Henrik Ibsen

Ibsen, Henrik - hĕnˈrĭk ĭbˈsən, 1828–1906, Norwegian dramatist and poet. His early years were lonely and miserable. Distressed by the consequences of his family's financial ruin and on his own at sixteen, he first was apprenticed to an apothecary. Not long after this he began writing poetry, and in 1850 he published his first play, Catilina, a tragedy in verse. In 1851 he began an extended apprenticeship in the theater, first as stage manager and playwright with the National Stage in Bergen and in 1857 as theater director for the Norwegian Theater in Oslo. His early plays for the most part went unrecognized or were greeted with opposition and critical hostility. As a man far in advance of his times, Ibsen was condemned for unveiling truths which society preferred to keep hidden. In 1864, dissatisfied with the backwardness of Norway, he went to Italy. He wrote the bulk of his drama there and in Germany. His career can be divided into three periods. The first phase, that of poetic dramas, dealt primarily with historical themes, folklore, and romantic pageantry. His name was established with the publication of Love's Comedy (1862). However, it was in 1866 that he reached prominent stature as a dramatist, when he published the first of his major works, Brand, the tragedy of an idealist. Peer Gynt, another poetic drama and Ibsen's least understood work, appeared the following year. In this play Ibsen recounted the adventures of an egocentric but imaginative opportunist. With The League of Youth (1869) and Pillars of Society (1877), he began his second dramatic phase, that of the realistic social plays which are his best known. Ibsen rebelled against society's conventions through which the perpetuation of empty traditions restricts all intellectual, artistic, and spiritual growth. He was perhaps most successful in depicting the 19th-century woman, whose inner nature was in strong conflict with the role she was called on to perform. These dramas include A Doll's House (1879), Ghosts (1881), Rosmersholm (1886), and Hedda Gabler (1890). Other notable plays, An Enemy of the People (1882) and The Wild Duck (1884), examine the effects of true and false idealism. Although nearly all Ibsen's plays contain symbolic elements, it was in his final works that the emphasis on symbolism became very strong. The chief plays of this group are The Master Builder (1892), Little Eyolf (1894), John Gabriel Borkman (1896), and When We Dead Awaken (1900). All have a firmly knit structure beneath the symbols; all blend an introspective realism with folk poetry. No playwright has exerted greater influence on 20th-century drama. His plays—there are many good English translations—are continually revived in the United States and Europe.

See biographies by H. Koht (1928, new tr. 1971), H. Heiberg (tr. 1969), and M. Meyer (1971); studies by G. M. C. Brandes (1899, repr. 1964), G. B. Shaw (1913, repr. 1957), J. R. Northam (1953 and 1973), and J. McFarlane (1970).

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Henrik Ibsen

1 .

Henrik Ibsen
by Harold Bloom. 242 pgs.

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-- Brings together the best criticism on the most widely read poets, novelists, and playwrights
-- Presents complex critical portraits of the most influential writers in the English-speaking world -- from the English medievalists to contemporary writers

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Henrik Ibsen

Contents

Editor's Note

Introduction

The Task of the Poet

Ibsen the Romantic

Ghosts: the Tragic Rhythm in a Small Figure

Ibsen: Pro and Con

Introduction to Hedda Gabler and Other Plays

Introduction to the Pillars of Society

The Wild Duck

Ibsen and the Making of Modern Drama

The Ibsen Hero

The Fate of Ibsenism

Brand: the Play and the Translation

Hedda Gabler and the Huldre

Ibsen: Trolls and Peer Gynt

Eyolf's Eyes: Ibsen and the Cultural Meanings of Child Abuse

Ibsen and Shakespeare

Chronology

Contributors

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index
2 .

Rosmersholm: The Lady from the Sea: Hedda Gabler
by Henrik Ibsen. 364 pgs.

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Contents

Prefatory Note.

Rosmersholm. (1886)

Rosmersholm. Play in Four Acts.

Act Second.

Act Third.

Act Fourth.

The Lady from the Sea. (1888.)

Act Third.

Act Fourth.

Act Fifth.

Hedda Gabler. (1890.)

Hedda Gabler. Play in Four Acts.

Act Second.

Act Third.

Act Fourth.
3 .

An Enemy of the People: The Wild Duck Rosmersholm
by Henrik Ibsen, James McFarlane. 320 pgs.

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Oxford World's Classics

Oxford World's Classics

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Select Bibliography

Chronology of Henrik Ibsen

An Enemy of the People [en Folkefiende] Play in Five Acts (1882)

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

Act Four

Act Five

The Wild Duck

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

Act Four

Act Five

Rosmersholm [rosmersholms] Play in Four Acts (1886)

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

Act Four
4 .

Ghosts: A Family Drama in Three Acts; and Miss Julia A Naturalistic Tragedy
by Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Thaddeus L. Torp, Thaddeus L. Torp. 122 pgs.

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Contents

Introduction

A Note on Ibsen's Ghostly Humor

Notes on the Translation

Chronology of Important Events and Principal Works

Ghosts

Miss Julia

Bibliography
5 .

Henrik Ibsen: The Critical Heritage
by Michael Egan. 506 pgs.

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This set comprises 40 volumes covering 19th and 20th century European and American authors. These volumes will be available as a complete set, mini boxed sets (by theme) or as individual volumes. This second set complements the first 68 volume set of Critical Heritage published by Routledge in October 1995.

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General Editor's Preface

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Note on the Text

1: Edmund Gosse on Ibsen's Poetry

2: Edmund Gosse on Peer Gynt

3: Edmund Gosse on Ibsen's Elaborate Irony

4: Catherine Ray on the Conflict in Ibsen's Work

5: Quicksands (the Pillars of Society)

6: Rasmus B. Anderson on Ibsen's Genius

7: Clemens Peter Sen on Ibsen and Björnson

8: Henrietta Frances Lord on a Doll's House

9: William Archer on Mrs Lord's Imperfections and an Enemy of the People

10: Mrs Lord Replies

11: Kongsemnerne (the Pretenders)

12: Breaking a Butterfly (a Doll's House)

13: Havelock Ellis on the Importance of Ibsen

14: Gosse on Ibsen's Social Dramas

15: Henry James Becomes Interested

16: Arthur Symons on Ibsen's Modernity

17: An Unsigned Notice by Clement Scott in the Daily Telegraph

A Doll's House

18: From an Unsigned Notice Headlined 'Henrik Ibsen in English'

19: From 'Flashes from the Footlights', an Unsigned Regular Theatre Column, Licensed Victuallers' Mirror

20: From 'Between the Acts', an Unsigned Regular Theatre Column

21: From 'Ibsen in London', a Notice by Frederic Wedmore

22: C. H. Herford's Reply to Wedmore's Review of a Doll's House

23: An Unsigned Notice, Spectator

24: Clement Scott on Ibsen's Unlovely Creed

25: William Archer on Newspaper Reaction to Ibsen

26: Janet Achurch on the Difficulty of Being Nora

The Pillars of Society

27: From an Unsigned Notice in the Daily News

28: From an Unsigned Notice by Clement Scott, the Daily Telegraph

29: From an Unsigned Notice, the Daily Chronicle

30: From an Unsigned Notice in the Referee

31: From an Unsigned Notice, Lloyd's Weekly News

32: Unsigned Comment in the Hawk

33: From 'Ibsen Again', a Signed Notice by Frederic Wedmore, the Academy

34: From an Unsigned Notice in the Queen

35: William Archer on the Absurdity of Mr. T. Weber

36: C. H. Herford on Rosmersholm and the Lady from the Sea

37: Hjalmar Boyesen Presents an American View of Ibsen

38: W. E. Simonds on Nora's Selflessness

39: E. P. Evans on Ibsen's Cosmic Emotion

40: Mrs H. F. Lord on the Phases of the Soul in Ghosts

41: Henry James on Ibsen's Provinciality

42: Edmund Gosse on Ibsen and American Writers

43: Emperor and Galilean

44: An Anonymous Comment on the Depravity of Ibsen, Edward Aveling and Ghosts

45: An Unsigned Notice in the Evening News and Post

Rosmersholm

46: From an Unsigned Notice, Daily Chronicle

47: Editorial Comment, Daily Chronicle

48: From an Unsigned Notice, the Times

49: From 'An Ibsen Service', Unsigned Notice, Daily News

50: From an Unsigned Notice by Clement Scott, Daily Telegraph

51: From 'Some Ibsenisms', Unsigned Comment, Saturday Review

52: From 'Theatrical Gossip', an Unsigned Regular Column, Era

53: From a Pseudonymous Notice by 'Momus', Gentlewoman

54: From an Unsigned Notice, Black and White

55: Unsigned Notice, Sunday Times

56: From 'Flashes from the Footlights', an Unsigned Regular Theatre Column, Licensed Victuallers' Mirror

57: From 'Ibsen Up to Date', by Justin Huntley Mccarthy, Hawk

58: An Unsigned Notice, Truth, Probably by Clement Scott

59: From 'Between the Acts', an Unsigned Regular Theatre Column, Queen

60: George Moore Sees Ghosts in Paris

Ghosts

61: From an Unsigned Notice by Clement Scott, Daily Telegraph

62: Editorial Comment, Daily Telegraph

63: From an Unsigned Notice, Daily News

64: From an Unsigned Notice, Daily Chronicle

65: From an Unsigned Notice, Evening News and Post

66: An Anonymous Satirical Poem, Evening News and Post

67: Ibsen and Real Life

68: From 'Plays and Players', an Anonymous Theatre Column, Sunday Times

69: An Unsigned Notice, Licensed Victuallers' Mirror

70: From an Unsigned Notice, Hawk

71: 'How We Found Gibsen', an Anonymous Satirical Story, Hawk

72: 'Ghosts and Gibberings', by William Archer, Pall Mall Gazette

73: Ibsen Speaks Out

74: Henry James on Ibsen's Grey Mediocrity

Hedda Gabler

75: From an Unsigned Notice, the Times

76: 'An Ibsen Success—hedda Gabler at the Vaudeville', Pall Mall Gazette

77: From a Notice by Justin Mccarthy, Black and White

78: An Unsigned Notice, Saturday Review

79: A Signed Review by Clement Scott, Illustrated London News

80: From an Unsigned Notice, Sunday Times

81: An Unsigned Notice, Observer

82: 'Goldsmith and Ibsen/A Dramatic Contrast', an Unsigned Notice, People

83: Henry Arthur Jones on the Unfortunate Depravity but Enlivening Influence of Ibsen

84: 'On the Occasion of Hedda Gabler', by Henry James, New Review

85: From an Unsigned Notice, the Times

The Lady from the Sea

86: From an Unsigned Notice, Standard

87: From an Unsigned Review by Clement Scott, Daily Telegraph

88: From an Unsigned Notice, Gentlewoman

89: An Unsigned Notice, Referee

90: From a Notice by Justin Mccarthy, Hawk

91: From an Unsigned Regular Theatre Gossip Column, Hawk

92: Ibsen Parodied by J. M. Barrie

93: From 'Ibsen's Brand', a Long Article by Richard A. Armstrong, Westminster Review

Brand

94: From an Unsigned Review of William Wilson's Translation of Brand: a Dramatic Poem, Saturday Review

95: George Bernard Shaw on the Quintessence of Ibsenism and Its Resemblance to Shavianism

96: 'Ibsen's New Play', by Henry James, Pall Mall Gazette

The Master Builder

97: An Unsigned Notice by Clement Scott, Daily Telegraph

98: An Unsigned Notice, Evening News and Post

99: From an Unsigned Notice, the Times

100: From an Unsigned Notice, Standard

101: An Unsigned Notice, Pall Mall Gazette

102: An Unsigned Notice, Black and White

103: From a Pseudonymous Theatre Column by 'Momus', Gentlewoman

104: A Poem by William Hardinge, Observer

105: 'The Crack in the Flue', a Notice by 'W. M. ’, Hawk

106: A Report in Era, 4 February 1893, 10

107: An Unsigned Review, Saturday Review

108: 'Ibsen's Last Play', an Unsigned Review, Spectator

An Enemy of the People

109: From an Unsigned Notice, the Times

110: From an Unsigned Notice by Clement Scott, Daily Telegraph

111: From an Unsigned Notice, Daily Chronicle

112: A Pseudonymous Notice by 'Momus', Gentlewoman

113: An Unsigned Notice, Theatre

114: William Archer Sums It Up

115: Mr. Gladstone as Solness

116: Hjalmar Boyesen on Ibsen's Self-Satire in the Wild Duck

117: Ghosts in New York and Boston

118: Ibsen Consigned to Hell in Boston

119: An Unsigned Notice by Clement Scott, Daily Telegraph

The Wild Duck

120: From an Unsigned Notice, Daily Chronicle

121: From an Unsigned Notice, Evening News and Post

122: From an Unsigned Notice, Truth

123: From a Pseudonymous Notice by 'Hafiz', Black and White

124: From an Unsigned Notice, Era

125: From an Unsigned Notice, Theatre

126: An Unsigned Review of a Commentary on the Works of Henrik Ibsen, Spectator

127: Herbert Waring: an Actor's View of Ibsen

128: Ibsen on Himself—1

129: Ibsen on Himself—2

130: From an Unsigned Review, Saturday Review

Little Eyolf

131: From a Signed Review by J. T. Grein, Sunday Times

132: Unsigned Notice, Pall Mall Gazette

133: From an Unsigned Notice, the Times

134: From an Unsigned Notice, Evening Standard

135: From an Unsigned Notice, Daily News

136: From an Unsigned Notice, by Clement Scott, Daily Telegraph

137: From an Unsigned Notice, Daily Chronicle

138: 'Ibsen and His Interpreters', an Editorial in Era

139: An Unsigned Notice by J. T. Grein, Sunday Times

140: 'The Hallucinations of Mr. Clement Scott', a Letter to the Editor of the Saturday Review

141: Henry James on Ibsen's Superiority to Shakespeare

142: An Unsigned Review, Saturday Review

143: From a Review by Henry James, Harper's Weekly

144: From a Notice by ‘h. W. M. ’, Daily Chronicle

145: From an Unsigned Notice by Clement Scott, Daily Telegraph

146: From an Unsigned Notice, Era

147: From an Unsigned Notice, Lloyd's Weekly News

148: From an Unsigned Notice, People

149: George Bernard Shaw on a Doll's House

150: From an Unsigned Notice, Theatre

151: Bernard Shaw Watches Queen Victoria and the Archbishop of Canterbury Watch Ghosts

152: Hedda Gabler in New York

When We Dead Awaken

153: James Joyce, Article in Fortnightly Review

154: From an Unsigned Notice, Daily Telegraph

155: From an Unsigned Notice, Daily Chronicle

156: An Unsigned Notice, the Times

157: From an Unsigned Notice, Sunday Times

158: From an Unsigned Notice, Lloyd's Weekly News

159: An Unsigned Notice, Referee

160: From 'Ibsen's “epilogue”', by 'Max' [beerbohm], Saturday Review

161: From a Pseudonymous Notice by 'Momus', Gentlewoman

162: From an Unsigned Notice, Daily Telegraph

The Vikings at Helgeland

163: From a Long Unsigned Notice, Daily Chronicle

164: From an Unsigned Notice, the Times

165: An Unsigned Notice, Referee

166: A Notice by Max Beerbohm, Saturday Review

167: W. Rothenstein on Max Beerbohm's Obtuseness

168: P. T. Barnum and Others Cable Ibsen

The Collected Letters of Henrik Ibsen

169: From 'Ibsen in His Letters', by William Archer, Fortnightly Review

The Wild Duck

170: From a Pseudonymous Notice by 'Mordred', Referee

171: From Unsigned Theatre Comment, Referee

172: From an Initialled Notice by E. A. B[aughan], Daily News

An Enemy of the People

173: Keir Hardie on the Instructiveness of Ibsen

Lady Inger of Ostraat

174: From an Initialled Notice by E. A. B[aughan], Daily News

175: From an Unsigned Notice, Black and White

Obituaries

176: From an Unsigned Obituary, Academy

177: Max Beerbohm, Saturday Review

178: From W. D. Howells's Obituary in North American Review

179: 'Ibsen as an Interpreter of American Life', by Edwin E. Slosson, Independent

180: 'Playing Ibsen in the Badlands', by Joseph P. Dannenburg, Theatre

Appendix I

Appendix II

Bibliography

Index
6 .

Ibsen: The Dramaturgy of Fear
by Michael Goldman. 180 pgs.

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Torpedoing the Ark

Alienated Subtext and "Realistic" Style

Style as Vision: The Wild Duck, Child Abuse, and History

Eyolf's Eyes: Vision and Vengeance in Little Eyolf

Lykke and Tro: The Dramaturgy of Pleasure

Notes

Index
7 .

Divine Madness and the Absurd Paradox: Ibsen's Peer Gynt and the Philosophy of Kierkegaard
by Bruce G. Shapiro. 250 pgs.

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This book is a comprehensive study of Peer Gynt, a drama that forms the foundation of not only the entire Ibsen canon, but also of modern drama as a whole. It provides scene-by-scene commentary on the drama, showing how the literature and ideas of the drama resemble, and sometimes duplicate, the literature and philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard. The revelation of Kierkegaard's influence on Ibsen allows the contemporary reader to experience the essence of the drama in the context in which it made its first literary appearance.

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Title Page

Recent Titles In Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies

Copyright Acknowledgments

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction: A Critical History of Peer Gynt

Prologue: The Spheres

Part I Birth

1 Act One: The Dreamer

2 Act Two: The Troll

3 Act Three: Roundabout

Part Ii Departure

4 Act Four:: World-Historical Madness

Part Iii Retreat

5 Act Five: The Crossroads

Epilogue: The Image of Peer Gynt

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author
8 .

Psychological Models for Drama: Ibsen's 'Peer Gynt' and the Relational Self, in Mosaic (Winnipeg)
by Oliver Gerland. 19 pgs.

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9 .

On the Road to Realism with Asbjornsen and Moe, Peer Gynt and Henrik Ibsen, in Scandinavian Studies
by Merrill Kaplan. 17 pgs.

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10 .

Ibsen and Early Modernist Theatre, 1890-1900
by Kirsten Shepherd-Barr. 200 pgs.

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Best known as the author of such plays as A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen is one of the most influential figures of modern drama. During the 1890s, his works were staged by radically different avant-garde groups in England and France, a simultaneous cross-cultural exchange that demonstrated his centrality to early modernist activity both in the theatre and in other arts. This book locates the basis for an early modernist theatre in the new wave that Ibsen created internationally. Looking specifically at four Ibsen plays and their production and reception in England and France in the early 1890s, Shepherd-Barr examines Ibsen's seminal role in the radical artistic movements of this period.

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Title Page

Recent Titles in Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction Cross-Cultural Contexts: Ibsen's Modernism and the Theatre in England and France

Chapter One A Doll's House on Stage in London and Paris

Chapter Two A Doll's House and La Maison De Poupée: a Case Study in Translation

Notes

Chapter Three Rosmersholm: Toward New Realms of Art

Notes

Notes

Chapter Five The Master Builder: 'An Ibsen within an Ibsen'

Conclusion The Concept of Early Modernist Theatre in Theory and Practice

Bibliography

Index

About the Author
11 .

Archetype, Architecture and the Writer (Chap. One "Ibsen: The Master Builder: Emptiness, an Architectural Archetype")
by Bettina L. Knapp. 210 pgs.

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Contents

Introduction

One Ibsen: the Master Builder: Emptiness, an Architectural Archetype

Two Maeterlinck: the Intruder and Interior: An Architectural Archetype of Introversion

Three James: "The Jolly Corner": The Entrapped Shadow in the Archetypal House

Four Ansky: "The Tower of Rome" an Architectural Archetype of the Self-Made Man

Five Kafka: the Castle: The Archetypal Land Surveyor

Six Lorca: the House of Bernarda Alba: A Hermaphroditic Matriarchate

Seven Borges: "The Library of Babel": The Archetypal Hexagonal Gallery

Eight Fuentes: "In a Flemish Garden": A Parapsychological Happening in an Architectural Construct

Nine Wang Shih-Fu: the Romance of the Western Chamber: The Architectonic Archetype

Ten Mishima: the Temple of the Golden Pavilion: An Archetypal Feminine Sun and an Archetypal Masculine Moon

Conclusion

Notes

Index
12 .

The Apocalyptic Ibsen: When We Dead Awaken, in Twentieth Century Literature
by Elinor Fuchs. 9 pgs.

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13 .

Are Norwegians European? the Bohemians Say So!, in Journal of European Studies
by Anne G. Sabo. 19 pgs.

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14 .

The Three Ibsens: Memories of Henrik Ibsen, Suzannah Ibsen and Sigurd Ibsen
by Bergliot Ibsen, Gerik Schjelderup. 178 pgs.

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List of Illustrations

Foreword

Chapter I: Villa Ibsen, Seis on the Schlern, Southern Tyrol

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

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