BJORNSON, byi.rn'son. 133(iRNSTJERNE ( 1832 —). A Norwegian poet. dramatist. and novelist. Ile was horn at Kvikne, December 8, 1832, the son of a T.utheran pastor. His childhood was passed in Kvikne, Romsdal, and Nolde, in noble scenery rich in legendary association. He left the Uni versity of Christiania for journalism, having al ready, as a student, written sketches and reviews of plays, and in 1858 published his first drama, Between the Battles, and his first novel, Syn Wire Solbakken, translated by Mary Howitt as Trust and Trial (1858). Ile was made director of the theatre in Bergen, and from 1860 to 1863 trav eled on a Government stipend, chiefly in Italy. He has since resided in Norway, with frequent visits to Paris, Rome, and Munieh. In the win ter of 1880-81 he lectured in the United States, Bjiiruson is the greatest distinctively Norwegian writer, so intensely national that the Danish critic Brandes says that "the mention of his name in a gathering of his countrymen is like running up the national flag." Ile is the chief novelist, probably the chief poet, and, with Ibsen, the chief dramatist of his country's history. For more than twenty years he has been a leader of the Republican Party in Norway. and has en gaged actively in social and religions contro versies. The change in the flag of Norway on January 1, 1901, with all that it symbolizes for independent national entity. is due to Bjiirnson more than to any other man. The poet and the seer has proved himself also a practical politician. As was natural, this has changed the character of his literary work. which was at first purely artis tic, but in the stress of controversy has tended to become didactic. The first period is distinctive ly lyric. Ilis plays of this time are sagas; his narrative epics idyllic., and imbedded in them are gems of smug, many widely popular and one 'national.' These were eollected in Poems and Songs (1870). and in that year appeared his only epie, Aral jot f;ellinc, founded on an epi sode in the Ilcimxkrinyla. Since then Bji;•uson has written little verse. lie had already dis tinguished himself in peasant novels and tales, e.g. Arne (1858). .t Happy Boy (1860), and The Fisher Maiden (18118), primitive pastorals, genuine yet modern. The dramas of these years are based on the native sagas, the best of them, Sigurd Slembe amid Sigurd Jorsalfar ( 1872 I , on the Ilciniskringla. Mary Stuart in Scotland
(1864) is an isolated exception, as is the prob lem play The Newly Wedded Pair (1866). This latter style is characteristic of the whole drama of the second period beginning with The Editor ( 1874 ) , and counting .t Bankruptcy (1875), The King (1877), Lconarda (1879), The Yeti:. Sy..;tem (1870), .1 (1883), gond Our Strength (1883), and Geography and Lore (1885). Of these. The King iv, the most radi cal. and thought by its author the most impor tant. The novels show the same evolution from The Bridal Ilarch (1873) through Magaltild (1877). Captain ilansana (1879), and Dust (1882), to the true problem novels The Heritage of the Hurts (Del Player1 (1884) and In God's Way (1889). the former dealing with redemption from heredity through education, the latter with bigotry and liberal thought. This brought on Bjornson the imprecations of the orthodox, though its aim was to exalt and purify religion. It is Bjornson's latest notable work. There are translations of lijiirnson's novels by Anderson, and of Sigurd Slembe by Payne (Boston). Con sult: Brandes, .Moderns Meister (Frankfort, 1897) ; Anderson. "Biographical Sketch." in Synnore Solbakken. translated by Anderson Boston, 1382) ; Gosse, "An Essay on the •rit ings of BjOrnson," in Bjornson, .Vorels (London, 1803): Boyesen. Essays on Scandinavian Litera ture (New York. 1805).
B.ToRNSTJERNA, MAGNUS FREDRIK, Count (1779-1847). A Swedish sol dier. and author. He was born in Dresden, where his father resided as secretary to the Swedish Legation. He received his edu cation in Germany, and joined the Swedish Army in 1793. He distinguished himself in the Fin nish War, and in 1813 was appointed colonel in the army that went to aid the Allies in Ger many; took part in the conflicts at Grossbeeren and Dennewitz; was present at Leipzig, and con cluded the formalities of capitulation with the French at Lubeck and Maestricht. Subsequently, he fought in Holstein. and in Norway, where he signed the treaty which united that country with Sweden. In 1828 he was appointed Ambas sador to the Court of Great Britain, which office be held till 1846. when he returned to Stockholm, where he died. In addition to some political writing., he published The Theogony, Philosophy, ond Cosmogony of the hindus (Stockholm, 1843).