Ibsen - Henrik Ibsen

Norwegian playwright. Born on March 20th to a wealthy merchant family in Skien, a port town in Telemark, his family went bankrupt when he was eight years old, and seeing the townspeople suddenly turn cold towards him, he developed a distrust for people and a tendency towards loneliness. He was unable to go to higher education, so after his confirmation he ran away from home and spent six years living in a pharmacy in the town of Grimstad, but his gloomy and rebellious nature made him disliked by the townspeople. During that time he had a sexual relationship with an older maid in the same household and had a child, but as a result he was forced to pay alimony for a long time, which seems to have caused a subtle distortion in his outlook on life and women.

While studying on his own to prepare for the entrance exam to the medical department of a university, he started to contribute satirical cartoons and poems to a small town newspaper. He was so moved by the February Revolution in Paris (1848) that he presented a poem to the king and was treated as a weirdo, but when it was rejected, he became more motivated and started working on a play based on the failed Roman revolutionary Catiline. He completed the play but could not find a publisher. A friend who was also aiming to take the university entrance exam took pity on him and published it for him, but it was not well received and only about 30 copies were sold. He went to the capital, Christiania (now Oslo), stayed at the friend's lodgings and attended a cram school, and made friends with Björnson and Vinje, but he was short of money and wrote a one-act play, "The Soldier's Grave," which was accepted by a theater and performed, which prompted him to give up on going to university and decide to make a living as a writer. He and some friends started a weekly magazine called "Hito" (People), but it was soon closed down due to pressure from its socialist tendencies, and he fell into the depths of poverty.

In the autumn of 1851, he was invited to become resident playwright and stage director at the National Theatre, opened by musician Ole Bull in Bergen, and finally escaped from his predicament. Although his career as a director was unsuccessful, during this time he met Susanna Thorressen, who would later become his wife, and studied stage techniques in detail, which proved useful for his later success. His works Inger of Esstrød (1855) and The Feast at Solhaug (1856) were influenced by the French poet Scribe and the Danish romantic poet Oehrenschläger, but his works began to become more powerful with The Warriors of Helgeland (1857). This is thought to be the result of his study of the ancient Nordic sagas.

In 1857, he became the manager of the newly opened Norwegian Theatre in Christiania, but due to financial difficulties, the theatre closed after five years, and he once again hit rock bottom. During this time, he wrote his first modern play, Love Comedy (1862), and a powerful historical drama, The Contenders for the Throne (1863), but they were not recognized, and he began to have deep doubts about his own talent and lost patience with his homeland. With a small subsidy from parliament and support from Björnson and others, he traveled abroad with the determination to never return, going via Germany to Italy, where he felt revived by the bright tropical skies and the ancient art of Greece and Rome. He finally gained fame by writing with all his might the masterpiece Bran (1866), about the pastor Bran, who falls while devoting himself to his ideals with the motto "all or nothing." He then solidified his ideological stance with works such as Peer Gynt (1867), a Faust-esque itinerant drama, and The Emperor and the Galileans (1873), a world history drama that he wrote over the course of ten years, based on the struggle between Christianity and the Roman Empire, in which he seeks a "Third Reich" where spirit and flesh are one, passing through a "kingdom of the flesh" and a "kingdom of the spirit". He then turned his attention to the modern age, and began to write social dramas that sharply expose the lies and injustices of society. His A Doll's House (1879), which followed The League of Youth (1872) and Pillars of Society (1877), thrilled the whole world with its depiction of the awakening of a new woman, Nora, who wants to "live as a human being before being a wife and mother", and made Ibsen the leading figure in modern drama in both name and reality. "To live is to fight the evil forces that dwell within oneself, to create is to pass judgment on oneself," he wrote in one of his poems, and continued to look more and more deeply at himself and society, opening up new horizons with each work, and thrilling the world: "Ghosts" (1881), "An Enemy of the People" (1882), "The Wild Duck" (1884), "Rosmer House" (1886), "The Lady from the Sea" (1888), and "Hedda Gabler" (1890). After finally returning to his homeland after 28 years abroad, he moved on to a symbolic style of writing that reflected on his life, writing "Solness the Architect" (1892), "Little Eyolf" (1894), and "Jörn Gabriel Borkman" (1896), and then "When We the Dead Awaken" (1898), which he himself wrote as an epilogue, before dying. On May 23, 1906, he ended his eventful life in Christiania, and his country rewarded his achievements with a state funeral. There are few writers in the world who lived such a single-minded life, and with his powerful, concentrated ideas and works, he not only established modern drama, but also had a profound influence on modern thought and the women's liberation movement. In Japan, his influence is felt not only in the world of drama, but also in many other areas.

[Yamamuro Shizuka]

"Complete Collection of Modern Dramas 1 & 2 (1927, 31, Daiichi Shobo)" ▽ "Ibsen Masterpieces, translated by Uchimura Naoya et al. (1956, Hakusuisha)" ▽ "Studies on Ibsen, by Tsubouchi Shoyo (1948, Okochi Shoten)" ▽ "Ibsen, by Nakamura Kichizo (1926, Toho Shuppansha)" ▽ "The Dramatic Negativity of Ibsen, by Mori Mitsuya (1977, Hakuohsha)" ▽ "Henrik Ibsen, by Brandes, translated by Fuse Nobuo (1926, Shinchosha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ノルウェーの劇作家。3月20日、テレマークの港町シーエンの裕福な商家に生まれたが、8歳のときに家が破産、手のひらを返すように市民が一家に冷淡になるのをみて人間不信と孤独癖を深めた。上級学校に進めず、堅信礼(けんしんれい)を受けると家を飛び出し、グリムスタの町の薬屋に住み込んで6年を送るが、陰気で反抗心が強く、町の人々に嫌われた。その間に、同家の年上の女中と性関係を生じて一子をなしたが、そのために長らく扶養料を支払うはめになり、このことが彼の人生観、女性観に微妙な屈折を与えたようだ。

　大学の医科に入るため独学で受験準備をしながら、町の小新聞に風刺的な漫画や詩を寄せ始め、パリの二月革命（1848）に感激して国王に詩を献じて変人扱いにされるが、それが却下されるとさらに奮い立って、古代ローマの失敗した革命家カティリナに取材した劇にとりかかる。完成したが出版者がみつからず、同じく大学受験を志していた友人が見かねて出版してくれるが全然世評に上らず、わずか30部ほどしか売れなかった。首都クリスティアニア（現オスロ）に出て、その友人の下宿に転がり込んで予備校に通い、ビョルンソン、ビニエらを友人に得たが、金が続かず、苦し紛れに書いた一幕物『戦士の墓』が劇場に採択されて上演されたのを機に、大学進学を断念し、作家としてたつ決心をする。友人たちと『人』という週刊誌を始めるが、社会主義的傾向のために圧迫を受けてまもなく廃刊、貧困のどん底に落ちる。

　1851年秋、ベルゲンに音楽家オーレ・ブルが開設した国民劇場に、座付き作者兼舞台監督として招かれ、ようやく苦境を脱する。監督としては失敗だったが、この間に、のちに夫人に迎えたスザンナ・トーレセンと知り合ったことと、つぶさに舞台技巧を研究したことが後の大成に役だった。『エストロートのインゲル夫人』（1855）、『ソルハウグの宴(うたげ)』（1856）は、フランスのスクリーブ、デンマークの浪漫(ろうまん)詩人エーレンシュレーガーなどの影響を受けたが、『ヘルゲランの戦士』（1857）あたりから作品は力強くなる。それは古代北欧サガを研究した結果とみられる。

　1857年クリスティアニアに新設されたノルウェー劇場の支配人に転じたが、経営困難で劇場は5年で閉鎖され、ふたたびどん底に落ちる。この間に最初の現代劇『恋の喜劇』（1862）と力強い史劇『王位をうかがう者』（1863）を書くが認められず、自分の才能に深い疑惑を抱くとともに、故国に愛想をつかす。議会からわずかの補助金やビョルンソンらの援助を得て、二度と帰らぬ決意で外遊、ドイツを経てイタリアに行き、明るい南国の空とギリシア・ローマの古美術に触れて生き返った思いをする。「一切(いっさい)か無か」をモットーに理想に献身して倒れる牧師ブランを主人公にした大作『ブラン』（1866）を渾身(こんしん)の力を込めて書き、ようやく名声があがる。ついで『ファウスト』風の遍歴劇『ペール・ギュント』（1867）、前後10年をかけて書いたキリスト教とローマ帝国の争闘に取材し、「肉の王国」と「霊の王国」を経て霊肉一致の「第三帝国」を求める世界史劇『皇帝とガリラヤ人(びと)』（1873）などで思想的立場を確固とさせる。やがて目を現代に向けて、社会の虚偽不正を鋭く暴く社会劇の方向に進む。『青年同盟』（1872）、『社会の柱』（1877）に続いて出した『人形の家』（1879）は、「妻であり母である前に一個の人間として生きたい」とする新しい女ノラの目覚めを描いて、全世界を沸き立たせ、名実ともにイプセンは近代劇の第一人者となった。「生きるとはおのれの中に巣くう悪の力と戦うこと／創作するとはおのれ自身に審(さば)きをくだすこと」と、その詩の一つで歌った彼は、その後もいよいよ深く自己と社会を凝視していき、『幽霊』（1881）、『民衆の敵』（1882）、『野鴨(のがも)』（1884）、『ロスメル屋敷』（1886）、『海の夫人』（1888）、『ヘッダ・ガブラー』（1890）と、一作ごとに新しい境地を開いて世界を熱狂させる。在外28年でようやく故国に帰ったあとは、生涯を回想する象徴的作風に進み、『建築師ソルネス』（1892）、『小さいエヨルフ』（1894）、『ヨーン・ガブリエル・ボルクマン』（1896）が書かれ、ついで自らエピローグとした『われら死者の目ざめる時』（1898）を最後に沈黙。1906年5月23日、クリスティアニアでその波瀾(はらん)に富んだ生涯を終えるが、祖国は国葬をもって彼の業績に報いた。彼ほど一筋に生きた作家は世界にも珍しく、その力強い凝縮された思想と作品によって近代劇を確立させただけでなく、近代思想、婦人解放運動にまで深い影響を及ぼした。日本でもその影響は劇の方面だけではなく、広く多方面に及んでいる。

［山室　静］

『『近代劇全集1・2』（1927、31・第一書房）』▽『内村直也他訳『イプセン名作集』（1956・白水社）』▽『坪内逍遙著『イプセン研究』（1948・大河内書店）』▽『中村吉蔵著『イプセン』（1926・東方出版社）』▽『毛利三弥著『イプセンの劇的否定性』（1977・白凰社）』▽『ブランデス著、布施延雄訳『ヘンリック・イプセン』（1926・新潮社）』

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