Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson, Det Ny System [The New System]

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 1879

Places

Norway (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

This play is primarily social satire, a psychological analysis of the effect of the “small state” on its citizens. We never learn what the “new system” actually is, although engineering terms are used to create a semblance of it. It is a metaphor for a business philosophy which is based on lies and bravado. Attempts to expose the system have been discredited, until a fresh voice from America intervenes, prepared to stand up to vested interests at any cost.

The play opens with a discussion between Karl Ravn, a formerly enthusiastic and confident railroad engineer who is now embittered and cynical, and Hans Kampe, recently returned from a seven-year period in America, and full of ambitious new ideas. A…

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1106 words

Citation: Rees, Kathy. "Det Ny System". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 October 2017 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38799, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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