Arne Garborg (born Aadne Eivindsson Garborg) (25 January 1851 – 14 January 1924) was a Norwegian writer.
Garborg championed the use of
Landsmål
Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...
(now known as
Nynorsk
Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...
, or New Norwegian), as a literary language; he translated the
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...
into it. He founded the weekly ''
Fedraheimen'' in 1877, in which he urged reforms in many spheres including political, social, religious, agrarian, and linguistic. He was married to
Hulda Garborg.
Life and career
Garborg grew up on a farm named Garborg, near
Undheim, in
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
municipality at
Jæren in
Rogaland
Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...
county. He grew up together with eight siblings. Although he was to become known as an author, it was as a newspaperman that he got his start. In 1872 he established the newspaper ''
Tvedestrandsposten'', and in 1877 the ''
Fedraheimen'', which he served as managing editor until 1892. In the 1880s he was also a journalist for the ''
Dagbladet
() is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...
''. In 1894 he laid the ground, together with
Rasmus Steinsvik, for the paper ''
Den 17de Mai'';
[Norway's independence day.] which changed its name to ''Norsk Tidend'' in 1935. As of 1898 Garborg was among the contributors of ''
Ringeren
''Ringeren'' was a Norwegian weekly political magazine which existed between 1898 and 1899. The magazine was founded by Sigurd Ibsen and was headquartered in Oslo, Kristiania, Norway.
History and profile
''Ringeren'' was established as a weekly ...
'', a political and cultural magazine established by
Sigurd Ibsen.
His novels are profound and gripping while his essays are clear and insightful. He was never inclined to steer clear of controversy. His work tackled the issues of the day, including the relevance of religion in modern times, the conflicts between national and European identity, and the ability of the common people to actually participate in political processes and decisions.
In 2012 the
Garborg Centre opened at
Bryne
Bryne (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Time, Norway, Time municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality of Time and it is also List of urban areas in Norway by population ...
, Time. It is dedicated to the literature and philosophy of Arne and his wife, Hulda. Several of their homes are now turned into museums, like Garborgheimen, Labråten,
Kolbotn and Knudaheio.
Bibliography
* ''Ein Fritenkjar'' (1878)
* ''Bondestudentar'' (1883)
* ''Forteljingar og Sogar'' (1884)
* ''
Mannfolk'' (1886)
* ''Uforsonlige'' (1888)
* ''Hjaa ho Mor'' (1890)
* ''Kolbotnbrev'' (1890) (Letters)
* ''Trætte Mænd'' (1891) (published in English as ''Tired Men'' or ''
Weary Men'')
* ''Fred'' (1892) (published in English as ''Peace'')
* ''Jonas Lie. En Udviklingshistorie'' (1893)
* ''
Haugtussa'' (1895) (Poetry)
* ''Læraren'' (1896)
* ''Den burtkomme Faderen'' (1899) (published in English in 1920 as ''The Lost Father'', translation by
Mabel Johnson Leland)
* ''I Helheim'' (1901)
* ''Knudahei-brev'' (1904) (Letters)
* ''Jesus Messias'' (1906)
* ''Heimkomin Son'' (1906)
* ''Dagbok 1905–1923'' (1925–1927) (Diary)
* ''Tankar og utsyn'' (1950) (Essays)
Quotations
"It is said that with money you can have everything, but you cannot. You can buy food, but not appetite; medicine but not health; knowledge but not wisdom; glitter, but not beauty; fun, but not joy; acquaintances, but not friends; servants, but not faithfulness; leisure, but not peace. You can have the husk of everything for money, but not the kernel."
[Editorial. ''The Weekender Newspaper.'' Cluny, Alberta, Canada, March 4, 2005.]
References
*''The Literary Masters of Norway, with samples of their works'', introduced by Carl Henrik Grøndahl and Nina Tjomsland; Tanum-Norli, Oslo 1978
External links
Arne Garborg, Columbia EncyclopediaDigitized books and manuscripts by Garborgin the
National Library of Norway
Haugtussaat biphome.spray.se is a link to the text of Garborg's cycle of poems "Haugtussa", which celebrates the landscape of
Jæren, where he grew up, and where he also built his study house "Knudaheio".
link to all his works, at UiO.no*
*
*
Garborg Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garborg, Arne
1851 births
1924 deaths
People from Time, Norway
People from Tvedestrand
Norwegian male writers
Nynorsk-language writers
Norwegian newspaper editors
19th-century Norwegian diarists
Jæren