Norwegian Experts Edvard Hoem Lectures in STA 04-12-2009

At 1：30pm， Registrar’s Office and STA’s Academic Committee jointly hosted a school seminar， Nobel Prize Winner-Bjornstjerne Bjornson and His Theatre， in Red Building. Edvard Hoem， a specialist of Bjornstjerne Bjornson gave talk to the seminar and more than hundred teachers and students participated in the event.

Hoem talked about Bjornstjerne Bjornson’s life， works， the historical background and friendship between him and Ibsen. Bjornstjerne Bjornson is a renowned playwright， social activist of the same period of Ibsen and his work A Gauntlet won the 1903Nobel Prize.

He dedicated his life on fighting for national independence， the development of Norwegian culture. His works often reveal social issues of his time， and criticize the selfishness， hypocrisy， greed and other evil phenomenon of a capitalist society. However， the stories usually end by reconciliation， with a sense of a reformism.
 
Bjornstjerne Bjornson’s works cover a wide range of literary genres， including novel， poetry and drama. One of his novella Fiskerjenten (1868) was about a fisher maiden who went out of the fishing village and became an actress. His poem Yes We Love Our Homeland Forever has become the lyrics of Norway’s national anthem.

His main achievement was on playwriting， he wrote a total number of 21 plays. Between 1850s and 1860s，his focus was on historical play， e.g. Between the Battles（1857）， King Sverre（1861）， Sigurd the Bad（1862）， etc. In 70s he turned his focus to realistic plays， such as， The Bankrupt（1874）， The Editor（1875）、The King（1877）， The New System（1878）， Leonarda（1879）and A Gauntlet（1883）etc. Play The Bankrupt is about the businessman who struggled through the crisis and regained his wealth through hard work， the story exposed the greedy nature of the bourgeois.  Play A Gauntlet is about love， marriage and family， and reveals the inadequate status of females in capitalist society. Beyond Human（1883） is a symbolist play revealing religious fanaticism. The Sequel of Beyond Human depicts the conflict between the employers and employees.

In addition， Edvard Hoem analyzed and interpreted Bjornstjerne Bjornson’s play A Newly Married Couple.