Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson, De Nygifte [The Newly-Married Couple]

Kathy Rees (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.5: Norwegian Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London), Anja Tröger (University of Edinburgh)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1865

Places

Norway (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

Bjørnson’s stay in Paris in 1863, and his encounter with the work of Alfred de Musset, stimulated the writing of this play, regarded as the first Scandinavian bourgeois problem drama.

Act 1

When the play opens, Axel Hargaut has been married to Laura for only two days. He is living with her at the home of her parents, “one of the oldest and richest families in the country” (16). Laura is her parents’ “only joy”, for, as the Father declares, “God gave us five children; and he took away four from us” (22). Laura is, adds the Mother, “the spoilt child of our sorrow . . . she has never been away from us a single day since she was born” (22). Laura’…

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798 words

Citation: Rees, Kathy. "De Nygifte". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 June 2017 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=37453, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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