Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne, 1832-1910 -- Translations into English; Comedy plays
A Gauntlet (finished in 1883) shows a great advance in dramatic
technique. The whole is closely knit and coherent, and the problems
involved are treated with an exhaustiveness that is equally fair to both
sides. As has been already said, the plays that had preceded it from
Bjornson's pen aroused such active controversy that he found it at first
impossible to get A Gauntlet produced in his own country. Its first
performance was in Hamburg, in 1883, and for that the author modified
and altered it greatly. Eventually it was played, in its original form,
in the Scandinavian countries, and in its turn stirred up a bitter
controversy on the ethics of male and female morality as regards
marriage. It was currently said that hundreds of contemplated marriages
were broken off in Norway as an effect of its statement of a vital
problem. The remodelling the play originally underwent for its
performance in Germany was drastic. The second and third acts were
entirely recast, the character of Dr. Nordan was omitted and others
introduced, and the ending was changed. The first version was, however,
evidently the author's favourite, and it is that that is presented
here. Bjornson never published the recast version, and in the "memorial
edition" of his works it is the present version that is given. The
recast version was translated into English by Mr. Osman Edwards and
produced (in an "adapted" and mangled form, for which the translator was
not responsible) at the Royalty Theatre in London in 1894.
R. FARQUHARSON SHARP.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
DRAMATIC AND POETIC WORKS.--Mellem Slagene (Between the Battles), 1857.
Halte-Hulda (Lame Hulda), 1858. Kong Sverre (King Sverre), 1861. Sigurd
Slembe (Sigurd the Bastard), 1862; translated by W. M. Payne, 1888.
Maria Stuart i Skotland, 1864. De Nygifte (The Newly-Married Couple),
1865; translated by T. Soelfeldt, 1868; by S. and E. Hjerleid, 1870; as
A Lesson in Marriage, by G. I. Colbron, 1911. Sigurd Jorsalfar (Sigurd
the Crusader), 1872. Redaktoeren (The Editor), 1874. En Fallit (A
Bankruptcy), 1874. Kongen (The King), 1877. Leonarda, 1879. Det
ny System (The New System), 1879. En Hanske, 1883; translated as A
Gauntlet, by H. L. Braekstad 1890; by Osman Edwards 1894. Over AEvne
(Beyond our Strength), Part I., 1883; translated as Pastor Sang, by
W. Wilson, 1893; Part II., 1895. Geografi og Kaerlighed (Geography and
Love), 1885; Paul Lange og Tora Parsberg, 1898; translated by H. L.
Braekstad, 1899. Laboremus, 1901; translation published by Chapman and
Hall, 1901. Paa Storhove (At Storhove), 1904; Daglannet, 1904; Naar den
ny Vin blomstrer (When the Vineyards are in Blossom), 1909.
Digte og Sange (Poems and Songs), 1870; Arnljot Gelline, 1870.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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