Johan Nordahl Brun Rolfsen (12 June 1848 – 18 January 1928) was a Norwegian writer,

educationalist Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

and teacher, journalist, translator and speaker. He is best known for the series of five readers for elementary school, (1892–1895), which became the most widely-used schoolbook in Norway.

Family

Rolfsen 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 o ...

. His parents were merchant and later

bank teller A bank teller (often abbreviated to simply teller) is an employee of a bank whose responsibilities include the handling of customer cash and negotiable instruments. In some places, this employee is known as a cashier or customer representative. ...

Rasmus Rolfsen and Jannikke Brun. He was great-grandson of poet and

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

of Bjørgvin Johan Nordal Brun, and grandson of shipmaster, shipowner and member of the

Norwegian Constitutional Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly (in Norwegian ''Grunnlovsforsamlingen'', also known as ''Riksforsamlingen'') is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly at Eidsvoll in Norway, that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised th ...

Jens Rolfsen Jens Rolfsen (24 July 1765 – 17 December 1819) was a Norwegian merchant and politician. Rolfsen was born in Kristiansand. He was a shipbuilder, shipmaster, shipowner and wholesaler. He ...

. He married Hedevig Martha Hastrup Birch in 1885. He was the father of painter Alf Rolfsen.

Early life

Rolfsen finished his education at Bergen Cathedral School in 1866, and continued his studies in Christiania. He worked as a teacher at from 1870 to 1872 and at from 1873 to 1876. He issued the collection of poetry and stories in 1874. In 1877 he moved to Bergen, working as an instructor at the theatre

Den Nationale Scene Den Nationale Scene ( en, National Theater) is the largest theatre in Bergen, Norway. Den Nationale Scene is also one of the oldest permanent theatres in Norway. History Opened under the name '' Det Norske Theater'' in 1850, the theatre has root ...

. He became determined to be a dramatist, and travelled to Denmark where two of his plays were performed, (1878, Copenhagen) and (1880, Copenhagen). During the 1880s he experimented with different literary genres. He edited the children's magazine from 1885 to 1894. His musical comedy (1890), with music by Ole Olsen, was a success on stage.

Later life

In 1890 the Rolfsen family moved from Bergen and settled in

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 ...

. Rolfsen had sent an application to the Ministry of Church for funding the writing of new readers for elementary school, but his application was refused after a three-day debate in the Parliament of Norway. Instead he received funding from bookseller and publisher Jacob Dybwad. The readers were issued 1892–1895 (five volumes), and were later reissued numerous times. They would become the standard readers in Norwegian elementary schools until

Thorbjørn Egners lesebøker ''Thorbjørn Egners lesebøker'' ( en, Thorbjorn Egner's Readers) were a series of sixteen readers for elementary school written by Norwegian author Thorbjørn Egner. Egner spent 25 years working on the seriesconsisting of collected literature as ...

took over in the 1950s. Rolfsen worked as a full-time writer and editor the rest of his life, and also as a translator, journalist, researcher and speaker. In 1894 he issued . He was editor of the two-volume work (1900). Rolfsen was leader of the Norwegian Students' Society, and later chairman of the

Norwegian Authors' Union The Norwegian Authors' Union ( no, Den norske Forfatterforening, DnF) is an association of Norwegian authors. It was established in 1893 to promote Norwegian literature and protect Norwegian authors' professional and economic interests. DnF also w ...

. He was decorated Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1912.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolfsen, Nordahl 1848 births 1928 deaths Schoolteachers from Bergen Writers from Bergen People educated at the Bergen Cathedral School