The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-05-23
A PICTURESQUE FIGURE
Ibsen Rose from Poverty to Affuencs
by Hard Work.

For the last thirty years the most pic
turesque figure in old-world literature,
Henrik Ibsen, was at once an inveterate
poseur and a n,isanthrope.
To visit Christiania and not see
1bsen,' wrote tourist, "would be like
the pyramids and the sphinx - .
Processing idealism, known among
his friends as solitary man, indus
trious in his literary work, the Morse
dramatist long held a peculiar position.
No one was more numerically criti-
cised, and no one more enthusiastically
lauded. A stormcenter Of the literature
by the opponents Of his theories and
lavishly praised by his followers, the
latter contending that he was man
destined to revolutionize the world Of
thought and change the vital princi-
Piles and institutions Of society.
Ibsen was born in 1928 in little
coast town named Skien, near Chris
tiania. After his father 3 death, while
still lad, obliged to take. care of him
gist at Grimstad, having already mas
tered the elementary branches and &C.
quired a fair knowledge Of Latin. When
still very young he wrote scathing sa-
tires and made cruel caricatures Of his
fellow citizens that rendered him un-
popular.
His FIRST Play a Failure. ....
While reading Cicero and sallust, pre-
paratory to his intended entrance to the
university at Christiania,, he wrote his
first play, "Catilina,' in one night
Of the year 1850. Two Of his friends
assisted him to publish it.. but only
thirty copies were sold. This failure
did not discourage him, and he con-
| 1roy W
attracted the attention Of Ole Bull, the
renowned violinist, who, recognizing the
decided talent of young Ibsen, APP
pointed him director, or manager, OF the
National theater of Bergen, which had
just been established.
This decided Ibsen's course in life.
He gave up the study Of medicine and
devoted himself to his new. duties and
study of the mechanism Of the stage.
History, the Morse legends and sagas
furnished the material, at this stage Of
life, out of which he fashioned dramas
of lyric beauty and power. In 1862
he wrote "The Comedy Of Love"
which first struck the keynote of his
peculiar genius. In this work he ridi-
culed the conventional ideas of love
dominant among his countrymen, so
that he was attacked by the whole
press and pulpit and people, who stlg-
matized him as pessimist and lacking
feith in ideals. Indeed he was so un-
popular that he was glad to embrace
an opportunity to go to Rome, where
he lived for a time. going afterward
to Ischia, Dresden and Munich. but in
1891 he again settled down in Chris
tiania, where he said he intended to
spend the rest of his days.
From Poverty to Affluence.
Until after the production Of
"Brandt'' Ibsen lived practically the
life of pauper. The success of that
play brought him not only out of CO.
security, but ultimately into fortune
fortune so well managed that he was
accounted one of the richest men in
Norway. ....-
In the systematic work that followed
his first great success, 1bsen produced
a play every two years. Social evils
and social problems were the subjects
that concerned him entirely. Brandt
was dramatic poem, a tragedy Of will
and self -sacrifce. In 'The Young
Mems League he showed the shams
of political iobbery; in "The Pillars
of Society," he attacked conventional
loves and shams; in g A Dolls House -
and "Hedda Gabler' his subject was
the marriage question, and in Ghosts
and, to some extent, in Rosmersholm. :
he dealt with heredity. In his last
play. tWhen We Dead Awake his
problem was more spiritual. The appear
ance of each play was the signal for
endless criticism in newspapers and
magazines, to which 1bsen ordinarily
/ Continued on I'd PAGE. 4th Column