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FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia
Jens Bjrneboe
Born
9 October 1920
Kristiansand, Norway
Died
Occupation
Nationality
Norwegian
Period
19511976
Children
Therese Bjrneboe
Relatives
Jens Ingvald Bjrneboe (9 October 1920 9 May 1976) was a Norwegian writer whose
work spanned a number of literary formats. He was also a painter and a Waldorf
school teacher. Bjrneboe was a harsh and eloquent critic of Norwegian society
and Western civilization on the whole. He led a turbulent life and his uncompromising
opinions cost him both an obscenity conviction as well as long periods of heavy
drinking and bouts of depression, which in the end led to his suicide.[1]
Jens Bjrneboe's first published work was Poems (Dikt) in 1951. He is widely considered
to be one of Norway's most important post-war authors. Bjrneboe identified himself,
among other self-definitions, as an anarcho-nihilist.[1]
During the Norwegian language struggle, Bjrneboe was a notable proponent of
the Riksml language, together with his equally famous cousin Andr Bjerke.[1]
Contents
[hide]
1Early life
2Literary career
4Bibliography
o
4.1Novels
4.2Plays
4.3Poem collections
4.4Essay collections
5References
6External links
Early life[edit]
Jens Bjrneboe was born in 1920, in Kristiansand to Ingvald and Anna Marie Bjrneboe.
He grew up in a wealthy family, his father a shipping magnate and a consul for Belgium.
The Bjrneboe family originally immigrated from Germany in the 17th century and later
adopted their Norwegian name. Coming from a long line of marine officers, Bjrneboe
also went to sea as a young man.[1]
Bjrneboe had a troubled childhood with sickness and depressions. He was bedbound
for several years following severe pneumonia. At thirteen he attempted suicide
by hanging himself. He began drinking when he was twelve, and he would often consume
large amounts of wine when his parents were away. It is also rumored that he drank his
father's aftershave on several occasions.[1]
In 1943 Bjrneboe fled to Sweden to avoid forced labor under the Nazi occupation.
During this exile, he met the German Jewish painter Lisel Funk, who later became his
first wife. Lisel Funk introduced him to many aspects of German culture, especially
German literature and the arts.[1]
Literary career[edit]
Bjrneboe's early work was poetry, and his first book was Poems (Dikt, 1951), consisting
mainly of deeply religious poetry.
Bjrneboe wrote a number of socially critical novels. Among those were Ere the Cock
Crows (Fr Hanen Galer, 1952), Jonas (1955) and The Evil Shepherd (Den Onde Hyrde,
1960). Ere the Cock Crows is a critique of what Bjrneboe saw as the harsh treatment,
after the Second World War, of people suspected of having associated in any way with
the Nazis (among them the Norwegian writer and Nobel Prize in Literature winner Knut
Hamsun). Jonas deals with injustices and shortcomings of the school system and The
Evil Shepherd with the Norwegian prison system.
His most significant work is generally considered to be the trilogy The History of
Bestiality, consisting of the novels Moment of Freedom (Frihetens yeblikk,
1966), Powderhouse (Kruttrnet, 1969) and The Silence (Stillheten, 1973).
Bjrneboe also wrote a number of plays, among them The Bird Lovers (Fugleelskerne,
1966), Semmelweis (1968) and Amputation (Amputasjon, 1970), a collaboration
with Eugenio Barba and the Danish theatre ensemble Odin Teatret.
In 1967, he was convicted for publishing a novel deemed pornographic, Without a
Stitch (Uten en trd, 1966), which was confiscated and banned in Norway. The trial,
however, made the book a huge success in foreign editions, and Bjrneboe's financial
problems were (for a period) solved.
His last major work was the novel The Sharks (Haiene, 1974).
Bibliography[edit]
Novels[edit]
Jonas (1955)
The Dream and the Wheel (Drmmen og hjulet, 1964), about author Ragnhild
Jlsen
The Sharks (Haiene, 1974) (translated by Esther Greenleaf Mrer, Norvik Press /
Dufour, 1992)
Plays[edit]
Poem collections[edit]
Ariadne (1953)
Essay collections[edit]
References[edit]
1.
2.
Jump up^ Cody, Gabrielle H.; Sprinchorn, Evert (2007). "Bjrneboe, Jens
Ingvald (1920-1976)". The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama. 1. Columbia
University Press. pp. 161162. ISBN 978-0-231-14422-3. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
3.