ''History of Norwegian Literature'' (The Macmillan Company, 1933) * Downs, Brian W. ''Modern Norwegian Literature, 1860-1918'' (Cambridge University Press, 1966)

External links

* Genealog

* Bojer, Axel Johan, Bojers biografi og forfatterskap (Norwegian language

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bojer, Johan 1872 births 1959 deaths People from Orkdal 19th-century Norwegian novelists 20th-century Norwegian novelists 19th-century Norwegian male writers 20th-century Norwegian male writers