Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-09-09
TO VISIT AMERICA.
sJoeNsTJsRNE eJoRNsoN SOON TO
APPEAR IN THIS COUNTRY
Thinks Out His Plots In Detail before
Putting Them ON Papsr--Attracfions NJ
the Play Housc.--stage Gossip.


There is paper In recent hufnper
OF Temple Bar. which Is particularly IN
teresting in view OF the imminent ap-
pearance Of It's subject. Bjornstjorne
Bjornson on the American stage. The
article takes the form Of notes upon
Henrik Ibsen and his almost equally
famous Norwegian brother dramatist.
OF Ibsen we know enough-some might
say too much. so far as America Is
concerned. he has finished his work, his
mission Is accomplished, he has effected
a bloodless revolution, and. possessing
and rejecting in his plays a repellant
personality. he will rapidly be super
seeded by men and minds OF larger sym
pathy and greater charm.
But OF Bjornson little has yet been
heard. As the tender writer OF those
touching stories of boy and girl life
"Arne and the Fisher Lasse"-and that
powerful study of provincialism, I'm Gods
Way" he IS familiar to such as follow
Mr.. Gossies guidance in the fields OF
literature: but the man himself Is as
shadowy parsonage to the general reader
as the Great Mogul. These chatty notes.
therefore. come very apropos, and the
thumb-nall portrait they present will add
10 the interest Inspired by his work.
Rjornson, Il is related. writes all tho
morning until about O'Clock. al which
hour the family dimes. and after that he
considers the chief part Of his days work
done. He is not at all methodical ana
tidy like Ibsen; but, then. he has not
SO much time on his hands. His whole
life IS a rush from morning I'll night.
Bi0rnson always likes 10 be alone when
he is writing, and In each OF hts little
country seats he has his own writing
room and large. plain table. lie thinks
out all his scenes and situations, and even
decides up0n a conversation OF his charac-
ters before he puts pen to paper ana
during all this planning and arranging
he always walks about. Up and down.
backwards and forwards. he trudge-.
mutteriug 10 himself but when be has
once decided on chapter and verse' he
sits down and dashes II of with great
rap.dity. resulting in some very untdy
and ilegible manuscript, about when
some very curious stories are told. But
for his wife. tn printer would probably
never declpher what he writes. but Frau
BiornsOn copies nearly everything for her
husband and then he corrects and alters
IL. and she copies it all over again before
it goes to press.
Nr. Sydney Grundy has submitted =
the interviewer and revealed a number
of interesting facts relative 70 his work.
He has written every kind Of drama, but
one pantomine. Unlike most OF MS
brother playwrights, and extraordinary
unlike NJ. Sardou. whose lead Mr.. Grumpy
follows in belauding the "well-mlie play,
he uses neither note nor scrap-Oook. II"
cannot dictate. nor can he write out OF
London. nor can he end'te a secretary.
What his brain suggests. his Nyn han
must record: and, promising that soil
tude Is essential-upon which point he IS
quite as emphatic as Mr.. William Black
who cannot be disturbed even for the
harmless necessary lunch or dinncr-h.
thinks that three weeks or 50 Of cont.nu-
Gus work will carry him through any
drama which he has carefully tS)usht
out beforehand.
For fourteen years Mr.. Grundy had
been writing for the stage with varying
success, when in 1876 Mr.. Wilson Barrett
brought him the plot Of Clito and enlisted
him as coliaborator upon that uhai
ciated tragedy. Cllto proved a s'e'Iihs-
stone TO success II put no fortune "'y
his own managers pocket, p9t II 'uI 'eI
the eyes OF managers to"|IuS us Pi
author VINO mas Desh III '''''-iu 0'''
since.
Mr.. Grundy sees no prospect OF writing
MS lQedi pay II t"th'N yeats I'"'' io'
the stage mas taught MIN any lhlhs' "
has taught MN. NJ considers, 10 "ouD'
the utlIl'y oil NrItlhg Simply !" piedST "'"l'
self. ms point ne dl1 not press holUe'
as he might have done \ mere com
parson OF the income or the dramaust'
asslduoUsly toilins after his ideals win
that Of the playwright who's aim IS
70 please the masses, would nave pointed
the moral and adorned the interview.
But peep into my scrap-book Will supply
the figures.