Ibsen did not become great despite, but because he was born in Skien in 1828.

In 2013, Nygaard published the book You Came from a Great Distance: Henrik Ibsen and Skien, in which he combines sources on the history of Skien and Ibsen's family history to show that Ibsen was born into the absolute top echelon of Norwegian society and in a city that for several hundred years before Ibsen's birth was central to the modernization of Norway.

Now the retired professor of theatre studies and Ibsen studies is writing a new biography of Ibsen. In this connection, he has written a short version of his new interpretation of the significance of the Skiens community as Ibsen's actual starting point, which has now been published exclusively here on ibsenbyen.no . In this connection, Anette Storli Andersen has spoken with Nygaard about his interest in Ibsen and the background for the new biography.

In 2028 it will be 200 years since Ibsen was born in Skien

Why is it worth highlighting?

There are many reasons for this. One is, of course, that Henrik Ibsen is considered the world's most important playwright after Shakespeare. The other is that hardly a day goes by without an Ibsen play being performed or an article about Ibsen being published somewhere in the world. And besides: When in 2006 one could celebrate to the point of saying "hurray, hurray, Ibsen has been dead for 100 years", in 2028 there is even more reason to celebrate that it is 200 years since he was born – and not to forget to mark where he was born.

Commitment to Ibsen

You have been researching Ibsen for more than 50 years. Why is that?

– In 1969, I finished my master's degree in literary studies and attended my first Ibsen seminar at Lysebu. Both academics and theater artists were gathered there – and it was a night of fun like no other! Actor and theater instructor Claes Gill had to be placed in a stable side position and recover before he could continue the discussion.

– My interest in Ibsen had been there for a long time, but at the Lysebuseminaret I experienced what enormous energy and commitment there was in the field. It attracted me: here it is fun, here it is action, this engages even decent professors and other dry sticks! They were like cows that had been in the stall for a whole winter, there was so much energy in the field! But I probably haven't experienced such a strong commitment since.

There must be something about Skien

Why do you think it was so important that Henrik Ibsen was born in Skien?

– There are many reasons for that. Such an important cultural figure must have a special background. That was my starting point: There had to be something about Skien that made Ibsen possible. And the more I dug, the more I found! Skien was not just any place at the time Ibsen was born, and he was born into and grew up in a significant upper-class family. But then things go downhill with the entire patrician class, the Ibsen family and everything. Ibsen's experience from Skien is that the world as it is, collapses. And then you have to try to climb back up or jump into the waterfall.

"Skiing is much more important than I thought"

– My interest in Skien started when I got to go around Skien with Einar Østvedt. He drove ahead on a moped and I followed in a car.

And for Østvedt, all doors were open – including to Løvenskiold in Fossum.

Østvedt wasn't exactly one to ignore all the wonders and opportunities of Skien, and I was probably a bit skeptical. A few years later I was commissioned to make a video presentation about Ibsen and Skien for the museum, and then I discovered that "oops,oops: Skien was really much more important than I thought!"

This sparked my interest in looking back into Skien's history in earnest. I became interested in how the geology had created natural conditions for an industrial facility, how archaeological excavations substantiated Skien's historical importance as a trading center, Skien's pioneering position in industry after the Reformation, and eventually also Ibsen's unique family history.

Henrik Ibsen was the son of a patrician and belonged to Norway's absolute upper class

What was so special about Ibsen's background?

– This is something that has taken a long time to understand. First I discovered the significance of Skien, but it was only when I started doing genealogy research that I realized that there is no way to know who Henrik Ibsen was related to! From the early industrialization in the 16th century until the decline of the patrician class in the 1830s, Skien was a place where the elite moved to. Ibsen's family, both ancestors and ancestresses, is a collection of the top 10% in Norway – who for various reasons end up in Skien. He belonged to the absolute upper class in Norway on both his mother's and father's side.

– Before 1814, the patricians were the ones who controlled international trade and owned ironworks and sawmills. They were the ones who ruled Norway. The patricians depended on unity and had close family ties, sociability, economic ties and their own justice system to keep the class afloat. It was a bit like a climbing team: everyone was on the same rope, and if one fell, they had to get him up to avoid everyone falling. Debt was a matter of honor.

– The problem was that when there were economic downturns, the entire system fell apart for the patrician class. And with the new civil service state after 1814, it became impossible for them to operate as before.

Henrik Ibsen could not continue like his ancestors

What significance did growing up in Skien have for Ibsen as a poet?

– I can't give a very simple answer to that. But there's something about the fact that if you're born with a silver spoon in your mouth, you usually do better than if you're not. One of the things that was crucial for Henrik Ibsen to become a poet was the dissolution of the patrician class. He couldn't continue like his ancestors, but had to find another way. Knud Ibsen also tried that, but didn't succeed.

One of the things Ibsen took with him from his background in the patrician class in Skien is the exterior. In the image we now know of him, he wears his top hat, sets his watch and goes to the Grand café. When you do something like that, you have to think pretty highly of yourself, or you think that's how I'm supposed to act.

Ibsen could never have written a peasant story

– Ibsen had a completely different background than Ibsen's contemporary students and later poets. Just think of Vinje or Bjørnson. "Everyone" had grown up in the countryside – except for Henrik Ibsen. As a young poet, he did not fit into what was defined as Norwegian. He did not belong in the Norwegian peasantry. Ibsen did not have a farmer in his family, never had dirt under his nails, he never had Vesleblakken or any of that stuff. Henrik Ibsen could never have written a peasant story, it was completely far from his own world.

– On the other hand, he was the first truly urban poet personality in Norway. He sought the urban and the elite. Literacy in Scandinavia and in Norway was high and he eventually gained a much larger reading audience than the theater audience. The advantage of the Dansketida was that written Norwegian and written Danish were still similar enough for Ibsen to publish his books for a reading upper class in Norway and Denmark. Ibsen was educated and came from an urban upper class culture in Skien and did not try to Norwegianize the written language. His references were the upper class to which he had belonged and towards which he was moving.

Skilled businessman

– Poetry eventually became an opportunity to gain position and income. Perhaps it is the patrician background that explains how Ibsen could become such a skilled businessman. He had full control over the production process and a carefully planned production pace of one play every two years, so that he neither spent too much nor too little. He had the ability to know when something was most valuable and to get the most value out of what he had. The income from his artistic activities was invested in shares, including in railway development in Russia.

The fall of the upper class is Ibsen's experience

Can Ibsen's experiences from Skien be found again in the drama?

Yes – and no.

He himself has claimed that in his portrayal of the wealthy Jon Gynt in Peer Gynt he had thought of his father's lavish parties and that he had used his own mother Marichen as a model for Peer Gynt's mother Åse "With necessary exaggerations". But it was not his father Knud's "extravagance" that was the cause of the collapse of the Ibsen family. It was the collapse of the patrician class that made the former sociability a bitter and mournful memory of the former greatness that little Henrik – like little Peer – only got to experience the end of.

Externally, the environment in the Young People's Association has clear similarities to Skien and Fossum where Chamberlain Løvenskiold lived. Chamberlain Bratsberg also talks about his time in Stockholm, as the actual Chamberlain Løvenskiold had been Norwegian Prime Minister in Stockholm. But there are also clear differences. According to Ibsen, May 17 was not celebrated in Skien out of respect for Chamberlain Løvenskiold, but the Young People's Association opens with a May 17 party in which Chamberlain Bratsberg participates. And there is a "leveling down" of the upper class in the Young People's Association by the Chamberlain entering his son's company. The actual Løvenskiold family in Skien, on the other hand, has largely retained its position as forest owners and landowners.

– In the contemporary dramas, Ibsen wrote about the experience of the collapse of the old upper class and a new class taking over. Those who are at the top and have a position are about to fall, while some others are on the rise. This happens all the way through in the contemporary dramas, like in Hedda Gabler . That's why I've come to the conclusion that it's the supporting characters who are the important ones. The main characters are really totally uninteresting.

– The supporting characters are completely ordinary, decent people, who suddenly start a lot of things. Why is everyone so concerned with Nora? Why doesn't anyone see that the truly radical marriage is the marriage of Krogstad and Mrs. Linde, where she will work in the bank and he will stay home with the children? In The Wild Duck, there are several chamberlains, but it is Gina who arranges things!

– The emptiness and loneliness of the upper class are repeated in the dramas. This is Ibsen's experience, and it is the whole story of Hedda Gabler. You can sense that her status has disappeared. No one stands up for her and she is left as a "forgotten one". No one needs her, she has expired, and the only thing she is capable of is being bored to death. And who is it that has all the papers and everything in order? Yes, it is little Thea Elvsted who almost no Ibsen scholars mention!

Ibsen would never have become who he was without the opportunities he was given.

– I want to kill the romantic artist myth, which, to put it simply, is about the great genius who falls from the sky and creates himself. By all means: Ibsen had strong staying power and will and handled a lot of adversity, but above all he had the ability to see the possibilities. I don't think anyone just becomes a genius. There is always something that makes genius possible. It's no use becoming the world's best skier if you grew up in the Sahara.

You need certain prerequisites, experiences, luck and a special kind of skill to understand and exploit the opportunities that open up. Ibsen's background from Skien gave Ibsen these prerequisites and qualities. Ibsen therefore did not become great in spite of, but because he was born in Skien in 1828!

Would you like to read more about how Skien shaped Ibsen?

You can find the short version of Nygaard's new biography here.

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