Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson (Kvikne 1832 – Paris 1910) was a towering figure in late-19th-century Norway. As much a political activist as a poet/playwright, Bjørnson contributed a noticeable and often controversial voice to the public debate, dedicating himself to the great issues of his day, ranging from the death penalty, universal suffrage and gender equality to Norway’s status within the union with Sweden, the struggles surrounding reform of the Norwegian language and the drive for an independent Norwegian theatre. Looking beyond the Scandinavian borders, he defended the innocence of Alfred Dreyfus and threw himself into the breach for the rights of the Slovak minority in the Habsburg Empire. In his day he was a much acclaimed-author, both inside Norway and beyond, and is credited for having introduced Realism in Norwegian literature, in tandem with Henrik Ibsen. In 1903 he was the first Norwegian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

From the start of his artistic career Bjørnson had been deeply invested in the creation of an autonomous Norwegian theatrical tradition. Protesting against the dominance of Danish actors, and the use of Danish on the stage of the main playhouses, he organized whistle concerts at the Christiania Theatre in May 1856, following the theatre’s decision to appoint Danish actors instead of Norwegians. The following year he assumed the artistic directorship at Ole Bull’s Norske Theater in Bergen, a position he would hold until 1859. During his time there and a subsequent directorship at the Christiania Theatre between 1865 and 1867, he contributed significantly to the professionalization, and indeed nationalization, of Norwegian theatrical practice. Breaking the Danish hegemony also involved the development of an original Norwegian repertoire. In search of a national style, Bjørnson initially sought his inspiration in the King’s Sagas of Snorri Sturluson and in P.A. Munch’s work on medieval history, writing a series of national-history plays, including Mellem Slagene (1857), Kong Sverre (1861), Sigurd Slembe (1862), Sigurd Jorsalfar (1872; with musical accompaniment by Edvard Grieg) and Kong Eystein (1873).

Bjørnson’s early production was greatly informed by National Romanticism and hinged between his saga dramas on the one hand and his so-called bondefortellinger, or peasant novels, on the other, among which can be named his official literary debut Synnøve Solbakken from 1857 and the follow-ups Arne (1859) and En glad gutt (“A happy lad”, 1860). Though typically Romantic in his interest in folk life and peasant culture, Bjørnson eschewed idyllic idealizations and, in Realist fashion, addressed issues like alcoholism and domestic violence. This already pointed in the direction of the social dramas he would write from the 1870s onwards. In En fallitt (“A bankruptcy”) and Redaktøren (“The editor”), both from 1875, he addressed ethical questions in the worlds of business and the press; in the 1883 drama En handske (“A glove”) he targeted the sexual double  standards in society. Even more controversial was his Over ævne I (“Beyond powers I”) from the same year, which expressed a critical attitude towards questions of religion.

Two major works of poetry both appeared in 1870; the collection of earlier poems Digte og sange (“Poems and songs”) and the epic cycle Arnljot Gelline, based on Snorri’s saga of St Olaf. Bjørnson also wrote Norway’s de facto national anthem Ja, vi elsker dette landet (“Yes, we love this country”, final version 1864), which was put to music by his cousin Rikard Nordraak. It testified to his Pan-Scandinavian convictions by highlighting the historical brotherhood between the three Nordic nations. Bjørnson had taken part in the Pan-Scandinavian student meetings of 1856 in Kalmar, Uppsala and Stockholm; unlike Ibsen, he remained loyal to his Scandinavist ideals even after the disastrous outcome of the Second Dano-German War of 1864. For Bjørnson, Scandinavism was intrinsically linked to a larger Pan-Germanic programme in which a united Scandinavia would ultimately be absorbed into a greater Pan-German state. His personal Pan-Germanism brought him into trouble in Denmark when he phrased his opinions in a speech on the occasion of the passing of N.F.S. Grundtvig in 1872. In the ensuing scandal, Bjørnson was also heavily criticized in his home country, which made him decide to leave the country for a while. For longer periods in his life Bjørnson travelled through Europe and live abroad. Between 1860 and 1863 he lived in Rome, in 1880-81 he travelled to America, between 1882 and 1887 he lived in Paris.

Another public debate in which Bjørnson was deeply involved concerned the question of written Norwegian. Fundamentally opposed to the Landsmål movement that propagated a written standard based on rural dialects, Bjørnson instead championed the existing Dano-Norwegian standard, which he termed Riksmål. From 1899 onwards he spearheaded the opposition against the increasingly influential Landsmål movement, organizing it in 1907 under the banner of the Riksmålforbundet. His animosity towards Landsmål was not only motivated by practical objections, but also by a dislike of the nativist particularism of activists like Arne Garborg. Against this, Bjørnson propounded a more cosmopolitan perception of national culture, which, in his eyes, consisted of “whatever suits us, whether it originates from France or Hardanger”.