Abstract
That a national play, explicitly or implicitly, can be critical of both national thought and identity is illustrated by Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt (1867). Ibsen presented a selfish, opportunistic anti-hero in order to hold up a critical mirror for the advocates of the Norwegian nation. The play focuses on the people and folk culture and has an extensive performance history, which is meticulously analysed. Van der Poll shows that the early performance history of Peer Gynt turned the play into a bearer of nationalistic pathos and the glorifier of Norway and the Norwegians. Subsequent re-evaluation of the dramatic text in turn enabled the play and its performances to provide critical counter narratives and help stimulate discussion of what it means to be Norwegian.
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Notes
- 1.
Asbjørn Aarseth, Peer Gynt and Ghosts. Text and Performance (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1989), 15.
- 2.
Ellen Rees, “Gyntian Simulacra. Twenty-first Century Appropriations of Peer Gynt.” Scandinavian Studies 79, no. 4 (2007): 427.
- 3.
Gunnar Iversen, “Inventing the Nation. Diorama in Norway 1888–1894.” Early Popular Visual Culture 9, no. 2 (2011): 124.
- 4.
Landscape paintings served educational and tourist purposes. They taught Norwegian children about Norwegian nature and history, and as Gunnar Iversen noted, served as ersatz tourism for less wealthy urban citizens and became a calling card for the upcoming tourist industry (cf. Iversen). Interesting in this respect is the fact that in 1868 (one year after Peer Gynt was published) Den Norske Turistforening, the Norwegian Trekking Association, was established. The association is said to have contributed greatly to the development of the Norwegian nation-state (cf. Gro Ween and Simone Abram, 2012: 156) and effectively promoted nature-nationalism by orchestrating hiking and skiing facilities for the Norwegian people.
- 5.
The idea of Scandinavian brotherhood.
- 6.
Ibsen became acquainted with Petter Christian Asbjørnsen’s Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folke-Sagn, which contained a collection of stories. In one of those, “Høifjellsbilleder” [“Images from the Mountains”], Asbjørnsen recounted a legend about Per Gynt. In addition to the references to “Høifjellsbilleder”, Ibsen incorporated other folk tales and popular legend in the play too.
- 7.
Apart from the fourth act, all acts are set in Norway. Idiom and syntax lend the story a national and popular character. Cf. Harald Noreng, ed. Henrik Ibsens ordskatt: vokabular over hans diktning (Oslo: Alma mater, 1987).
- 8.
An area often connected to Norway’s history and future, as the saying ‘Til Dovre faller’, part of the aphorism used by Norwegian patriots while forming a constitution in May 1814: ‘Enige og tro indtil Dovre faller’ [United and loyal until Dovre falls].
- 9.
In the fifth act, the Mountain King tells Peer Gynt he is applying for a job at the theatre as it is looking for national characters, which in fact was the case in the 1850s.
- 10.
Obviously making fun of Peer Gynt’s wish to become a historian in the fourth act.
- 11.
Though the same can be said about the representatives of great, industrialized European nations Peer meets in the fourth act on his trip around the world.
- 12.
“Per Gynt er sjølve det norske Folket. [...]Drøymer at det er fritt og hugsterkt og klokt framum andre Nationar; og so er det korkje fritt eller hugsterkt eller klokt eller Nation.” Arne Garborg “Per Gynt.” Politik: blad-innlegg fraa 1870-aari til riksretten, 1879 [http://www.dokpro.uio.no/litteratur/garborg].
- 13.
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, review of Peer Gynt in Norsk Folkeblad, 23 November 1867.
- 14.
Clemens Petersen , review of Peer Gynt in Fædrelandet, 30 November 1867.
- 15.
Georg Brandes, review of Peer Gynt in Dagbladet, 16 December 1867. Interestingly Brandes would propagate the opposite four years later, which proves Ibsen’s visionary thinking.
- 16.
Camilla Collett, “Fædrelandske forfattere.” in Samlede verker. – Mindeudgave. Bind 2, Kristiania: Gyldendal, 1913.
- 17.
Cf. Otto Hageberg, Omkring Peer Gynt. En antologi. Vårt nasjonaldrama i den litterære debatt og kritikk gjennom 100 år (Oslo: Gyldendal, 1967).
- 18.
Francis Bull , “Introduction to Peer Gynt.” Hundreårsutgave. Henrik Ibsens samlede verker VI: 1. 1931: 12. As Gudleiv Bø indicated in his Nationale subjekter. Ideer om nasjonalitet i Henrik Ibsens romantiske forfatterskap, Norwegian intellectuals in the late eighteenth century started to reflect upon ‘Norwegianness’ and Norwegian national character, in response to the introduction of citizenship rights in Denmark—a legal measure which made Norwegian-born subjects feel less important than the Danish in the Danish-Norwegian monarchy. Inspired by European thoughts on the relation between climate and folk character—as expressed by amongst others Montesquieu’s L’esprit de loi—wild nature was connected to the Norwegian peasant, who, hardened by the climate, not only was stronger and healthier and less accustomed to luxury, but while living on the periphery and not subordinated to the gentry was more free than his Danish brothers . (Bø, 2000: 20ff)
- 19.
Cf. Otto Hageberg, 1967.
- 20.
Cf. Gudleiv Bø, 2000: 259.
- 21.
Cf. Ibsen.nb.no.
- 22.
In the 1874 edition the text was adapted according to the 1869 Scandinavian orthographic reform. The successful staging of the play in 1876 prompted new editions in 1876 and 1881. A trend was set as new editions were issued in 1885, 1886, 1891, 1893, 1896, 1898, 1899, 1903 and 1906. Peer Gynt was re-issued in all six collected works that appeared between 1898 and 2010: The 1898–1902 People’s Edition [Folkeutgaven] contained an introduction to Peer Gynt with information about the realization of the work, the translations, critical literature and staging. After Ibsen’s death in 1906 a memorial edition was issued. Ibsen’s posthumous works appeared in 1909, containing parts of the working manuscript and comments on Ibsen’s amendments to the text, Collected Works [Samlede Digter Verker] was issued in 1918 and an annotated academic edition of Ibsen’s collected works appeared between 1928 and 1957 [Hundreårsutgaven], which in general was based on the first editions of Ibsen’s works. Between 2005 and 2010 a new annotated academic edition of Ibsen’s collected works was issued [Henrik Ibsens Skrifter].
- 23.
Even before Ibsen’s adaption was available Kristiania Norske Theatre, established as alternative to the Christiania Theatre in 1870, publicly expressed the wish to perform Peer Gynt through an anonymous announcement in Aftenbladet: “The next important work, which after Faust , will be staged at this theater is Peer Gynt starring hr. Isachsen.” Cf: Asbjørn Aarseth, “Innledning til Peer Gynt” in Henrik Ibsens Skrifter V. Innledninger og kommentarer (Oslo, 2007), 583. The theatre asked Ibsen and Ibsen replied that the play currently was “under revision by a Danish aesthetic,” and that he didn’t object if the theatre intended to create an original and autonomous arrangement. (The Danish revision is just mentioned in that letter). Cf. Ibsen’s letter to J. H. Thoresen 25 December 1870. Although the reasons remain unclear, Peer Gynt wasn’t performed by the Kristiania Norske Theatre.
- 24.
Hans Midbøe, Peer Gynt, Teatret og tiden I. Ludvig Josephson og den ‘eldre’ tradisjon (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1978), 24.
- 25.
Josephson used the third issue of Peer Gynt, published 1874 in Copenhagen.
- 26.
Asbjørn Aarseth (2007: 589ff) has previously pointed out that we simply don’t know exactly what was played and what was left out in the 1876 performance because the script probably got lost in the fire that destroyed the theatre. Josephson’s script, the 1874 third edition with Josephson’s notes and cuts, is however available in the “Musik- og teaterblibliotek” in Stockholm. Here I’d like to thank Lisette Keustermans, who was so kind as to mark all changes.
- 27.
Both those from Peer’s conversation with the Bøyg in the second act and from Peer’s monologue at the start of the final act and the vicar’s funeral speech. The references to Peer as prophet in the fourth act are taken out as well.
- 28.
Cf. letter from Grieg to Josephson 25 October 1874.
- 29.
Photographs give some indications about the costumes and parts of the set design.
- 30.
A fire in January 1877, when Peer Gynt was still being performed, destroyed all decorations and there are no illustrations in the 1876 newspapers reviewing the play.
- 31.
C. H. Grosch’s Christiana Theatre, built in 1835 had room for 800 spectators. [https://snl.no/Christiania_Theater]
- 32.
Until January 2017 Peer Gynt—or parts of it—has been performed at least 2492 times in Norway, both by professionals and amateurs. The number is definitely larger, but the number of performances has not always been registered.
- 33.
In 1876, 3250 copies of the original text circulated, and as Ibsen’s publisher was located in Copenhagen, only a limited number of that original version would have circulated amongst Norwegian readers. The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten commented that the vast majority of the audience only would know Peer Gynt from the staging. Anonymous, review of Peer Gynt in Aftenposten, 25 February 1876.
- 34.
Anonymous, review of Peer Gynt in Aftenbladet, 25 February 1876.
- 35.
To prevent the performance from being too long, the director Bjørn Bjørnson had decided to perform only the first three acts, and because of this the set design and music came to ‘overshadow’ the protagonist’s development, according to Dagbladet’s critic. Notwithstanding the fact that the performance of only three acts harms the uniformity, most spectators would have had no trouble understanding the play, as they were familiar with it: “Thus the spectator will control the actor’s performance as in German theaters spectators do when Gøthe’s [sic.] or Schiller’s plays are staged.” (Anonymous, review of Peer Gynt in Dagbladet, 10 March 1892)
- 36.
Anonymous, review of Peer Gynt in Verdens Gang, 10 March 1892.
- 37.
Verdens Gang, 10 March 1892: “Henrik Ibsen is starting to replace Ludvig Holberg as our classic poet. Peer Gynt is more and more developing into becoming a national property.”
- 38.
Verdens Gang, 10 March 1892: “Griegs Music to Peer Gynt was already fused with Ibsen’s poem for most of us Norwegians.”
- 39.
O. R. Trondhjems Adresseavis, 24 November 1895.
- 40.
An extensive analysis of Hans Jacob Nilsen’s anti-romantic Peer Gynt was provided by Hans Midbøe in his Peer Gynt. Teatret og tiden (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1976).
- 41.
“We should not be so happy about being so closely related to Peer!” wrote Nilsen in a letter to Henrik Rytter in Agnes Raavatn “Seg sjølv meir enn nok”, Dag og Tid, 4 September 2008. [http://old.dagogtid.no/nyhet.cfm?nyhetid=1368].
- 42.
It is interesting to note that Ibsen’s heirs had always opposed a translation into Nynorsk, but when Nilsen asked Ibsen’s family, Bergljot Ibsen herself (Ibsen’s daughter-in-law) suggested the poet Henrik Rytter as translator.
- 43.
Sæverud was a modern composer, but still one whose music was deeply rooted in Norwegian folk music and nature, just as Grieg had been. Nilsen himself was thinking of “the kind of negro music played at Casino de Paris.”
- 44.
In his opinion Grieg’s music had turned the play upside down and wasn’t in agreement with the text. Ibsen hadn’t been very pleased with the music as he had pointed out in a letter to Lindberg, and Grieg expressed in a letter to Bjørnson 1 October 1874 that he considered the project to be a true nightmare. (Cf. http://dyade.no)
- 45.
Hans Jacob Nilsen, letter to Henrik Rytter (26 November 1946). In Raavatn, 2008.
- 46.
Brita Pollan wrote that the 1948 staging was met with catcalls and added, “maybe only a national relic like Peer Gynt could provoke such strong reactions.” But according to Lise Lyche, the audience tolerated a Peer Gynt without Grieg’s music , with a new scenography, costumes and even an anti-romantic Peer. What they disapproved of was the language . Cf. Brita Pollan , Peer Gynt og Carl Gustav Jung. Med sjelen som følgesvenn (Oslo: Aschehoug, 1998), 105; Lise Lyche, Norges teaterhistorie (Asker: Tell Forlag, 1991), 206.
- 47.
Later published as a booklet Peer Gynt. Eit antiromantisk verk [An anti-romantic work] (Oslo: H. Aschehoug, 1948).
- 48.
Ibsen held the view that it was better to use a Norwegian variant of Danish, than to implement ‘Landsmaal’/‘Nynorsk’.
- 49.
Cf. f.ex. Ibsen’s letter to Sofie Reimers regarding the staging of Rosmersholm 25 March 1887: “No reciting. No theatrical intonation. No formalities what so ever! Give every mood a credible expression, true to nature [...] present a real, living human being.”
- 50.
In a similar vein, when Peer Gynt was staged at the National Theatre in 2005 by Robert Wilson in a co-production with Det Norske Teatret, the play was again translated into ‘Nynorsk’, this time by the dramatist, poet and translator Jon Fosse.
- 51.
Klaus Johan Myrvoll, “Å lyda etter Ibsens røyst. Soga om då Peer Gynt vart norsk.” In Skrift og strid. Essay om Henrik Rytter, ed. Sindre Hovdenakk and Leif Høghaug (Oslo: Vidarforlaget, 2011), 183–184.
- 52.
Rogaland Teater, Trøndelag Teater, and Hålogaland Teater.
- 53.
Riksteatret performed Peer Gynt in 1960, 1970, 1971 (two productions), 1975, 1978, 1984, 1994, 1997 (four productions) and 2006.
- 54.
In the school version the original language however was maintained.
- 55.
What is striking is that Riksteatret chose to modernize the text for the adult version, adapting it to the new Zeitgeist. Peer was depicted as a fat man, suffering a midlife crisis; wild and radical in his youth, he had become a bored yuppie ending up in a psychiatric clinic.
- 56.
Romerike Folkehøgskole (1981, 2006), Nordic Black Theatre Teaterskole (2001), Hedemarken Steinerskole (2002), Bugarden ungdomsskole (2006), Oslo Barne-og ungdomsteater [theatre school for children and teenagers] (2006), Sommerteatret [theatre school performance] (2006), Vestby kulturskole (2006), Titan teatergruppe [student theatre], BABU [children’s theatre from Alna’s Children’s and Youth Theatre] (2010), Skuespillerutdannelse Høgskolen i Nord-Trøndelag [Nord-Trøndelag’s Theatre School] (2010), Molde Videregåendeskole [Molde secondary school] (2013) and Sandvika Barne- og Ungdomsteater [Sandvika Children’s and Youth Theatre] (2013).
- 57.
Ballet : Donetsk Opera/Trondheim Symfoniorkester 15 May 1997, Den norske ballettskolen 19 June 2010, Arendal Ballett Center 11 December 2010, Peer Gynt AS (STUP-vanndans i Fryajuvet) 10 August 2011 and Utfor stupet – i Fryajuvet 3 August 2012. Opera: Den Norske Opera 26 May 2004 and 27 November 2007. Vardeteatret/The International Ibsen Stage presented a Rockmusical Gyntiana based on Peer Gynt 29 October 2012.
- 58.
Data from teaternettet, sceneweb and Ibsen.nb.no.
- 59.
Peer has only been impersonated by four actors between 1989 and 2016: Per Tofte (1989–1994), Svein Sturla Hungnes (1995–2007), Dennis Storhøi (2008–2013), Mads Ousdal (2014–2016).
- 60.
Skavlan is not only one of the longest-running talk shows in Europe , shown at prime time on Friday nights in both Norway (where it is broadcast by NRK) and Sweden (SVT), but Skavlan himself is also said to ‘portray the nation’ in his shows dealing with topical subjects.
- 61.
Although it does need to be mentioned that many productions seem to take Ibsen’s text as the starting point, rather than as a thing set in stone needing to be ‘protected.’ It has become common practice to centre productions on Peer, The Bøyg, The Button Moulder and The Mountain King. Baktruppen (Bøygen) 6 May 1993, Baktruppen (Super-Per) 12 March 1994, Peerinor Produksjoner (Peer) 4 August 2001, Rogaland Teater (The Little Mountain King) 27 October 2001, Askø Artist (The Button Moulder) 7 June 2010, Teater Joker/Nationaltheatret (Peer på en pall) 31 August 2012, Sandvika Barne- og Ungdomsteater (Peer!) 13 April 2013, to name but a few.
- 62.
Torill Steinfeld , “Norsk kanon og kanondannelse. Historiske linjer, aktuelle konflikter og utfordringer.” In TijdSchrift voor Skandinavistiek 30, no. 1 (2009): 177.
- 63.
In addition, students had to choose one of Ibsen’s historical dramas and one of his contemporary dramas.
- 64.
Harald Beyer, Norsk litteraturhistorie, 1978: 190.
- 65.
Errol Durbach, “The Modernist Malaise. ‘Nichts og Ingenting’ at the Core of Ibsen’s Onion.” In Contemporary Approaches to Ibsen IX, 1997: 3–15.
- 66.
Ellen Rees, 2007: 427.
- 67.
Collected Works. People’s edition [Samlede Værker. Folkeudgave] (1898–1902), Collected Works [Samlede Værker. Mindeudgave] (1906–1907), Posthumous Works [Efterladte Skrifter] (1909), Collected Works [Samlede digter verker] (1918), Collected Works. Hundred Years Edition [Samlede verker. Hundreårsutgaven] (1928–1957) and Collected Works. Henrik Ibsen’s Works [Henrik Ibsens skrifter] (2005–2010).
- 68.
Circulation number 1970: 191,069 (source: http://snl.no/Aftenposten).
- 69.
That first school edition, with remarks by Joh. Hertzberg, was reprinted fourteen times between 1918 and 1966. In 1972 a new edition was issued by Gyldendal. Daniel Haakonsen, professor of literature, wrote an afterword and certain words were explained. The 1977 edition is still in print.
- 70.
Vilde Sørby Nenseth, Fiksering av det flytende. En bokhistorisk og retorisk undersøkelse av Gyldendals serie Norges nasjonallitteratur (1929, 1941, 1968 og 1996), MA-thesis Oslo University 2012: 12ff.
- 71.
As Sigurd Evensmo wrote in his study on Gyldendal, literary ‘classics’ got a new mission. Cf. Sigurd Evensmo, Gyldendal og gyldendøler (Oslo: Gyldendal, 1974), 218.
- 72.
Sigurd Evensmo, Oslo 1974: 218ff.
- 73.
Reference to Ibsen’s Pillars of Society can hardly be seen as a coincidence. The series contained two other plays by Ibsen, Brand and Ghosts.
- 74.
Thomas Hylland Eriksen, “Being Norwegian in a Shrinking World. Reflections on Norwegian Identity.” In Continuity and Change: Aspects of Modern Norway, ed. Anne Cohen Kiel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 11–37.
- 75.
See Gudleiv Bø, 2000: 10.
- 76.
See Ulrike Spring in Beller and Leerssen , 2007: 214–215.
- 77.
Demian Vitanza, “Et ikon for ingenting”’ in Dagbladet, 30 May 2012. Vitanza is pointing to the fact that modern Norwegian politics has incorporated Peer’s method: the oil nation succeeds in depicting itself as environmentally friendly, and notwithstanding the fact that Norway’s weapon export is quite large, Norway can portray itself as a peaceful and peace-loving nation, as a fore-fighter for human rights although it has violated the UN’s refugee policy.
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van der Poll, S. (2018). Peer Gynt: Norway’s National Play. In: van der Poll, S., van der Zalm, R. (eds) Reconsidering National Plays in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75334-8_6
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