Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/753

NORWEGIAN LITERATURE. 641 NORWEGIAN LITERATURE. After the acces.sion of Olaf, the .son of Marga- ret, ill 13S(t, Norwegian liistory for four centuries beeoiiies IJaaisli history. Under Daiiisli ruU' Nor- way umlerwent complete national extinction and hecanie but a province of Denmark. Even the Keformation failed to arouse her from this letliari;y, and not until 1814. when Norway was ceded to Sweden by the Peace of Kiel, was there evidence of a national awakening. The literary history of this whole period in Norway coincides with the history of Danish literature, with which it is inseparably connected. After the Eufeiniuvisur of about 1300, so called from the Cerniau <|iieen of Haakon llagnusson, who had these paraphrases of German originals — Jii-ci/i, Duke Frederick of y'orinaiidy, and Flore and ISlanclieflur — made in the Norwegian lan- guage, there is no poetry until the period of learning subsequent to the Reformation. The first names at this time are Peder Dass (1647- 1708), and Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter (1035- 171U). The former, a Norwegian clergyman, wrote secular and religious poems which have made him to this day the favorite poet of the conunon i>eople of Norway. The names that fol- low are those of Norwegians, but, as has been indicated, their place is in Danish and not in Norwegian literature. This is true of Ludvig Holberg (1084-1754), the father of the Danish drama; of Kristian Biaumann Tullin (1728- 170.1), the poet of nature; of Johan Herman Wes- sel (1742-1785), the dramatist and poet, after Kwald. the second great name in the literature of the so-called 'Age of Enlightenment.' An important factor in the development of a national Norwegian literature, as it Avas a matter of the greatest significance for Danish literature itself, was the formation of the Norske Selsknb, or ■Norwegian Society,' in Copenhagen, in 1772. The intentions of the 'Society' were by no means to make propaganda for things Norwegian, as opposed to things Danish, but it is interesting to note that among its members are a numljer of poets who already exhibited a distinctly national feeling, which in choice of material and natural environment, and in inherent spirit, is not Dan- ish, but Norwegian. The Norwegian jioets of the period — .Johan Nordal Brun (1745-1810). who wrote Zarina, the first Danish tragedy produced on the stage, and some of the most pojiular of the patriotic songs of Norway; Claus Fasting (1740-01), distinguished for liis epigrams and criticism; Claus Frimann (1740-1820); Envold Falsen (1755-1808) — important as they were, have but little meaning at the present time. Edvard Storm (1749-94), who wrote ballads and srings in Norwegian peasant dialect, some of which are known throughout Norway to this day, was the only Norwegian writer of importance who held to the Danish side of this controversy, which so strikingly marks the last days of what may be called the Danish period in the literary history of Norway. The actual history of Norwegian literature as a prodiK't in Norway of purely national condi- tions finds its beginning at the time of the separa- tion of the Kingdom, in 1814. from Denmark. The 'Xorwegian Society' presently changed the scene of its activity from Copenhagen to Christiania, but. althciiigh its traditions subseipientiv influ- enced popular taste, it never afterwards played an active part in literature. The first poetry which arose under these new conditions in Nor- way was vehemently patriotic, and is called by the Norwegians themselves, from the day of the adoption of the Norwegian Constitution, tSiitteit- deiiHii-l'oe.si, the "iioctry of tile 17th of May.' From anuiiig the numerous writers of the time three only, the so-called 'Trefoil,' may be men- tioned as of especial significance, the lyric poet C. N. Sehwach ( 1703-1 8(i0) , the poet and dramat- ist H. A. Bjerregaard ( 1702-1842) , and the novel- ist Mauritz Christoll'er Hansen (1704-1842), whose best work is contained in his .stories of jjeasant life. The first great poet of modern Norway, Henrik Wergeland (1808-45), became, as no other w-riter in Norway before him, the poet of the people. His fir.st great success was achieved with a volume of lyrics, published in 1829. In 1830 appeared the long dramatic poem Skabelsen, Menncskal og Messias, "The Creation, Man, and Messiah," which drew out, in 1832, a pamphlet on "Henrik Wergeland's Poetic Art and Poetry," by Johan Sebastian Welhaven (1807-73), mercilessly attacking him for his sins of poetical commission. The controversy between the two poets, at first personal, subsequently as- sumed a wider character and presently divided the whole country into a mUional and a critical faction, the one the embodiment of the pro- Norwegian spirit of the 17th of May, the other the party of 'intelligence,' which looked to per- petuate what were in reality the hereditary ten- dencies of the 'Norwegian Society.' and to de- velop Norxvegian culture harmoniously with that of Europe and especially that of Denmark. The contest was waged even more violently after the publication, in 1834, of Welhaven's polemical poem, a cycle of sonnets called .Vor^fs. Dd'mring, "Norway's Twilight," in which he vigorously censured the mistaken zeal of the ultra-national faction which Wergeland represented. The battle was ultimatel}- to Welhaven and his followers, who had, in point of fact, revolutionized the esthetic taste of Norway, and by the introduction of a sound criticism had determined the direction of its future literary development. Welhaven, between 1830 and 1850. published numerous lyrical poems. His critical prose is among the finest that Norway has ever produced. Werge- land's best work was done after the downfall of his fortunes and his popularity. His last poem. Den engelske Lods, The English Pilot," is his greatest. Andreas Munch (1811-84), poet and dramatist, followed the direction pointed out by Welhaven. His first work of importance was the romance Den Eensomme, "The Solitary," pub- lished in 1846. His Billcder frci Xord og Syd, "Pictures from North and South," is considered one of the best jirose works in the language. Important for its bearing upon the develop- ment of a national literature in Norway was the attention that was presently paid to the wealth of native material contained in the old folk-tales and popular poetry, which has been preserved among the peasantry in great abun- dance, and under the peculiar conditions of the country has retained an essentially national char- acter in manner and matter. The principal workers in this field at the beginning were the naturalist Peter Christian Asbjcirnsen (1812- 85) and Ji'irgen Moe ( 1813-82) . who published conjointly, in 1841, Nomke Folke-Evenliir, "Nor- wegian Popular Tales." Asbjiirnsen published subsequently Norske Huldre- Event yr og Folke-