_CONTEMPORARY ‘APPROACHES TO IBSEN VoL. vil BIORN HEMMER AND VIGDIS YSTAD NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY PRESS ‘sto| | The Young Ibsen ~ Ci Theatre-writer ‘The January 1850 edition of Andlrinner contained 9 gothic mani desertion ofthe medieval cae of Akershus, writen by the unknown. poet Brynjl! janie! The post Akershut de ‘cies the ol ores, shoud in amyl light of darks an mist The onlooker (se the pt sete ite wrapped in ‘pial loa’ where bs own spit swarms in midnight aoe World and be appears to experince the ghosts of dead en vranering through th ate rooms, One figure in prtcar rave his stenon- Aight siting sent and troodag. with a dim Se ia bi rs that of King Christian 1 (1481-1559 On the ee ofthis sane we alo glimpses woman hiding in ty wondow Tehind the knight mst be the widow of Kut Alfa the ‘murdered leader of he eurecton. The bight ha leary sone {hing on bis conscenc, hi condition unable: fumbling fst for is sword The pose and placement of the two people in the fepresent an united conflict. But we can only hazard get {o the real relaonship betweeo thea. Tae deeper meaning i Invisible and wneriane, Irs nto in darkest ad Te poem doesnt caily the Kins moral git for the kiling ‘of Knut Alfa ~ todo 0 the text would hive to have cononted the two people in open ation, and gen then fll know of ther opponent deny. Inatad Byojlt Bjre ie atresed in the acta! conficthetwen the ler and the widow ofthe dead ‘ant would ths sco tobe the acta intl the ambiguity ‘ofthe station sod is dependence on invisible condions hatthe seat theme, These inwinle, oF iden, fantasy-inducng ondons are alo stably stesed through the poets gohe not and depiction ofthe sutroundings, where the mist and dk Sa wellchonon expen of the expt fntsygame te tex “Aksu bore the sme writers aame as the play Catiine (1850), Bat the paeuonyn was replaced withthe wie’ eal fame in 1853 en the 35 year-old Heart Then present 2nd (inetd te reworked ply The Bal Mowsd at Den asin towne in Bergen” ‘Neither Beno Bjarme nor Henrik Ibsen achieved immediate succes The Bal Mound and a sumber of other Tesen produc ‘on inthe 1850 were not favourably reese hy the Norwesian ‘able The ory of Henrik Ibs’ years a damati Eel known ull adversity and faire. The weer was 39 years ‘18 tefore be seriou sored name for himsl” with Brand a ter Tens eats ply are no match for his Iter masterpieces Many etsmplr show that the young iter war Sependent on Inodel echo and cstons from ether ~ epoca romantic ring leave their mack om hi production fom the 180s. Yet at the sme tine ths early wring express something genuinely Teen. Thee are uaderpround coatetons between Toss carter and lr play, st ooking back one can ex sce that Sharan laveterte dramatist who established frm during the ‘ous of the 18s, fact the writer hams Bas emphasized this inner connection on more than one ocean, for example in he Prefce to the eid veson of Catlin (1875, which Re describes ths ‘pwn wil nd pon atone taps and be med of ‘Lind ena ray abd oe wl i /Ssk oe es f my eerie [1 Treen laid hee tat the deeper uniformity in al the plays up 10 1875 is oot in common ch Between ability and aspation. land possi, Iisa clash that afterwards has olen been Interpreted as moralistic one has son Ich a8 chaste of ll that ema, weiter wh io deat form reveal is care ten fale tesa thi inability fo renize ther el eons [Bunde sooe ofthe instigators of hi kindof lepton, abd eas had many owes ‘But the clash Ibsen spoke of en ls te interpreted een In the quotation Tha speaks in general ems about man and human Tie. To Ten the clash betweso ability and axpation appears to be a lah encapsulated in huan Ue ill The ‘lauonshp fetween appearances and rely this Bosomes an {neluble pat of His ation, Thus human sepiation ol "elf objetionabl, but is estea the resto common, exiting ‘meray whee aspiration and action andthe deste for indeper dence ae deeply (general) dependent on undeing conditions, ln fata form of satura relations to which mans commie. ‘The pattern of conte of which Ten spoke tay thus bea oom of doublecess contig of an beng bound and fe tthe sme time: free on account of his aspsng wil, but bound by the lmtatons of abity and possi, Ts this double expenence of man's Hirt and his obgations in relation to something dpe hat leaves uk oo eveything Tbsen wrote es dramatst right fom is earst yeas. A coset stady ot his early period as playwright would theretore contribute to characrie the more perl fetus, a the conection TeeenIise's dramatic tecigue sn his dramatic sterpet th of rey, “The young Then was hardly as sestheticly uncertain 8 the negative rection of is ine Would suggest in adition to hs Weng he as ls atv nthe teat, an he mus, ding Bt Tania 1887-1860), have gain comdeae experience and sight. Furhemore, during his younger years Tbsen familiarized Inmsif with amt erate and seth theory. During the farlod up lo IS62 he presented tht knowledge inthe form of 3 Tong sens of reves an articles on ieratae and theate® Thsea'scidcl wriungs on tate and erature have boos scantily dealt with, and te majority of those who have shown ‘slr in the subj emphasize how independent the young write Ein hi aesthetic opine His consciosh formule view of ar often reduced to 4 reflection af tha penod's grea judges ‘ase, Johan Ludig Helberg. and bis aesthetics, abd vit Hebere ‘one follows the thea back to Hegel” Rather more interesting {han the rstonship between Thsen ad hie posible models i sonatbes the vlalonship betwen hs there dlbertons A his own practice a 2 plsywriht Tn his eviews Tica tucks que different dramatist: Holbers, Crblenschiger, PA. Jensen, Bjstegard and. Shakespear, Strib, Aupier and Schile to name just few. Yet eventhough