Nils Kjær (11 September 1870 – 9 February 1924) was a Norwegian

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, short story writer,

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

and theatre critic.

Personal life

Kjær was born in

Holmestrand is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Holmestrand Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality. It is located along the shore of the Ytre Oslofjord, about northwest of the Horten ...

as the son of Nils Henrik Kjær and Christine Smestad. He married translator and teacher Fredrikke Margrete ("Maggen") Dons in 1896.

Career

Kjær took his

examen artium Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1 ...

in 1890, and studied at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

from 1890 to 1892. His first book was ''Essays; fremmede forfattere'' from 1895, a collection of articles published in ''

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 ...

'' and '' Kringsjaa''. He made his début as a playwright with the tragedy ''Regnskabets dag'' from 1902. His satirical comedy ''Det lykkelige valg'' from 1913 was successfully performed on several Scandinavian stages. The performance at the National Theatre in Oslo (premièred on 29 January 1914) was produced by Gustav Thomassen, and saw

Johanne Dybwad Johanne Dybwad (née Juell; 2 August 1867 – 4 March 1950) was a Norwegian stage actress and stage producer. She was the leading actress in Norwegian theatre for half a century. Early and personal life Johanne was born in Oslo, Christiani ...

playing the character "Lavinia" and David Knudsen as the politician "Celius". His other plays were ''Mimosas hjemkomst'' from 1907, ''For træet er der haab'' from 1917, and ''Ønskekvisten''. He issued an edition of

Ludvig Holberg Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Denmark–Norway, Dano–Norwegian dual monarchy. He was infl ...

's comedies in 1898. His book ''Det evige Savn'' from 1907 contained two

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

. Kjær wrote travel letters and participated in public debates, as well as reviewing literature and theatre. He delivered articles to the newspapers ''

Morgenbladet is Norway's oldest daily newspaper, covering politics, culture and science, now a weekly news magazine primarily directed at well-educated readers. The magazine is notable for its opinion section featuring contributions exclusively from Norweg ...

'' and ''

Verdens Gang (), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norway, Norwegian Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, declining from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. Nevertheless, ''VG'' is ...

'', he was a theatre critic for ''

Aftenposten (; ; stylized as in the masthead) is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation as well as Norway's newspaper of record. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 daily copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen ...

'' from 1909 to 1921, and wrote for ''

Tidens Tegn ''Tidens Tegn'' (Norwegian: ''Sign of the Times'') is a former Norwegian newspaper, issued in Oslo from 1910 to 1941. Editors The founder and first editor-in-chief of ''Tidens Tegn'' was Ola Thommessen, who edited the newspaper until 1917. Th ...

'' from 1922. In an obituary in the periodical ''

Samtiden ''Samtiden'' is a Norwegian political and literary magazine. History and profile ''Samtiden'' was founded by Jørgen Brunchorst and Gerhard Gran in 1890. The magazine's first publisher was ''John Griegs forlag'' (Bergen), and from 1900 Ascheh ...

'' 1924,

Sigurd Hoel Sigurd Hoel (December 14, 1890 – October 14, 1960) was a Norwegian author and publishing consultant, born in Nord-Odal. A prolific writer and critic, during the World War II he was a member of the Norwegian resistance movement. In his early ...

characterized Kjær as being more critical and analytical than creative, and having more talent for ridicule than for enthusiasm.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kjaer, Nils 1870 births 1924 deaths Norwegian dramatists and playwrights Norwegian theatre critics Norwegian essayists People from Holmestrand