Johan Bojer
Encyclopedia
Johan Bojer was a popular Norwegian
novelist and dramatist. He principally wrote about the lives of the poor farmers and fishermen, both in his native Norway and among the Norwegian immigrants in the United States.
, in Orkanger
, Sør-Trøndelag
county. The son of unmarried parents, he grew up as a foster child in a poor family living in Rissa
near Trondheim, Norway
. Bojer learned early the realities of poverty. His early years were spent working on a farm and working as a bookkeeper. After the death of his father in 1894, he took the name Bojer.
His literary work began with the publication of Unge tanker in 1893, and continued to gather strength through the 1920s. Because of the range of topics he addressed, he won critical acclaim in Norway. He gained international fame after many of his works were published in foreign languages. Critics generally recognize his best work to be his novel, , (English title: The Last of the Vikings). This novel powerfully and realistically depicts the lives of fishermen from Trøndelag
, who spend the winter fishing in the Lofoten
island archipelago within the Arctic Circle near the far north coast of Norway.
Bojer is best remembered for The Emigrants, a major novel dealing with the motivations and trials of Norwegians emigrated on the plains of North Dakota
. In 1923, Bojer journeyed to Litchville, North Dakota
, to research the lives of the Norwegian immigrants who had settled there. The result of his visit became a novel originally published in Norway as Vor egen stamme . Bojer's novel of Norwegian homesteaders in the 1880s tells of young villagers who leave the Old World to seek a better life. Their trek takes them to homesteads in LaMoure County
, south of Litchville, North Dakota, where they find that breaking the sod and surviving blizzards are easier than feeling at home in this new land.
Norwegians
Norwegians constitute both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegian people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in United States, Canada and Brazil.-History:Towards the end of the 3rd...
novelist and dramatist. He principally wrote about the lives of the poor farmers and fishermen, both in his native Norway and among the Norwegian immigrants in the United States.
Biography
Bojer was born Johan Kristoffer Hansen in the village of ØrkedalsørenOrkdal
Orkdal is a municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Orkanger. Other villages in the municipality include Kjøra, Geitastrand, Gjølme, Thamshavn, Fannrem, Vormstad, Svorkmo, and...
, in Orkanger
Orkanger
Orkanger is village and former municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the present-day municipality of Orkdal at the end of the Orkdalsfjorden, and arm of the Trondheimsfjord. Orkanger is the administrative and commercial centre of the municipality of Orkdal...
, Sør-Trøndelag
Sør-Trøndelag
- References :...
county. The son of unmarried parents, he grew up as a foster child in a poor family living in Rissa
Rissa, Norway
Rissa is a municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Fosen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Årnset...
near Trondheim, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. Bojer learned early the realities of poverty. His early years were spent working on a farm and working as a bookkeeper. After the death of his father in 1894, he took the name Bojer.
His literary work began with the publication of Unge tanker in 1893, and continued to gather strength through the 1920s. Because of the range of topics he addressed, he won critical acclaim in Norway. He gained international fame after many of his works were published in foreign languages. Critics generally recognize his best work to be his novel, , (English title: The Last of the Vikings). This novel powerfully and realistically depicts the lives of fishermen from Trøndelag
Trøndelag
Trøndelag is the name of a geographical region in the central part of Norway, consisting of the two counties Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag. The region is, together with Møre og Romsdal, part of a larger...
, who spend the winter fishing in the Lofoten
Lofoten
Lofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude.-Etymology:...
island archipelago within the Arctic Circle near the far north coast of Norway.
Bojer is best remembered for The Emigrants, a major novel dealing with the motivations and trials of Norwegians emigrated on the plains of North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
. In 1923, Bojer journeyed to Litchville, North Dakota
Litchville, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 191 people, 88 households, and 55 families residing in the city. The population density was 129.2 people per square mile . There were 110 housing units at an average density of 74.4 per square mile...
, to research the lives of the Norwegian immigrants who had settled there. The result of his visit became a novel originally published in Norway as Vor egen stamme . Bojer's novel of Norwegian homesteaders in the 1880s tells of young villagers who leave the Old World to seek a better life. Their trek takes them to homesteads in LaMoure County
LaMoure County, North Dakota
LaMoure County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of 2010, the population was 4,139. Its county seat is LaMoure.-Geography:According to the U.S...
, south of Litchville, North Dakota, where they find that breaking the sod and surviving blizzards are easier than feeling at home in this new land.
Selected works
- Et folketog – A Procession (1896)
- Troens magt - The Power of a Lie (1903/English 1909)
- Fangen som sang (1913)
- Den store hunger – The Great Hunger (1916/English 1918)
- - The Last of the Vikings (1921/English 1923)
- Vor egen stamme -The Emigrants (1924/English 1925)
- Folk ved sjøen - The Everlasting Struggle (1929/English 1931)
Additional Sources
- Gad, Carl Johan Bojer: The Man and His Works (Moffat, Yard and Company, 1920. translated by Elizabeth Jelliffe MacIntire)
- Lödrup, Hans P. Johan Bojer (The American-Scandinavian Review, Vol. XIV, No. 4, April, 1926)
- Jorgenson, Theodore History of Norwegian Literature (The Macmillan Company, 1933)
- Downs, Brian W. Modern Norwegian Literature, 1860-1918 (Cambridge University Press, 1966)