biography
| name: |
Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne (Martinius)
|
pronunciation:
[byernsn]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1832–1910)
|
| biography:
| Writer and Norwegian statesman, born in Kvikne, C Norway. He studied at Molde, Kristiania (now Oslo) and Copenhagen, was a playwright and novelist of wide-ranging interests, and a lifelong champion of liberal causes. A friend of Ibsen and an ardent patriot, he sought to free the Norwegian theatre from Danish influence and revive Norwegian as a literary language. He was named Norway's national poet, and his poem, ‘Ja, Vi Elsker Dette Landet’ (1870, trans Yes, We Love This Land of Ours) became the national anthem. His other major works include the novel Fiskerjenten (1868, The Fisher Girl), the epic poem Arnljot Gelline (1870), and his greatest plays, Over Aevne I og II (1883, 1895, trans Beyond Our Power, Beyond Human Might). He was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Literature. |
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