Henrik Ibsen Dead.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8197, 25 May 1906, Page 5

Henrik Ibsen Dead.

| A Great Dramatist. (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright). Per Press Association. LONDON, May 24. Obituary — Henrik Ibsen, the celebrated 1. orwegian poet, of apoplexy. He was aged 78. _ Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian dramatist, was born m the south of Norway in 1828, and was a chemist's assistant at Gnmstad, 1842-50. His first drama, "Catilina" (1850), was a failure, but after a short spell of study at Christiania, and nearly two years of journalism, he became director of Ole Bull's theatre at Bergen, for which he wrote five romantic dramas. In 1857 he became director of the National Theatre in Christiania. His dramas were " Tlie Warriors in Helgeland" (1858) and '• The Rival Kings " (1864), which, reproducing the spirit oE the old sogas, placed Ibsen in the foremost rank of Scandinavian dramatists. In 1862 the National Theatre failed, and Ibsen, enraged because Norway held aloof from the Danes in their struggle with the Germans, forsook his country, 186492, living in Home, Dresden, and Munich. The Norwegian Parliament granted him a pension in 1866. Then followed the double drama " Emperor and Galilean" (1876), "Pillars of Society" (1877), "A Doll's House" (1879j, " Ghosts '' (1881), "An Enemy of the People " (1882), " The Lady from the Sea" (1888), "Hedda Gabler" (1890), " Little Eyolf" (,1894), and "John Gabriel Borkman" (1896). These plays aroused a storm of controversy in England from 1889, as they had already done in Germany and Scandinavia. A passionate advocate of individual liberty, Ibsen strived to awaken men to a real comprehension of themselves. Jie was an uncompromising moral reformer, and dwelt with painful insistence on the seamy side of human character and social institutions. His language was concise and vigorous, and full ot' vivid realism.