Torvald Tu (22 July 1893 – 15 January 1955) was a Norwegian poet, playwright, novelist and writer of humoresques. He was born in

Klepp Klepp is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Jæren. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kleppe. O ...

as a son of farmers. His literary debut was the 1914 play ''Storbrekkmyri'', and his first poetry collection ''Blomar fraa heid'' came in 1915. He wrote in

Nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

with strong hints of his own

Jæren Jæren is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in Rogaland county, Norway. The other districts in Rogaland are Dalane, Ryfylke, and Haugalandet. Jæren is one of the 15 districts that comprise Western Norway. At about , Jæren is the large ...

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

. His most successful play was the musical comedy ''Kjærleik på Lykteland'', issued in 1923 and staged at

Det Norske Teatret Det Norske Teatret ()Moe, Jens. 2011. ''My America: The Culture of Giving''. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, p. 133. is a theatre in Oslo. The theatre was founded in 1912, after an initiative from Hulda Garborg and Edvard Drabløs. It opened in 19 ...

. The play had music composed by Per Reidarson, and was produced by Agnes Mowinckel, with Lars Tvinde as the elder bachelor, and Mally Haaland portraying the anxious-to-be-married Anna Saueland. The play was one of the greatest successes for Det Norske Teatret, and simultaneously went on two parallel tours. In 1929 Tu's comedy ''Friarleik på Liland'', with music by Trygve Stangeland, was staged at Det Norske Teatret. His comedy ''Bertels gjenvordigheter'', was played 133 times in 1933 at ''Komedieteatret'' in Bergen, which also staged several others of his plays. His works became very popular at

amateur theatres throughout the country. In total he issued over fifty books, and some works have been translated to other languages, notably Swedish and Faroese. He also contributed to newspapers and magazines. His song ''Sjå Jæren, gamle Jæren'' has later achieved status as a "national" song for the

district, and his popular humoresques have seen new and increasing popularity in later years. After the

German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

ended in 1945, a minor controversy arose as Tu was admonished by the

Norwegian Authors' Union The Norwegian Authors' Union (, DnF) is an association of Norwegian authors. It was established in 1893 to promote Norwegian literature and protect Norwegian authors' professional and economic interests. DnF also works in solidarity with persecu ...

for not following the union policy to "strike" during the occupation—Tu had released four titles in 1943. From 1937 he lived with musician Trygve Johannes Stangeland (1898–1969). They also cooperated professionally on many occasions. Tu died in January 1955 near his home.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tu, Torvald 1893 births 1955 deaths People from Klepp Nynorsk-language writers Norwegian male poets Norwegian male dramatists and playwrights Norwegian male novelists Norwegian LGBTQ poets Norwegian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Norwegian LGBTQ novelists Norwegian gay writers Gay dramatists and playwrights Gay poets Gay novelists Gay journalists 20th-century Norwegian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Norwegian male writers 20th-century Norwegian poets 20th-century Norwegian journalists 20th-century Norwegian LGBTQ people