Jens Ingvald Bjørneboe (9 October 1920 – 9 May 1976) was a Norwegian writer whose work spanned a number of literary formats. He was also a painter and a
Waldorf school teacher. Bjørneboe was a harsh and eloquent critic of Norwegian society and
Western civilization as a whole. He led a turbulent life and his uncompromising opinions cost him both an
obscenity
An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be us ...
conviction as well as long periods of
heavy drinking
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
and bouts of
depression, which in the end led to his
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...
.
Jens Bjørneboe's first published work was ''Poems'' (''Dikt'') in 1951. He is widely considered to be one of Norway's most important post-war authors. Bjørneboe identified himself, among other self-definitions, as an
anarcho-nihilist
The Russian nihilist movementOccasionally, ''nihilism'' will be capitalized when referring to the Russian movement though this is not ubiquitous nor does it correspond with Russian usage. was a philosophical, cultural, and revolutionary move ...
.
[
During the ]Norwegian language struggle
The Norwegian language conflict ( no, målstriden, da, sprogstriden) is an ongoing controversy in Norwegian culture and politics related to the written versions of Norwegian. From 1536/1537 until 1814, Danish was the standard written language o ...
, Bjørneboe was a notable proponent of the Riksmål language, together with his equally famous cousin André Bjerke.[
]
Early life
Jens Bjørneboe was born in 1920, in Kristiansand
Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporati ...
to Ingvald and Anna Marie Bjørneboe. He grew up in a wealthy family, his father a shipping
Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...
magnate
The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...
and a consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...
for Belgium. The Bjørneboe family originally immigrated from Germany in the 17th century and later adopted their Norwegian name. Coming from a long line of marine officers, Bjørneboe also went to sea as a young man.[
Bjørneboe had a troubled childhood with sickness and depressions. He was bedbound for several years following severe ]pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...
. At thirteen he attempted suicide by hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging ...
himself. He began drinking when he was twelve, and he would often consume large amounts of wine when his parents were away. It is also rumored that he drank his father's aftershave
Aftershave is a product applied to skin after shaving. Traditionally it is an alcohol-based liquid (splash), but it can be a lotion, gel, or even a paste.
It often contains an antiseptic agent such as denatured alcohol, stearate citrate or ...
on several occasions.[
In 1943 Bjørneboe fled to ]Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
to avoid forced labor under the Nazi occupation. During this exile, he met the German Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
painter Lisel Funk, who later became his first wife. Lisel Funk introduced him to many aspects of German culture, especially German literature and the arts.[
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bjørneboe reinvigorated the Norwegian anarchist movement with essays such as "Anarkismen som fremtid" ("Anarchism as Future") and "Anarkismen ... i dag?" ("Anarchism ... Today?").]
Death and legacy
After having struggled with depression and alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...
for a long time, he committed suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...
by hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging ...
on 9 May 1976.
In his obituary
An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...
in ''Aftenposten
( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 milli ...
'', Bjørneboe's life and legacy were described as follows:
For 25 years Jens Bjørneboe was a center of unrest in Norwegian cultural life: Passionately concerned with contemporary problems in nearly all their aspects, controversial and with the courage to be so, with a conscious will to carry things to extremes. He was not to be pigeonholed. He dropped in on many 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 ...
and 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 studi ...
movements, but couldn't settle down in any of them. He was a wanderer, always traveling on in search of what was for him the truth—and he was a free man, in that he always ruthlessly followed his innermost intentions. Perhaps he could say, like Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( , , ; 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on ...
, that "subjectivity is truth," for he knew no other guide than his personal conviction and his own impulses—but he related not merely to himself; his deepest concern was society and the person in society. His subjective grasp always involved the totality.[Obituary, '']Aftenposten
( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 milli ...
'', 11 May 1976
Bibliography
Novels
* ''Ere the Cock Crows'' (''Før hanen galer'', 1952)
* ''Jonas
Jonas may refer to:
Geography
* Jonas, Netherlands, Netherlands
* Jonas, Pennsylvania, United States
* Jonas Ridge, North Carolina, United States
People with the name
* Jonas (name), people with the given name or surname Jonas
* Jonas, one of ...
'' (1955)
* ''Under a Harsher Sky'' (''Under en hårdere himmel'', 1957)
* ''Winter in Bellapalma'' (''Vinter i Bellapalma'', 1958)
* ''Little Boy Blue'' (''Blåmann'', 1959)
* ''The Evil Shepherd'' (''Den onde hyrde'', 1960)
* ''The Dream and the Wheel'' (''Drømmen og hjulet'', 1964), about author Ragnhild Jølsen
Ragnhild Theodora Jølsen (28 March 1875 – 28 January 1908) was a Norwegian author. Norwegian oral traditions were a recurring theme in her works. Her writings often focused on the conflict between the old rural society and modern industrial soc ...
* ''Moment of Freedom'' (''Frihetens øyeblikk'', 1966) (''translated by Esther Greenleaf Mürer, Norvik Press
Dufour
', 1999)
* ''Without a Stitch'' (''Uten en tråd'', 1966)
* ''Powderhouse'' (''Kruttårnet'', 1969) (''translated by Esther Greenleaf Mürer, Norvik Press
', 2000)
* ''Duke Hans'' (''Hertug Hans'', 1972)
* ''The Silence'' (''Stillheten'', 1973) (''translated by Esther Greenleaf Mürer, Norvik Press
', 2000)
* ''The Sharks
The Sharks were a rhythm and blues band from Albany N.Y. from early 80's to mid 90's and opened for numerous recording artists such as Tower of Power, Stevie Ray Vaughan.
History
The band members started by playing cover versions of songs by ne ...
'' (''Haiene'', 1974) (''translated by Esther Greenleaf Mürer, Norvik Press / Dufour'', 1992)
Plays
* ''Many Happy Returns'' (''Til lykke med dagen'', 1965)
* ''The Bird Lovers'' (''Fugleelskerne'', 1966) (''translated by Frederick Wasser, Sun&Moon Press'', 1994)
* ''Semmelweis'' (1968) (''translated by Joe Martin, Sun&Moon Press'', 1999)
* ''Amputation (Amputasjon'', 1970). Reprinted as: ''Amputations: Texts for an Extraordinary Spectacle'' (''translated by Solrun Hoaas & Esther Greenleaf Mürer'', Xenos Books Xenos Books is a publishing company in Riverside, California that was founded in 1985 by Karl Kvitko and Verona Weiss. The company is known for publishing bilingual books, and modern American and foreign writers in translation.
Titles published ...
, 2002)
* ''The Torgersen Case'' (''Tilfellet Torgersen'', 1972)
* ''Blue Jeans'' (''Dongery'', 1976)
Poem collections
* ''Poems'' (''Dikt'', 1951)
* ''Ariadne'' (1953)
* ''The Great City'' (''Den store by'', 1958)
* ''Happy Birthday'' (''Til lykke med dagen'', 1965)
Essay collections
* ''Norway, my Norway'' (''Norge, mitt Norge'', 1968)
* ''We Who Loved America'' (''Vi som elsket Amerika'', 1970)
* ''Police and Anarchy'' (''Politi og anarki'', 1972)
References
External links
Gary Kern on Jens Bjørneboe and the ''History of Bestiality''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjorneboe, Jens
1920 births
1976 suicides
People from Kristiansand
People educated at Kristiansand Cathedral School
Norwegian anarchists
20th-century Norwegian poets
Norwegian male poets
Norwegian essayists
Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature winners
Obscenity controversies in literature
Riksmål-language writers
Norwegian historical fiction writers
20th-century Norwegian painters
Norwegian male painters
Norwegian educators
Anthroposophists
Censorship in Norway
Dobloug Prize winners
Suicides by hanging in Norway
20th-century Norwegian novelists
20th-century Norwegian dramatists and playwrights
Norwegian male novelists
Norwegian male dramatists and playwrights
20th-century essayists
20th-century Norwegian male writers
20th-century Norwegian male artists
1976 deaths