Henrik Ibsen - Wikipedia Henrik Ibsen From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   (Redirected from Ibsen) Jump to navigation Jump to search Norwegian playwright and theatre director (1828–1906) "Ibsen" redirects here. For other people, see Ibsen (name). For other uses, see Ibsen (disambiguation). Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen by Eilif Peterssen, 1895 Born Henrik Johan Ibsen (1828-03-20)20 March 1828 Skien, Telemark, Norway Died 23 May 1906(1906-05-23) (aged 78) Kristiania, Norway (modern Oslo) Occupation Writer, playwright Genres Naturalism Notable works Peer Gynt (1867) A Doll's House (1879) Ghosts (1881) An Enemy of the People (1882) The Wild Duck (1884) Hedda Gabler (1890) Spouse Suzannah Thoresen (m. 1858) Children Sigurd Ibsen Relatives Knud Ibsen (father) Marichen Altenburg (mother) Signature Ibsen caricatured by SNAPP for Vanity Fair, 1901 Henrik Johan Ibsen (/ˈɪbsən/;[1] Norwegian: [ˈhɛ̀nrɪk ˈɪ̀psn̩]; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playwrights of his time.[2] His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, When We Dead Awaken, Rosmersholm, and The Master Builder. He is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare,[3][4] and A Doll's House was the world's most performed play in 2006.[5] Ibsen's early poetic and cinematic play Peer Gynt has strong surreal elements.[6] 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 facades, 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";[7] Ibsen himself regarded Emperor and Galilean as his masterpiece.[8] Ibsen is often ranked as one of the most distinguished playwrights in the European tradition.[9] He is widely regarded as the foremost playwright of the nineteenth century.[9][10] He influenced other playwrights and novelists such as George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller, James Joyce, Eugene O'Neill, and Miroslav Krleža. Ibsen was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1902, 1903, and 1904.[11] Ibsen wrote his plays in Danish (the common written language of Denmark and Norway during his lifetime)[12] and they were published by the Danish publisher Gyldendal. Although most of his plays are set in Norway—often in places reminiscent of Skien, 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. Born into a patrician merchant family, the intertwined Ibsen and Paus family, Ibsen shaped his dramas according to his family background and often modelled characters after family members. He was the father of Prime Minister Sigurd Ibsen. Ibsen's dramas had a strong influence upon contemporary culture. Contents 1 Early life and family 2 Life and writings 3 Critical reception 4 Death 4.1 Centenary 5 Legacy 6 Ancestry 7 Descendants 8 Honours 9 Works 9.1 Plays 9.2 Other Works 9.3 English translations 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External links Early life and family[edit] A silhouette (ca. 1820) of Ibsen's mother (far right), grandparents and other relatives Ibsen was born into an affluent merchant family in the wealthy port town of Skien in Bratsberg (Telemark). His parents were Knud Ibsen (1797–1877) and Marichen Altenburg (1799–1869). Henrik Ibsen wrote that “my parents were members on both sides of the most respected families in Skien,” explaining that he was closely related with “just about all the patrician families who then dominated the place and its surroundings.”[13][14] His parents, though not related by blood, had been reared as something that resembled social siblings.[15] Knud Ibsen's father, ship's captain Henrich Ibsen, died at sea when he was newborn in 1797 and his mother married captain Ole Paus the following year. Ole Paus was the brother of Marichen's mother Hedevig Paus, making him his wife's maternal uncle. Their families were also very close: Ole's oldest son and Knud's half-brother Henrik Johan Paus were raised in Hedevig's home together with his cousin Marichen, 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.[16] On the other hand, Jørgen Haave points out that his parents' close relationship wasn't that unusual among the Skien elite.[17] When Henrik Ibsen was around seven years old, his father's fortunes took a significant turn for the worse, and the family was eventually forced to sell the major Altenburg building in central Skien and move permanently to their large summer house, Venstøp, outside of the city.[18] They were still relatively affluent, had servants and socialised with other members of the Skien elite; their closest neighbours on Southern Venstøp were former ship-owner and mayor Ulrich Frederik Cudrio and his family, who also had been forced to sell their townhouse.[17] Henrik's sister Hedvig would write about their mother: "She was a quiet, lovable woman, the soul of the house, everything to her husband and children. She sacrificed herself time and time again. There was no bitterness or reproach in her."[19][20] In 1843, after Henrik left home, the Ibsen family moved to a townhouse at Snipetorp, owned by Knud Ibsen's half-brother, wealthy banker and ship-owner Christopher Blom Paus.[19] Older Ibsen historiography has claimed that his father experienced financial ruin and that this had a strong influence on Ibsen's later work. Haave points out that his father's economic problems in the 1830s were mainly the result of the difficult times and something the Ibsen family had in common with many others of the bourgeoisie; Haave further argues that Henrik Ibsen had a relatively happy and comfortable childhood.[17] 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. A central theme in Ibsen's plays is the portrayal of suffering women, echoing his mother Marichen Altenburg according to Templeton, who argues that Ibsen's sympathy with women would eventually find significant expression with their portrayal in dramas such as A Doll's House and Rosmersholm.[19] At fifteen, Ibsen was forced to leave school. He moved to the small town of Grimstad to become an apprentice pharmacist and 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 renamed Kristiania and then 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 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.[21] 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. In Ibsen's youth, Wergeland was the most acclaimed, and by far the most read, Norwegian poet and playwright. Life and writings[edit] This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Henrik Ibsen" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) 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. He married Suzannah Thoresen on 18 June 1858 and she gave birth to their only child Sigurd on 23 December 1859. The couple lived in very poor financial circumstances and Ibsen became very disenchanted with life in Norway. In 1864, he left Christiania and went to Sorrento in Italy in self-imposed exile. He didn't return to his native land for the next 27 years, and when he returned to it he was a noted, but controversial, playwright. His next play, Brand (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 famously 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 and Fear and Trembling. Ibsen's next play Peer Gynt was consciously informed by Kierkegaard.[22][23] 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.[citation needed] Ibsen photographed in Dresden c. 1870 Ibsen moved from Italy to Dresden, 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 in 1875 and began work on his first contemporary realist drama The Pillars of Society, first published and performed in 1877.[24] A Doll's House 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”.[25] 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.[26] 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.[27] 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 described, “he seemed to stand in some mysterious correspondence with the fermenting, germinating ideas of the day.[28] The Wild Duck (1884) is by many considered Ibsen's finest work, and it is certainly the most complex. 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.[citation needed] Ibsen displays masterful 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; 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.[citation needed] Letter from Ibsen to his English reviewer and translator Edmund Gosse: "30.8.[18]99. Dear Mr. Edmund Gosse! It was to me a hearty joy to receive your letter. So I will finally personally meet you and your wife. I am at home every day in the morning until 1 o'clock. I am happy and surprised at your excellent Norwegian! Your amicably obliged Henrik Ibsen." 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 (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,[29] 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 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 and Edmund Gosse. 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.[citation needed]. Michael Meyer's translations in the 1950s were welcomed by actors and directors as playable, rather than academic. As The Times newspaper put it, ‘This, one may think, is how Ibsen might have expressed himself in English'. Ibsen intentionally obscured his influences. However, asked later what he had read when he wrote Catiline, Ibsen replied that he had read only the Danish Norse saga-inspired Romantic tragedian Adam Oehlenschläger and Ludvig Holberg, "the Scandinavian Molière".[30] Critical reception[edit] At the time when Ibsen was writing, literature was emerging as a formidable force in 19th century society.[31] It was still a relatively new form of popular discussion and entertainment[citation needed]. 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.[32] 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.”[33] Indeed, his next play An Enemy of the People was initially regard 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.”[34] 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.[35]] 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 Christiana. One hostess even wrote on the invitations to her soirée, “You are politely requested not to mention Mr Ibsen’s new play”.[36] Death[edit] Ibsen, late in his career On 23 May 1906, Ibsen died in his home at Arbins gade 1 in Kristiania (now Oslo)[37] 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.[38] Ibsen was buried in Vår Frelsers gravlund ("The Graveyard of Our Savior") in central Oslo. Centenary[edit] The 100th anniversary of Ibsen's death in 2006 was commemorated with an "Ibsen year" in Norway and other countries.[39][40][41] 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.[42] 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.[43] Legacy[edit] Plaque to Ibsen, Oslo marking his home from 1895-1906 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, 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 Norwegian Ibsen Award and the Ibsen Centennial Commemoration Award. Every year, since 2008, the annual "Delhi Ibsen Festival", is held in Delhi, India, 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.[44][45] 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.[46] Ancestry[edit] Monogram of Henrik Ibsen Ibsen's ancestry has been a much studied subject, due to his perceived foreignness[47] 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. His son, ship's captain Peder Ibsen became a burgher of Bergen in Norway in 1726.[48] 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.[49][50] The name Ibsen is originally a patronymic, meaning "son of Ib" (Ib is a Danish variant of Jacob). 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. Ancestors of Henrik Ibsen 16. Peder Rasmussen Ibsen (d. 1765), ship's captain and merchant in Bergen[citation needed] 8. Henrik Ibsen (1726–1765), merchant in Skien[citation needed] 17. Birgitte Holtermann (1692–1728)[citation needed] 4. Henrich Ibsen (1765–1797), ship's captain and merchant in Skien[citation needed] 18. Giert Andersen Dishington (1706–1769)[citation needed] 9. Wenche Dishington (1738–1780)[citation needed] 19. Margrethe Jansen Forman[citation needed] 2. Knud Ibsen (1797–1877), merchant in Skien[citation needed] 20. Johan Glüsing Plesner (1731–1790), merchant in Skien[citation needed] 10. Knud Plesner (1731–1789), ship's captain and merchant in Skien[citation needed] 21. Karen Cathrine Hind (1708–1778)[citation needed] 5. Johanne Cathrine Plesner (1770–1847) (married to shipowner Ole Paus in her second marriage from 1798)[citation needed] 22. Nicolai Kall (1709–1774), merchant in Skien[citation needed] 11. Maria Kall (1741–1786)[citation needed] 23. Elisabeth Marie Bomhoff (1707–1784)[citation needed] 1. Henrik Ibsen 24. Jochum Altenburg (1684–1745)[citation needed] 12. Diderik Altenburg, manager of Ulefos Saugbrug[citation needed] 6. Johan Andreas Altenburg (1763–1824), merchant and former ship's captain in Skien[citation needed] 26. Johan David Barth, postmaster in Kragerø[citation needed] 13. Marichen Johansdatter Barth 27. Dorothea Ruhland[citation needed] 3. Marichen Cornelia Martine Altenburg (1799–1869)[citation needed] 28. Paul Paus (1697–1768), lawyer and acting district judge[citation needed] 14. Cornelius Paus (1726–1799), forest inspector of Upper Telemark[citation needed] 29. Martha Christophersdatter Blom[citation needed] 7. Hedevig Christine Paus (1763–1848) (a sister of Johanne Plesner's husband Ole Paus)[citation needed] 30. Ole Falck 15. Christine Falck (1723–1798)[citation needed] Descendants[edit] From his marriage with Suzannah Thoresen, Ibsen had one son, lawyer, government minister, and Norwegian Prime Minister Sigurd Ibsen. Sigurd Ibsen married Bergljot Bjørnson, the daughter of Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Their son was Tancred Ibsen, who became a film director and was married to Lillebil Ibsen; 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. Honours[edit] 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, and was Knight, First Class of the Order of Vasa.[51] Well known stage directors in Austria and Germany as Theodor Lobe (1833–1905), Paul Barnay (1884–1960), Max Burckhard (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 (1888–1939), Paul Rose [de] (1900–1973) and Peter Zadek (1926–2009) performed the work of Ibsen. In 1995, the asteroid 5696 Ibsen was named in his memory. Works[edit] Plays[edit] Plays entirely or partly in verse are marked v. 1850 Catiline (Catilina)v 1850 The Burial Mound also known as The Warrior's Barrow (Kjæmpehøjen)v 1852 St. John's Eve (Sancthansnatten)v[a] 1854 Lady Inger of Oestraat (Fru Inger til Østeraad) 1855 The Feast at Solhaug (Gildet paa Solhaug)v[b] 1856 Olaf Liljekrans (Olaf Liljekrans)v[c] 1858 The Vikings at Helgeland (Hærmændene paa Helgeland) 1862 Love's Comedy (Kjærlighedens Komedie)v 1863 The Pretenders (Kongs-Emnerne)v[d] 1866 Brand (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 (Samfundets Støtter) 1879 A Doll's House (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 (Fruen fra Havet) 1890 Hedda Gabler (Hedda Gabler) 1892 The Master Builder (Bygmester Solness) 1894 Little Eyolf (Lille Eyolf) 1896 John Gabriel Borkman (John Gabriel Borkman) 1899 When We Dead Awaken (Når vi døde vaagner) Other Works[edit] 1851 Norma or a Politician's Love (Norma eller en Politikers Kjaerlighed), an eight-page political parody[e] 1871 Digte – only released collection of poetry, included Terje Vigen (written in 1862 but published in Digte from 1871) English translations[edit] The authoritative translation in the English language for Ibsen remains the 1928 ten-volume version of the Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen from Oxford University Press. Many other translations of individual plays by Ibsen have appeared since 1928 though none have purported to be a new version of the complete works of Ibsen. Ibsen: The Complete Major Prose Plays (Rolf G. Fjelde, translator. Plume: 1978) Ibsen – 3 Plays (Kenneth McLeish & Stephen Mulrine, translators. Nick Hern Books: 2005) Ibsen's Selected Plays: A Norton Critical Edition (ed. Brian Johnston, Brian Johnston & Rick Davis, translators. W.W. Norton: 2004) See also[edit] Literature portal Biography portal Centre for Ibsen Studies Ibsen Studies Norwegian Ibsen Award Norwegian Ibsen Award Naturalism (theatre) Nineteenth-century theatre Problem play Notes[edit] ^ Only the prologue is in verse, the rest is in prose. ^ In a combination of prose and verse. ^ In a combination of prose and verse. ^ Mainly in prose, with a few speeches in verse. ^ Though sometimes identified as a play, Norma was never intended for performance. This "juvenile polemical work" was an attack on the Norwegian parliament or Storting, identifying several legislators by name as "fortune hunters". It first appeared anonymously in the satirical magazine Andhrimner.[52] Using play-like dialog and the names of characters from Bellini's opera Norma, Ibsen's hero chooses the "passive" female who represents the government over the heroic title character representing the opposition.[53][54] References[edit] ^ "Ibsen". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. ^ On Ibsen's role as "father of modern drama", see "Ibsen Celebration to Spotlight 'Father of Modern Drama'". Bowdoin College. 23 January 2007. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2007.; on Ibsen's relationship to modernism, see Moi (2006, 1–36) ^ "shakespearetheatre.org" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2013. ^ "Henrik Ibsen – book launch to commemorate the 'Father of Modern Drama'". Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2013. ^ Bonnie G. Smith, "A Doll's House", in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, Vol. 2, p. 81, Oxford University Press ^ Klaus Van Den Berg, "Peer Gynt" (review), Theatre Journal 58.4 (2006) 684–687 ^ McFarlane, James (1999). "Introduction". In: Ibsen, Henrik, An Enemy of the People; The Wild Duck; Rosmersholm. Oxford World Classics. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. ix. ISBN 0192839438, ISBN 9780192839435. ^ Peter Normann Waage (1986). "Henrik Ibsen og Keiser Julian". Libra. ^ a b Valency, Maurice. The Flower and the Castle. Schocken, 1963. ^ Byatt, AS (15 December 2006). "The age of becoming". The Guardian. London. ^ "Nomination Archive". NobelPrize.org. ^ Danish language was the written language of both Denmark and Norway at the time, although it was referred to as Norwegian in Norway and occasionally included some minor differences from the language used in Denmark. Ibsen occasionally used some Norwegianisms in his early work, but he wrote his later works in a more standardised Danish, as his plays were published by a Danish publisher and marketed to both Norwegian and Danish audiences in the original Danish. Cf. Haugen, Einar (1979). "The Nuances of Norwegian". Ibsen's Drama: Author to Audience. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-8166-0896-6. ^ "Henrik Ibsens skrifter: Brev til GEORG BRANDES (21. september 1882)". www.ibsen.uio.no. ^ Haugen (1979: 23) ^ Templeton, Joan (1997). Ibsen's Women. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1ff. ^ Ferguson p. 280 ^ a b c Haave, Jørgen (2017). Familien Ibsen. Museumsforlaget. ISBN 9788283050455. ^ Michael Meyers. Henrik Ibsen, Chapter one. ^ a b c Michael Meyers. Henrick Ibsen. Chapter one. ^ Hans Bernhard Jaeger, Henrik Ibsen, 1828–1888: et literært livsbillede, Copenhagen, Gyldendal, 1888 ^ Michael Meyes. Henrik Ibsen. Chapters corresponding to individual early plays. ^ Shapiro, Bruce. Divine Madness and the Absurd Paradox. (1990) ISBN 978-0-313-27290-5 ^ Downs, Brian. Ibsen: The Intellectual Background (1946) ^ Hanssen, Jens-Morten (10 August 2001). "Facts about Pillars of Society". ibsen.nb.no. Retrieved 8 February 2013. ^ MacFarlane, James (1960). The Oxford Ibsen, Vol IV. London: Oxford University Press. p. 439. ^ Spongberg, Mary (1998). Feminizing Venereal Disease: The Body of the Prostitute in Nineteenth-Century Medical Discourse. NYU Press. p. 162. ISBN 0814780822. Retrieved 26 August 2019. ^ MacFarlane, James (1961). The Oxford Ibsen, Vol V. London: Oxford University Press. p. 476. ^ Meyer, Michael (1971). Ibsen: A biography. Doubleday and Company. p. 500. ^ Paskett, Zoe (11 September 2019). "Henrik Ibsen's greatest plays, from A Doll's House to Hedda Gabler". Evening Standard. ^ "In Our Time: Henrik Ibsen: Audio podcast". BBC Radio 4. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2020. ^ Hughes, H. Stuart (2002). Consciousness and Society: the Reorientation of European Social Thought. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0765809186. ^ Meyer, Michael (1971). Ibsen: A Biography. Doubleday & Company. ^ MacFarlane, Robert (1961). The Oxford Ibsen. London: Oxford University Press. p. 477. ^ Meyer, Michael (1971). Ibsen: A biography. Doubleday & Company. p. 505. ^ Meyer, Michael (1971). Ibsen: A Biography. Doubleday & Company. p. 559. ^ MacFarlane, James. Henrik Ibsen: Four Major Plays (Introduction). The World’s Classics. pp. Introduction. ^ since 2006 The Ibsen Museum (Oslo) ^ Michael Meyer, Ibsen – A Biography, Doubleday 1971, p. 807 ^ www.norges-bank.no https://web.archive.org/web/20141110062149/http://www.norges-bank.no/templates/article____16310.aspx. Archived from the original on 10 November 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help) ^ "norway.sk". Archived from the original on 18 September 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2010. ^ Mazur, G.O. One Hundrd Year Commemoration to the Life of Henrik Ibsen, Semenenko Foundation, Andreeff Hall, 12, rue de Montrosier, 92200 Neuilly, Paris, France, 2006. ^ Gioia, Michael. "Premiere of Will Eno's Gnit, Adaptation of Peer Gynt Directed by Les Waters, Opens March 17 at Humana Fest" Archived 8 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, 17 March 2013 ^ "Henrik Ibsen". Nasjonalbiblioteket. ^ "Ibsen time of the year again – Hindustan Times". 22 November 2012. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2013. ^ Daftuar, Swati (24 November 2012). "Showcase: Reinventing Ibsen". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 21 December 2013. ^ Schanke, Robert A. (1988). Ibsen in America: A Century of Change. Scarecrow Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0810820999. Retrieved 28 January 2018. ^ Johan Kïelland Bergwitz, Henrik Ibsen i sin avstamning: norsk eller fremmed?, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1916 ^ Terje Bratberg (15 November 2018). "Ibsen – norsk slekt". Store norske leksikon. ^ Henrik Jaeger, Henrik Ibsen. A Critical Biography, Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1891 ^ Bergwitz, Joh. K, Henrik Ibsen i sin avstamning. Norsk eller fremmed?, Nordisk forlag, Gyldendalske boghandel, Christiania and Copenhagen, 1916 ^ Amundsen, O. Delphin (1947). Den kongelige norske Sankt Olavs Orden 1847–1947 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Grøndahl. p. 12. ^ Jaeger, Henrik Bernhard (1890). The Life of Henrik Ibsen. London: William Heinemann. p. 64. Retrieved 4 April 2015. ^ Templeton, Joan (1997). Ibsen's Women. Cambridge University Press. p. 340. ISBN 9780521001366. Retrieved 4 April 2015. ^ Hanssen, Jens-Morten (10 July 2005). "Facts about Norma". National Library of Norway. Retrieved 13 April 2015. Further reading[edit] 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. ISBN 0760720940 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) 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, 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 [Sept 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. ISBN 978-0-19-920259-1 Shaw, George Bernard. The Quintessence of Ibsenism (1891). The classic introduction, setting the playwright in his time and place. External links[edit] Wikiquote has quotations related to: Henrik Ibsen Wikisource has original works written by or about: Henrik Ibsen Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henrik Ibsen. The Ibsen Society of America Official Website ibsen.nb.no 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 Extensive resource in several languages from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Multilingual edition of all Ibsen Plays in the Bibliotheca Polyglotta Digitized books and manuscripts by Ibsen in the National Library of Norway Ibsen's Influence on Hitler Peer Gynt Sculpture Park, Official Website[permanent dead link] Works by Henrik Ibsen at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Henrik Ibsen at Internet Archive Works by Henrik Ibsen at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) Henrik Ibsen at Project Gutenberg (the biography by Edmund Gosse) Henrik Ibsen – A Bibliography of Criticism and Biography, by Ina Ten Eyck Firkins, from Project Gutenberg "Ibsen and His Discontents" – a critical, conservative view of Ibsen's works, written by Theodore Dalrymple Ibsen Museum – Former home of the famous playwright is situated in Henrik Ibsen's gate 26, across from the Royal Palace Henrik Ibsen: Critical Studies by Georg Brandes (1899). Retrieved 5 January 2017. v t e Henrik Ibsen Dramas Catiline The Burial Mound Norma, or A Politician's Love St. John's Eve Lady Inger of Ostrat The Feast at Solhaug Olaf Liljekrans The Vikings at Helgeland The Mountain Bird Love's Comedy The Pretenders Brand Peer Gynt The League of Youth Emperor and Galilean The Pillars of Society A Doll's House Ghosts An Enemy of the People The Wild Duck Rosmersholm The Lady from the Sea Hedda Gabler The Master Builder Little Eyolf John Gabriel Borkman When We Dead Awaken Poetry Digte "Terje Vigen" Related Ibsen quotes, Oslo The Oxford Ibsen Centre for Ibsen Studies Ibsen Studies Ibsen Museum, Oslo Peer Gynt Sculpture Park Norwegian Ibsen Award International Ibsen Award Ibsen Year The Death of Little Ibsen (2006 play) v t e Henrik Ibsen's family Ancestors and birth relatives Grandparents Henrich Ibsen, Johanne Plesner, Johan Andreas Altenburg, Hedevig Christine Paus, Ole Paus (step grandfather), parents Knud Ibsen and Marichen Altenburg, sister Hedvig Ibsen, uncles Christian Cornelius Paus, Henrik Johan Paus, Christopher Blom Paus, great-aunt Kristine Cathrine Ploug (née Altenburg), first cousin Ole Paus, nephew Carl Stousland, first cousin once removed Christopher de Paus Wife, family-in-law and issue Wife Suzannah Ibsen (née Thoresen), step mother-in-law Magdalene Thoresen, son Sigurd Ibsen, daughter-in-law Bergliot Ibsen (née Bjørnson), grandson Tancred Ibsen, granddaughter Irene Ibsen Bille (née Ibsen), grandson's wife Lillebil Ibsen (née Krohn), great-grandsons Tancred Ibsen Jr. and Joen Bille, great-great-granddaughters Nora Ibsen and Beate Bille See also: Ibsen family – Related families: Paus, Plesner, Blom, Bille v t e Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House (1879) Films A Doll's House (1917 silent) A Doll's House (1918 silent) A Doll's House (1922 silent) A Doll's House (1973 Garland film) A Doll's House (1973 Losey film) Sara (1993 Persian-English) Television A Doll's House (1959) A Doll's House (1992) Other Nora A Doll's Life A Doll's House, Part 2 v t e Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (1891) Films Hedda Gabler (1920) Hedda Gabler (1925) Hedda Gabler (1961) Hedda (1975) Hedda Gabler (2016) Adaptations Heddatron (2006) Other filmography v t e Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt (1876) Inspirations Per Gynt Jo Gjende Films Peer Gynt (1915) Peer Gynt (1919) Peer Gynt (1934) Stage Peer Gynt (1938 Egk opera) Peer Gynt (1998 play) Music Peer Gynt (1875 incidental music) "In the Hall of the Mountain King" "Morning Mood" Swinging Suites by Edward E. and Edward G. (1961) "Trying To Be Me" (2000) Other Bøyg Authority control BIBSYS: 90061718 BNE: XX883971 BNF: cb119081540 (data) CANTIC: a10426085 CiNii: DA00825835 GND: 118555286 ICCU: IT\ICCU\CFIV\008640 ISNI: 0000 0001 2138 5710 KulturNav: 77da8af9-222f-4cea-8869-1ec51f32da0e LCCN: n79070050 LNB: 000011741 MBA: ef9e60c9-c738-4f61-8c1d-ece78093a613 NDL: 00444186 NKC: jn19990003874 NLA: 35217716 NLG: 61886 NLK: KAC199613297 NSK: 000032016 NTA: 068982550 PLWABN: 9810616539805606 RKD: 463754 SELIBR: 205319 SNAC: w6mw2fst SUDOC: 027325032 Trove: 869737 ULAN: 500330924 VcBA: 495/124393 VIAF: 71378383 WorldCat Identities: lccn-n79070050 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henrik_Ibsen&oldid=1001613820" Categories: Henrik Ibsen 1828 births 1906 deaths 19th-century Norwegian dramatists and playwrights 19th-century Norwegian writers Burials at Vår Frelsers gravlund The Four Greats Ibsen family Modernist theatre Norwegian male dramatists and playwrights Norwegian people of Danish descent Paus family People from Skien Hidden categories: CS1 errors: missing title CS1 errors: bare URL Webarchive template wayback links CS1 Norwegian-language sources (no) Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Use dmy dates from June 2018 Articles needing additional references from December 2016 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2009 Articles with unsourced statements from April 2020 Articles with unsourced statements from April 2019 Commons category link is on Wikidata All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from December 2017 Articles with permanently dead external links Articles with Project Gutenberg links Articles with Internet Archive links Articles with LibriVox links Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNE identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ICCU identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with KULTURNAV identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with LNB identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLG identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLK identifiers Wikipedia articles with NSK identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers Wikipedia articles with RKDartists identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers Wikipedia articles with ULAN identifiers Wikipedia articles with VcBA identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers AC with 28 elements Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Languages Afrikaans Alemannisch العربية Aragonés Արեւմտահայերէն Asturianu Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه বাংলা Bân-lâm-gú Башҡортса Беларуская Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎ Български Bosanski Brezhoneg Буряад Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Føroyskt Français Frysk Gaeilge Galego गोंयची कोंकणी / Gõychi Konknni 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski Ido Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית ಕನ್ನಡ ქართული Қазақша Kernowek Kiswahili Kurdî Кыргызча Кырык мары Latina Latviešu Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Limburgs Magyar Македонски Malagasy മലയാളം मराठी مصرى Монгол မြန်မာဘာသာ Nederlands नेपाल भाषा 日本語 Norsk bokmål Norsk nynorsk Novial Occitan Oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча ਪੰਜਾਬੀ پنجابی پښتو Piemontèis Polski Português Română Runa Simi Русский Саха тыла Shqip Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina کوردی Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Tagalog தமிழ் Татарча/tatarça తెలుగు Türkçe Українська اردو Tiếng Việt Volapük Winaray 吴语 ייִדיש 粵語 Žemaitėška 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 20 January 2021, at 13:57 (UTC). 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