Kristian Elster (17 March 1881 – 6 November 1947) was a Norwegian novelist, literary historian, theatre critic, and biographer.

Biography

Kristian Elster was born in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

, Norway on 17 March 1881 as the son of the author Kristian Elster (1841–1881) and Sanna Fasting (1845–1926). In 1888, he moved with his mother to

Kristiania Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...

. He married Ragnhild Poulsen in 1920, and was the father of

Torolf Elster Torolf Elster (27 May 1911 – 4 November 2006) was a Norwegian newspaper and radio journalist, magazine editor, novelist, crime fiction writer and writer of short stories. He was Director-General of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (N ...

. He was educated as a lawyer, and in 1908 he became a secretary in the

Ministry of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

. Elster published 40 novels, plays, and narratives. He made his literary début in 1907 with the story collectio
''Fortællinger''
His literary breakthrough was the

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three distinct works that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games. Three-part works that are considered components of ...

of novel
''I lære''
(1911)
''Landeveien''
(1912) an
''Mester''
(1913). He wrote the two-volume literary histor
''Illustrert norsk litteraturhistorie''
published in 1923–24. In 1941, he was awarded the literature prize

Gyldendal's Endowment The Gyldendal Prize, formerly Gyldendal's Endowment, is a Norwegian literary prize awarded by the Norway, Norwegian publisher Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. Gyldendal's Endowment was awarded from 1934 to 1995. It was superseded by the Gyldendal Prize in ...

(''Gyldendals legat for norsk litteratur'').

Selected works

''Fjeldets fange; digte''
(1916)
''Fra tid til anden''
(1920)
''Den ensomme ø; en fortaelling om tre gutter''
(1921)

References

Other sources

* Kielland, Eugenia Marie (1950
''Min venn Kristian Elster''
(Oslo, Aschehoug)

External links

* 1881 births 1947 deaths Writers from Trondheim 20th-century Norwegian novelists Norwegian theatre critics Norwegian literary historians {{Norway-novelist-stub