Three Dramas: The Editor; The Bankrupt; The King

by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama

314 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1914

About the author

Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson was a Norwegian writer and the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate "as a tribute to 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."
Bjørnson is the author of the lyrics to the Norwegian National Anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet".

Reviews

[Ali Nazifpour · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Editor: About a young idealistic man who's gotten into politics, which puts him in tension with the family of his fiancée, who are scared of scandal, and the eponymous editor threatens to publish scurrilous articles about them. Not a great play, due to many flaws. It's melodramatic, didactic, and the edtior is very conscious that he's evil and has a half-assed redemption at the end. But it’s not that bad either, the interesting characters elevate it somehow. The father is a very well written character, who realistically justifies his own cowardice to himself, Gertrude (the fiancée) is a great character too, and the play overall gripping and entertaining.

The Bankrupt: A play about a businessman who goes bankrupt and how this affects his family life. I think this play is generally considered his best work, but for me the long dialogues about the nature of money were boring, and the characters and family dynamics weren't anything special either. It was a boring and mediocre play and I like "The Editor" much more.

The King: this was his best play in my opinion, although I personally wouldn't call it a masterpiece or great either. It's about a king who wants to be a reformist and is in love with the daughter of an imprisoned republican. Most of the play is spent in political debates and characters have a little room to breathe, but it's still a compelling drama which treats its political subject matter with nuance.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to read Bjørnson's plays without seeing foreshadowing of Ibsen, a playwright that I (and probably almost playgoer) will know much better. The Editor, in particular, is similar in theme to Ibsen's An Enemy of the People. In a life with a father who translated plays, including Ibsen, and with a partner who studied to be an academic with a specialism in Ibsen, I have never seen a production of a Bjørnson play and cannot even remember one being advertised. Things may be different in Norway, of course; he is their first Nobel Prize winning author after all.

The plays in this collection are, in my opinion, work better than the comedies in the companion volume, at least, for reading: given a sympathetic production, they may well be very worthwhile indeed.