Hjalmar Christensen (5 May 1869 – 29 December 1925) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

writer and a prominent literary critic.

Biography

Christensen was born at Sunnfjord in

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; English: "Sogn and Fjordane") was, up to 1 January 2020, a county in western Norway, when it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland, the cou ...

, Norway. He was raised on a farm in the community of

Førde Førde is a former municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It was located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative center was the town of Førde which in 2016 had 10,255 inhabitants. Other villages in Førd ...

. He was the son of Michael Sundt Tuchsen Christensen (1827–95) and Frederikke Sophie Elster (1838–1927). His brother Ingolf Elster Christensen served as a government official and a member of the Storting. He attended Bergen Cathedral School. He studied law and received a legal degree at 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 ...

(now

University of Oslo 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 ...

) in 1892. From 1893 to 1898, Christensen was an instructor at the

Christiania Theater Hotel Christiania Teater – is a historic Oslo city hotel and landmark built in 1918, known primarily for the notability of its theater inside the hotel and recently its unique hotel design by Annemone Wille Waage. The 102-unit hotel is locate ...

and lectured for several years at the

Bergen Museum The University Museum of Bergen ( no, Universitetsmuseet i Bergen) is a university museum in Bergen, Norway. The museum features material related to anthropology, archaeology, botany, geology, zoology, art, and cultural history. History The Univ ...

. In 1898, the post as professor of literary history at the Royal Frederick University had become vacant. Christensen applied for the post which went to

Gerhard Gran 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 as the son of merchant Christen Knagenhjelm Gran (1822� ...

. He subsequently studied classical philology and history and in 1902 was awarded his Dr. philos. Christensen wrote a number of articles in magazines, weeklies, and newspapers. He also wrote thirty-two books, many featuring communities in Sunnfjord. Christensen published a number of novels with cultural history content. His most noted book ''Fogedgården, Af en bygds historie'' (1911) featured a culture description of life in Førde.

Selected works

*''Det retfærdige spil'' (1900) *''Vort litterære liv'' (1902) *''Danske digtere i nutiden'' (1904) *''Unge aa'' (1905) *''Et liv'' (1909) *''Fogedgården'' (1911) *''Brødrene'' (1911) *''Den gamle bygd'' (1913) *''Din egen herre'' (1913) *''Den nye bygd'' (1914) *''Far og søn'' (1915) *''Den hvide races selvmord'' (1916) *''Tuntræet'' (1917) *''Dæmring'' (1918) *''Professor Marga'' (1920) *''Klostret paa Undrum'' (1924)

References

Other sources

* *Jorgenson, Theodore (1939
''History of Norwegian Literature''
(Haskell House Publishing)

External links

Digitized books by Christensen
in the

National Library of Norway The National Library of Norway ( no, Nasjonalbiblioteket) was established in 1989. Its principal task is "to preserve the past for the future". The library is located both in Oslo and in Mo i Rana. The building in Oslo was restored and reopened ...

1869 births 1925 deaths People from Sunnfjord People educated at the Bergen Cathedral School University of Oslo alumni Norwegian writers Norwegian literary critics {{Norway-writer-stub