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Semmelweis
Drama. Translated from the Norwegian and with an introduction by Joe Martin. Novelist and essayist Jens Bjrneboe turned to playwriting during the 1960's, as a genre in which he might "stage his literary assault on hierarchical society with an aggressive, extroverted form of theater." (from the Introduction) This play had its world premier in Oslo in 1969, and recounts the tragic history of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, the founder of modern antiseptic techniques, whose biography illustrates "the pitfalls and even horrors of the man or woman of science who is naively in search of truth and improvement in the human condition, in a society that reveres prestige and power and its own received belief systems to the exclusion of any new 'truths." (from the Introduction) Brechtian in style and somewhat anarchic in its politics, SEMMELWEIS provides a biting critique of obtuse authority.
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
53 people want to read
About the author
Jens Bjørneboe
63 books185 followersJens Ingvald Bjørneboe was a Norwegian writer whose work spanned a number of literary formats. He was also a painter and a waldorf school teacher. Bjørneboe was a harsh and eloquent critic of Norwegian society and Western civilization on the whole. He led a turbulent life and his uncompromising humanity would 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.
Jens Bjørneboe's first published work was Poems (Dikt) in 1951. He is widely considered to be one of Norway's most important post-war authors. Bjørneboe identified himself, among other self-definitions, as an anarcho-nihilist.
During the Norwegian language struggle, Bjørneboe was a notable proponent of the Riksmål language, together with his equally famous cousin André Bjerke.
Jens Bjørneboe was born in 1920, in Kristiansand to Ingvald and Anna Marie Bjørneboe. He grew up in a wealthy family, his father a shipping magnate and a consul for Belgium. The Bjørneboe family originally immigrated from Germany in the 17th century and later adopted their Norwegian name. Coming from a long line of marine officers, Bjørneboe also went to sea as a young man.
Bjørneboe 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.
In 1943 Bjørneboe 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.
Bjørneboe's early work was poetry, and his first book was Poems (Dikt, 1951), consisting mainly of deeply religious poetry.
Bjørneboe wrote a number of socially critical novels. Among those were Ere the Cock Crows (Før Hanen Galer, 1952), Jonas (1955) and The Evil Shepherd (Den Onde Hyrde, 1960). Ere the Cock Crows is a critique of what Bjørneboe 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 Øyeblikk, 1966), Powderhouse (Kruttårnet, 1969) and The Silence (Stillheten, 1973).
Bjørneboe 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 tråd, 1966), which was confiscated and banned in Norway. The trial, however, made the book a huge success in foreign editions, and Bjørneboe's financial problems were (for a period) solved.
His last major work was the novel The Sharks (Haiene, 1974).
After having struggled with depression and alcoholism for a long time, he committed suicide by hanging on May 9, 1976.[2]
In his obituary in Aftenposten, Bjørneboe's life and legacy were described as follows:
"For 25 years Jens Bjørneboe was a center of unrest in Norwegian cultural life: Passionately concerned with contemporary problems in nearly all their aspects, controversial and with the courage to be so, with a conscious will to carry things to extremes. He was not to be pigeonholed. "
Jens Bjørneboe's first published work was Poems (Dikt) in 1951. He is widely considered to be one of Norway's most important post-war authors. Bjørneboe identified himself, among other self-definitions, as an anarcho-nihilist.
During the Norwegian language struggle, Bjørneboe was a notable proponent of the Riksmål language, together with his equally famous cousin André Bjerke.
Jens Bjørneboe was born in 1920, in Kristiansand to Ingvald and Anna Marie Bjørneboe. He grew up in a wealthy family, his father a shipping magnate and a consul for Belgium. The Bjørneboe family originally immigrated from Germany in the 17th century and later adopted their Norwegian name. Coming from a long line of marine officers, Bjørneboe also went to sea as a young man.
Bjørneboe 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.
In 1943 Bjørneboe 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.
Bjørneboe's early work was poetry, and his first book was Poems (Dikt, 1951), consisting mainly of deeply religious poetry.
Bjørneboe wrote a number of socially critical novels. Among those were Ere the Cock Crows (Før Hanen Galer, 1952), Jonas (1955) and The Evil Shepherd (Den Onde Hyrde, 1960). Ere the Cock Crows is a critique of what Bjørneboe 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 Øyeblikk, 1966), Powderhouse (Kruttårnet, 1969) and The Silence (Stillheten, 1973).
Bjørneboe 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 tråd, 1966), which was confiscated and banned in Norway. The trial, however, made the book a huge success in foreign editions, and Bjørneboe's financial problems were (for a period) solved.
His last major work was the novel The Sharks (Haiene, 1974).
After having struggled with depression and alcoholism for a long time, he committed suicide by hanging on May 9, 1976.[2]
In his obituary in Aftenposten, Bjørneboe's life and legacy were described as follows:
"For 25 years Jens Bjørneboe was a center of unrest in Norwegian cultural life: Passionately concerned with contemporary problems in nearly all their aspects, controversial and with the courage to be so, with a conscious will to carry things to extremes. He was not to be pigeonholed. "
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 11, 2025
ATT: You are reading a pro forma (At-Best Partial, Really) Transmission from the Godhead of Retroactive Reviews, 2025 ed.
I have no idea why I didn’t write anything about ______. It was _________ and _________ that, possibly, I was at a rare loss for words. Maybe? Or maybe I was halfway there and livin’ on a prayer? I can’t remember; hey, it’s been a few since ___________ and I crossed paths. JBJ still pretends like we weren’t a thing. Sigh…
(If you’re reading this, this is a form letter—a placeholder, if you must—done retroactively as a stop-gag corrective of historical wrongs I committed by failing to uphold my end of the book-reader compact. That compact, my own, dictates that I record SOMETHING/ANYTHING (not a Rundgren reference, but…) to mark my engagement with a given novel/work/etc. at a fixed time in my personal life history. These ‘reviews’ are not really reviews (no shit, I know) at all; their purpose is that they act as pretty accurate reflections of where my head/heart was at the time of engagement. It’s something between the book and I, and a good way to check your hubris from time-to-time. If you find any part of it enriching, that’s a wild compliment. If not, you can just feel free to move along—I can almost guarantee that no offense was genuinely intended. Almost.)
So, clearly, __________ pretty much made me _________ and, if pressed, _____________. I don’t know how much more obvious I can make this: _________ is so fucking _______ that it is, for want, ______________ and stridently at that. The _______? Yes/no. Absolutely/maybe. Good/bad times—ahhhh, this is really bringing back some sweet memories. Anyhow, _____________ by ____ _________ obviously deserves a reread to inform a proper write-up. In between now and whenever that reread happens (foregoing death or the unspeakable befalling New Jersey), all I can say is ___________________.
I know. That’s why I’ll be back. Sssshhhhhhh…(yes, my finger can be moved away from your lips; I’m sorry.)
X Cody
10.25
I have no idea why I didn’t write anything about ______. It was _________ and _________ that, possibly, I was at a rare loss for words. Maybe? Or maybe I was halfway there and livin’ on a prayer? I can’t remember; hey, it’s been a few since ___________ and I crossed paths. JBJ still pretends like we weren’t a thing. Sigh…
(If you’re reading this, this is a form letter—a placeholder, if you must—done retroactively as a stop-gag corrective of historical wrongs I committed by failing to uphold my end of the book-reader compact. That compact, my own, dictates that I record SOMETHING/ANYTHING (not a Rundgren reference, but…) to mark my engagement with a given novel/work/etc. at a fixed time in my personal life history. These ‘reviews’ are not really reviews (no shit, I know) at all; their purpose is that they act as pretty accurate reflections of where my head/heart was at the time of engagement. It’s something between the book and I, and a good way to check your hubris from time-to-time. If you find any part of it enriching, that’s a wild compliment. If not, you can just feel free to move along—I can almost guarantee that no offense was genuinely intended. Almost.)
So, clearly, __________ pretty much made me _________ and, if pressed, _____________. I don’t know how much more obvious I can make this: _________ is so fucking _______ that it is, for want, ______________ and stridently at that. The _______? Yes/no. Absolutely/maybe. Good/bad times—ahhhh, this is really bringing back some sweet memories. Anyhow, _____________ by ____ _________ obviously deserves a reread to inform a proper write-up. In between now and whenever that reread happens (foregoing death or the unspeakable befalling New Jersey), all I can say is ___________________.
I know. That’s why I’ll be back. Sssshhhhhhh…(yes, my finger can be moved away from your lips; I’m sorry.)
X Cody
10.25
February 18, 2024
Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis opdagede i midten af 1800-tallet, i det stokkonservative videnskabelige miljø i Wien hvor tusindvis af kvinder døde på fødeafdelinger af barselsfeber, at obduktioner og fødsler foretaget af de samme læger, som ikke vaskede hænder, var årsagen til den høje dødelighed blandt fødende kvinder.
Dette var i en tid hvor bakterier og andre usynlige sygdomsbærere endnu ikke var opdaget eller anerkendt. Hvor forslaget om at læger skulle rengøre deres hænder ikke blot blev skeptisk modtaget, men militant og aggressivt latterliggjort og skudt til sakmme.
Jens Bjørneboes teaterstykke handler om Semmelweis opdagelse og livslange kamp mod stædige videnskabelige autoriteter. Han bliver behandlet som idiot af de mest anerkendte videnskabsmænd, som påstår at rengøring er "uvidenskabeligt og for den beskidte underklasse", at "rigtige akademikere er renlige i sjælen og derfor ikke trænger vaske hænder!". De påstår ligeledes at barselsfeberen er en "kvindesygdom" og at kvinder ikke har seksuelle lyster af nogen som helst slags, hvilket kan bevidnes i sex med overklassens kvinder, som ofte finder stærk ubehag ved samleje, som jo er meningen (!!!).
Det er helt forrykt at tænkte på den modstand Semmelweis mødte. Alle saglige beviser og statistikker blev ignoreret og skudt ned. Magteliten ville ikke indse sandheden, som var at deres ignorance havde dræbt tusindvis af kvinder, unødvendigt.
Bjørneboe sætter stykket op for at vise hvordan vi i enhver tid må trodse autoriteter og indlejrede idéer for at fremme verden. Han vælger en "ramme" for stykket af studenter der gør oprør [stykket er fra 1968], som virkede ret klodset. Der er desuden et "overforklarende" forord om hvad stykket vil. Den pædagogiske tilgang klæder ikke stykket, som står fint på egne ben.
Et vigtigt blik på hvordan autoritær tro virker og har virket i historien hvor det historiske indhold er stærkere end den litterære udtryksform.
Dette var i en tid hvor bakterier og andre usynlige sygdomsbærere endnu ikke var opdaget eller anerkendt. Hvor forslaget om at læger skulle rengøre deres hænder ikke blot blev skeptisk modtaget, men militant og aggressivt latterliggjort og skudt til sakmme.
Jens Bjørneboes teaterstykke handler om Semmelweis opdagelse og livslange kamp mod stædige videnskabelige autoriteter. Han bliver behandlet som idiot af de mest anerkendte videnskabsmænd, som påstår at rengøring er "uvidenskabeligt og for den beskidte underklasse", at "rigtige akademikere er renlige i sjælen og derfor ikke trænger vaske hænder!". De påstår ligeledes at barselsfeberen er en "kvindesygdom" og at kvinder ikke har seksuelle lyster af nogen som helst slags, hvilket kan bevidnes i sex med overklassens kvinder, som ofte finder stærk ubehag ved samleje, som jo er meningen (!!!).
Det er helt forrykt at tænkte på den modstand Semmelweis mødte. Alle saglige beviser og statistikker blev ignoreret og skudt ned. Magteliten ville ikke indse sandheden, som var at deres ignorance havde dræbt tusindvis af kvinder, unødvendigt.
Bjørneboe sætter stykket op for at vise hvordan vi i enhver tid må trodse autoriteter og indlejrede idéer for at fremme verden. Han vælger en "ramme" for stykket af studenter der gør oprør [stykket er fra 1968], som virkede ret klodset. Der er desuden et "overforklarende" forord om hvad stykket vil. Den pædagogiske tilgang klæder ikke stykket, som står fint på egne ben.
Et vigtigt blik på hvordan autoritær tro virker og har virket i historien hvor det historiske indhold er stærkere end den litterære udtryksform.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews