Norwegian Literature - National Romantic Period

National Romantic Period

By the late 19th century, in a flood of nationalistic romanticism, the great four emerged, Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Alexander Kielland, and Jonas Lie. A unity of purpose pervades the whole period, creation of a national culture based on the almost forgotten and certainly neglected past, as well as celebration of the Bonde Kultur or Norwegian farm culture. The realism of Kielland (e.g., Skipper Worse) gave way to the romantic and nationalistic spirit which swept Europe rekindled and the Norwegian interest in their glorious Viking past (e.g., Ibsen's The Vikings at Helgeland), the struggles of the Middle Ages (e.g., Ibsen's Lady Inger of Østeraad), peasant stories (e.g., Bjørnson's A Happy Boy) and the wonders of myths and folks tales of the mountains (e.g., Ibsen's Peer Gynt) and the sea (e.g., Lie's The Visionary).