Gerhard von der Lippe Gran (9 December 1856 – 7 April 1925) was a Norwegian literary historian, professor, magazine editor, essayist and biographer.

Personal life

Gran was born in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

as the son of merchant Christen Knagenhjelm Gran (1822–1899) and his wife Constance Mowinckel (1827–1889). He was the paternal grandson of politician

Jens Gran Jens Gran (8 October 1794 – 23 January 1881) was a Norwegian politician. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1839, 1845 and 1848, representing the constituency of Bergen. He was the father of businesspersons Christen Knagenhjelm Gran ...

, and a second cousin of botanist

Haaken Hasberg Gran Haaken Hasberg Gran (17 April 1870 – 2 June 1955) was a Norwegian botanist. Personal life Gran was born in Tønsberg as the son of naval captain August Kriegsmann Gran (1844–1895) and his wife Agnes Hasberg (1846–1928). He was the paternal ...

and aviator

Tryggve Gran Jens Tryggve Herman Gran (20 January 1888 – 8 January 1980) was a Norwegian aviator, polar explorer and author. He was the skiing expert on the 1910–13 Scott Antarctic Expedition and was the first person to fly across the North Sea from ...

. On the maternal side was a first cousin of Wenche von der Lippe Mowinckel, who was a granddaughter of

Jacob von der Lippe Jacob von der Lippe (27 September 1797–2 October 1878) was a Norwegian politician and priest who served as Bishop of the Diocese of Agder og Telemark, Diocese of Christianssand from 1841 to 1875. He was also a member of the Parliament of ...

and mother of Arthur,

Waldemar Waldemar, Valdemar or Woldemar is an Old High German given name. It consists of the elements ''wald-'' "power", "brightness" and ''-mar'' "fame". The name is considered the equivalent of the Slavic name Vladimir, Volodymyr, Uladzimir or Włod ...

and Gerhard C. Kallevig. Wenche lived with Gerhard Gran's family while attending school. In October 1887 he married Maren Elisabeth Bull Sømme (1857–1930), a daughter of merchant and politician

Jacob Jørgen Kastrup Sømme Jacob Jørgen Kastrup Sømme (9 January 1817 – 21 October 1893) was a Norwegian businessman, consul and politician. Personal life He was born in Stavanger to merchant and captain Andreas Sømme (1788–1853) and his wife Johanne Cathrine Kastrup ...

and his wife Johanne Margrethe "Hanna" Bull Kielland, granddaughter of Jacob Kielland and first cousin of novelist Alexander Lange Kielland and painter

Kitty Lange Kielland Kitty Lange Kielland (8 October 1843 – 1 October 1914) was a Norwegian landscape painter. Early life and training Kielland was born to an affluent family in Stavanger, the older sister of Alexander Kielland. Kielland's interactions with her b ...

. As such Gerhard Gran was the brother-in-law of painter Jacob Kielland Sømme. Through his sisters he was a brother-in-law of art historian

Johan Bøgh Johan Wallace Hagelsteen Bøgh (27 May 1848 – 22 July 1933) was a Norwegian museum director and art historian based in the city of Bergen. Personal life He was born in Bergen as the son of district stipendiary magistrate Ole Bøgh (1810–1872) ...

and physician

Gerhard Armauer Hansen Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen () (29 July 1841 – 12 February 1912) was a Norwegian physician, remembered for his identification of the bacterium ''Mycobacterium leprae'' in 1873 as the causative agent of leprosy. His distinguished work was ...

Career

Gran finished his secondary education at

Bergen Cathedral School Bergen Cathedral School (Norwegian: ''Bergen Katedralskole'', Latin: ''Schola Cathedralis Bergensis'', formerly known as Bergens lærdeskole and Bergen latinskole and colloquially known as Katten) is an upper secondary school in Bergen, Norway. Loc ...

in 1874, and graduated from the

Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

with the

cand.mag. Candidatus magisterii (male), or candidata magisterii (female), abbreviated as cand.mag., is an academic degree currently awarded in Denmark. The degree is officially translated into English as Master of Arts and currently requires 5 years of studi ...

degree in 1881. He then returned to Bergen to work as a school teacher. He was hired at Bergen Cathedral School in 1895. In 1898 the post as professor of

literary history The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment, enlightenment, or instruction to the reader/listener/observer, as well as the development of the literary techniques ...

at the Royal Frederick University had become vacant. Gran applied for the post, and a contest between Gran and

Hjalmar Christensen Hjalmar Christensen (5 May 1869 – 29 December 1925) was a Norwegian writer and a prominent literary critic. Biography Christensen was born at Sunnfjord in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. He was raised on a farm in the community of Førde. He wa ...

ensued. Gran delivered a thesis which was considered inferior, but he was deemed the better lecturer. In 1899 he received the appointment, the assessment committee noting that Gran would probably fill "the holes present in his knowledge" with time. Gran left Bergen Cathedral School, and formally took the professor seat in 1900. He remained in this position until 1919, when he resigned to concentrate on his various writing endeavors. Gran had co-founded the ''

Samtiden ''Samtiden'' is a Norwegian political and literary magazine. History and profile ''Samtiden'' was founded by Jørgen Brunchorst and Gerhard Gran in 1890. The magazine's first publisher was ''John Griegs forlag'' (Bergen), and from 1900 Aschehoug ...

'' periodical in 1890 with

Jørgen Brunchorst Jørgen Brunchorst (10 August 1862 – 19 May 1917) was a Norwegian natural scientist, politician and diplomat. Biography Brunchorst was born in Bergen, the son of ship builder and – captain Christian Ege Brunchorst (1835–64) and his wife Em ...

, and was the editor of this magazine until his death in 1925. The periodical touched upon a number of subjects, including

philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

topics. When the magazine changed its

house of publishing A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condit ...

to H. Aschehoug & Co in 1900, Gran profited from his professional relationship with publisher

William Martin Nygaard William Martin Nygaard (6 February 1865 – 19 December 1952) was a Norwegian publisher and politician. Personal life Nygaard was born in Kristiansand as the son of educator and linguist Marius Nygaard (1838–1912) and his wife Elisabeth "Elise ...

. In 1914, much due to the support of Nygaard, he started the magazine '' Edda. Scandinavian Journal of Literary Research'', and was this magazine's first editor-in-chief, from 1914 to 1925. He was also the Norwegian editor of the Scandinavian '' Nordisk Tidsskrift'' from 1904. He initiated the first edition of the encyclopedia ''

Norsk biografisk leksikon is the largest Norwegian biographical encyclopedia. The first edition (NBL1) was issued between 1921 and 1983, including 19 volumes and 5,100 articles. It was published by Aschehoug with economic support from the state. bought the rights to ...

'', and was co-editor for the first two volumes. He wrote biographies of the writers

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

(1910),

Jean Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

(1910-1911),

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

(1918),

Alexander Kielland Alexander Lange Kielland (; 18 February 1849 – 6 April 1906) was a Norwegian realistic writer of the 19th century. He is one of the so-called "The Four Greats" of Norwegian literature, along with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and ...

(1922), and

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

(1925, posthumously). He also published the book ''Det Kongelige Fredriks universitet 1811–1911'', chronicling the history of the University of Kristiania during its first hundred years. Collections of his essays were published as well. In 1884 he was a co-founder of the

Norwegian Association for Women's Rights The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights ( no, italic=no, Norsk Kvinnesaksforening; NKF) is Norway's oldest and preeminent women's and girls' rights organization and works "to promote gender equality and all women's and girls' human rights thr ...

.Indbydelse til at indtræde i Norsk Kvindesags-Forening stiftet den 28de Juni 1884
" ''

Bergens Tidende ''Bergens Tidende'' is Norway's fifth-largest newspaper, and the country's largest newspaper outside Oslo. ''Bergens Tidende'' is owned by the public company Schibsted ASA. Norwegian owners held a mere 42% of the shares in Schibsted at the end ...

'', 18 November 1884 Gran was appointed Officer of the French

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

and a Knight, First class of the

Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav ( no, Den Kongelige Norske Sankt Olavs Orden; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II ...

in 1905. He was also a member of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Univer ...

. He died in 1925 in Oslo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gran, Gerhard 1856 births 1925 deaths Norwegian literary historians Norwegian magazine editors Norwegian essayists Norwegian biographers 19th-century Norwegian male writers Male biographers Norwegian encyclopedists University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Writers from Bergen People educated at the Bergen Cathedral School Male essayists Norwegian Association for Women's Rights people Norwegian magazine founders 20th-century Norwegian male writers