Rudolf William Nilsen (28 February 1901 – 23 March 1929) was a Norwegian poet and journalist.

Early life

He was born in the district of

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for its ...

in Kristiania (present-day

Oslo 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 ...

), on 28 February 1901,Tilbake på stengrunn
and was raised at the nearby neighborhood of

Tøyen Tøyen is a residential area in the central parts of Oslo, Norway, part of the borough of Gamle Oslo. Location There are two different stations which carry the name Tøyen. Tøyen Railway Station is located on the Gjøvik Line, while Tøyen T ...

/ Grønland in the same city.

Writing and political life

Rudolf Nilsen's first published work was the collection of poetry ''På stengrunn'' (1925), which was followed by ''På gjensyn'' (1926). Many of his poems were of political nature, while others were romantic or about the contemporary life in Oslo. His poem collection, ''Hverdagen'' was published posthumously the same year. His collected poems were published in 1935. New collections of his works were published in the 1970s. An album bearing the same title as his first collection of poetry, På Stengrunn, was popular in the 1970s and still in 2019 there are yearly concerts where the songs are performed. Other artists, both Norwegian and other Nordic artists have composed songs to the poems of Rudolf Nilsen, even as recently as 2019. A child of the working class, Nilsen became part of the left-wing revolutionary movement and joined the organisation '' Norges Socialdemokratiske Ungdomsforbund'' (Social Democratic Youth League of Norway), the youth league of the Norwegian Labour Party. When the ''

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party ( nb, Arbeiderpartiet; nn, Arbeidarpartiet; A/Ap; se, Bargiidbellodat), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party ( no, Det norske Arbeiderparti, DNA), is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is positioned on the cent ...

'' split up in 1923, due to an ideological schism, Nilsen decided to join the

Communist Party of Norway The Communist Party of Norway ( no, Norges Kommunistiske Parti, NKP) is a communist party in Norway. The NKP was formed in 1923, following a split in the Norwegian Labour Party. It was Stalinist from its establishment and, as such, supported the ...

, and their youth league

Young Communist League of Norway The Young Communist League of Norway ( no, Norges Kommunistiske Ungdomsforbund, NKU) was until April 2006 the youth league of Norges Kommunistiske Parti (NKP). The NKP declared on 1 April 2006 that the NKU was no longer its youth organization, a ...

. In 1921, he was arrested and stood trial for smuggling illegal revolutionary literature into Norway. With the help of defence lawyer (and later

Secretary-General of the United Nations The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...

) Trygve Lie, he avoided sentencing, and was eventually found not guilty and released.

Personal life and death

In 1924, he married Ella Quist Kristoffersen, later

Ella Hval Ella Hval (born Ella Signe Quist Kristoffersen) (7 January 1904 – 17 December 1994) was a Norwegian actress. She was principally a stage actress and was also an instructor and teacher at the Nationaltheatret student school. Personal lif ...

. Nilsen died shortly after contracting

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

in Paris on 23 March 1929. Outside his childhood address of Heimdalsgata nr 26, a public square was named after him in 1952, and a bronze statue of a worker, based on the theme of one of the poems, was erected on that site in 1954.

References

External links

Rudolf Nilsen poems and texts
by

marxists.org Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists.org) is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich En ...

Rudolf Nilsen biography
by

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

Birth and dwellings of Rudolf Nilsen – records in the Oslo City Archives

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nilsen, Rudolf 1901 births 1929 deaths 20th-century Norwegian poets Norwegian male poets Riksmål-language writers Norwegian communists Writers from Oslo 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in France 20th-century Norwegian journalists