The Norwegian author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832-1910) is best known for his plays, which treat both historical subjects and contemporary issues. He was influential in the revival of Norwegian as a literary language.

The son of a rural pastor, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was born on Dec. 8, 1832. In 1850 he went to Christiania (Oslo) to cram for the university entrance examinations but soon gave up his studies to live by his pen. On a trip to Sweden in 1856, Bjørnson was filled with "historical envy" when he saw the monuments to Sweden's past greatness. He determined to create a Norwegian "ancestors' gallery," historical dramas about Norway's saga heroes. At the same time he wanted to show that the Norwegians of the sagas were the spiritual ancestors of the present generation, so he conceived the idea of alternating saga dramas with stories about modern...