Background
As you might guess from a name with this many slashed o’s, Bjørnsterne was Norwegian. He was part of the so called “Four Greats” in Norwegian writing of the 19th century. While Henrik Ibsen is the best known, Bjørnson was part of the Norwegian Nobel committee…and as you’ll find out, having a connection with powerful people helps a little. Still Bjørnson was a quality writer, and was particularly lauded for “his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit” (which is saying something as he only wrote one book of poetry. There were lots of essays, newspaper articles, and some plays and books, but the poetry was all I could find at the library)
Works
From: “Song for Norway”
Yes, we love this land that towers
1859 (This also became the Norwegian National Anthem)
Where the ocean foams;
Rugged, storm-swept, it embowers
Many thousand homes.
Love it, love it, of you thinking
Father, mother dear,
And that night of saga sinking
Dreamful to us here.
From: “Norway, Norway!”
Norway, Norway,
Rising in blue from the sea’s gray and green,
Islands around like fledglings tender,
Fjord-tongues with slender,
Tapering tips in the silence seen.
Rivers, valleys,
Mate among mountains wood-ridge and slope
Wandering follow. Where the wastes lighten,
Lake and plain brighten,
Hallow a temple of peace and hope.
Norway, Norway
Houses and huts, not castles grand,
Gentle or hard,
Thee we guard, thee we guard,
Thee our future’s fair land.
Message
As you can tell, Bjørnson’s primary message is that Norway is awesome (also awesome…if my translation is right, his name translates to “Bear-star Bear-son”). One of his primary ways of getting there is through the realism that marks him and the other Four Greats. His writing names some of the best things around and how it moves him. Digging deeper into his work we might say that his message is that the world and the space around us is powerful, beautiful and inspiring just as it is, and to appreciate what there is. (Not unlike JM Coetzee…only older and more unkempt)
Position: #8 Central Midfielder
Bjørnson does not exactly strike me as a great or inspiring writer that I want to go back to. But it’s clear that he loved his country and wanted to be a leader in the arena of politics, literature, diplomacy, and just about everything. It makes him seem a bit like the noisiest voice in your recess pick up game, even if he is far from the best player out there. He would run here, there, and everywhere, like a box-to-box midfielder who is a bit past their prime. (And obviously, since he’s all about Norway, I put his crest in the Rosenborg White and Black.)
I realize that this critique is probably going to rile up Norwegian literary scholars (they are one of my biggest demographics). So by all means bring on your arguments to the contrary!
Next Time:
We’ve gone throughout the year with seven reviews (one for every twenty years). I’m tempted to start going in ten year increments (all the old nominee posts were done and dusted by the end of June)…but I’d like to make sure that I can keep this pace up before I commit. So we’ll stay in 20 year increments to prepare for the 2024 honoree next fall. But there will be extra posts because there was a double laureate in 1904 (Shocked face).
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