A Jens Bjørneboe reader

Jens Bjørneboe in English
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A Bjørneboe Reader

This section contains selections from Bjørneboe's poems and essays, excerpts from his novels and plays, and samples of his artwork. Translations are by Esther Greenleaf Mürer unless otherwise noted.

Title Index (English)
Tittelregister (Norsk)
Annotated list of Essays and Excerpts

Recent additions
Brief Quotations
Poetry
Essays
Excerpts
Paintings and drawings

Recent Additions
Essays: Eugenio Barba and Norway (Eugenio Barba og Norge, 1970)

Brief Quotations: Bjørneboe Quotes of the Month (March 1998-February 2001); Pullquotes from Essays and Excerpts
Quotes on special subjects:: Criminal Justice; War, Militarism, Globalization; The Writer's Craft and Mission

Poetry
from Poems (Dikt, 1951): Iscariot (Ischariot) Translated by Joe Martin; Salome; Childhood (Barndom); The Youth (Ynglingen); The Emigrant (Emigranten); The Monk (Munken) Translated by Joe Martin; Summa Theologia; Before the Solstice: Hans Jæger in Memoriam (Før solhverv)
from Ariadne (1953): Silent Night (Natten) Translated by Joe Martin; Fairy Tales (Eventyrene); A Christmas Poem (Et juledikt)
from The Big City (Den Store By, 1958): My Heart (Mitt hjerte) Translated by Solrun Hoass; Easter: The Basket Maker (Påske) Translated by Joe Martin; Script (Skriften) Translated by Solrun Hoass
fromAshes, Wind, and Earth (Aske, Vind og Jord, 1968)
Other poems from the 1950s:: David Sings of Jonathan (David om Jonathan); The Hearing (Forhøret)
from Many Happy Returns (Til lykke med dagen, 1965): Psychodorm Song (Psychodorm-sangen); The Doctor's Song (Doktorens sang); Flowers for Genet (Blomster for Genet) Translated by Joe Martin; Respect for the Law (Respekt for loven) Translated by Janet Garton; The Good in Me (Det gode i meg) Translated by Solrun Hoass; Elegy for a Hanged Queer (Elegi for en hengt soper)
from The Bird Lovers (Fugleelskerne, 1966): Song of Death (Dødssangen) Translated by Joe Martin; Song of Death (Dødssangen) Translated by Timothy Schiff; Hymn to the Fatherland (Fedrelandssalme) Translated by Timothy Schiff; Song of the Bird Lovers (Fugleelskernes sang) Translated by Timothy Schiff; The Soldier Song (Soldatersang) Translated by Frederick Wasser; The Hospital Song (Lazarettsangen) Translated by Timothy Schiff; Mea Maxima Culpa Translated by Timothy Schiff; Ballad of Hiroshima Town (Vise om byen Hiroshima)
Other poems from the 1960s: Ten Commandments for a Young Man Who Wants to Get Ahead (Ti bud til en ung mann som vil frem i verden, 1963); Last Voyage (Siste reis, 1967) Translated by Solrun Hoass and Roger Pulvers; Epigraph to We Who Loved America (Vi som elsket Amerika, 1970)

Essays

from Norway, My Norway (Norge, mitt Norge, 1968)

Do Jurists have Souls? (Har juristene sjel? 1966)

The Righteous and the Innocent (De rettferdige og de uskyldige, 1967)

Bjørneboe attacks the bureaucracy's lack of accountability.

How Professor Arne Næss and I Conquered NATO

(Da professor Arne Næss og jeg erobret NATO på Kolsås, 1963)
The history of a Norwegian nonviolent action, with drawings by JB

The Fear of America Within Us (Frykten for Amerika i oss, 1952)

Reflections on America's influence on the Norwegian psyche.

Hans Jæger (1955)

Portrait of the Norwegian bohemian and anarchist (1854-1910), who had a siginificant influence on Bjørneboe

from We Who Loved America (Vi som elsket Amerika, 1970)

from The Treatment of Young Lawbreakers (Behandling av unge lovovertredere, 1959)

opening salvo in Bjørneboe's 1959 exposé of Norwegian prison conditions

The Good Pupil (Den gode elev)

"It is a bad pupil who always remains faithful to his teacher." -- Nietzsche

Alone with the Paper (Alene med papiret, 1961)

Reflections on writing the novel The Evil Shepherd, 1960

Writing and Criticism: Fight or Flight? (Diktning og kritikk—middel til kamp eller flukt? 1970)

Bjørneboe assails literary faddism

from Police and Anarchy (Politi og Anarki, 1972)

Concerning a Norwegian Forest Cat (Om en norsk skaukatt, 1964)

Ewald (1953)

Portrait of an autistic adult in postwar Germany

Hemingway and the Beasts (Hemingway og dyrene, 1955)

An appreciation showing Bjørneboe's deep affinity with Hemingway

Literature and Reality (Litteratur og virkelighet, 1971)

Seminal essay about literature's paradoxical relation to politics

from Under a Gentler Sky (Under en mykere himmel, 1976)

Two Years in a Rudolf Steiner School (To år ved en Rudolf Steinerskole, 1953)

Part I: Fairy Tales

Part II: Legends and Animal Fables

from Grades or Reports (Karakterer eller vitnesbyrd, 1954)

What happens when education of the whole child comes up against standardized testing?

from Lanterns (Lanterner, 1977)

The Brother (Broren, 1950)

Short story about the suicide of a teenage boy

The Cockfight (Hanekampen, 1954)

Comic saga of man against beast (Hemingway parody?) with drawing by JB

from On Brecht (Om Brecht, 1977)

Hemingway and Brecht (1964)

Bjørneboe reflects on what two of his literary mentors have in common.

from On Theater (Om Teater, 1978)

The Theater Tomorrow (Teateret i morgen, 1963)

Bjørneboe's vision of a theater for the nuclear age

The Forests Behind The Night of the Iguana (Skogene bak Iguananatten, 1963)

On the later plays of Tennessee Williams

Eugenio Barba and Norway (Eugenio Barba og Norge, 1970)

Are We Destroying the Theater? (Ødelegger vi teatret?)

Musicalization and cabaretization as ruination of the drama

from Books and People (Bøker og Mennesker, 1979)

Knut Hamsun's Centennial (Digterjubilæum, 1958)

Wry reflections on Norway's treatment of its giants

When I wrote Jonas (När jeg skrev Jonas, 1956)

Response to the controversy surrounding the novel

Strindberg the Fertile (Strindberg — den fruktbare, 1963)

Strindberg is still an inspiration to later dramatists, while Ibsen is a burden

Ernst Josephson, his Life and Work (Ernst Josephson — hans liv og kunst, 1947)

Bjørneboe's first published writing examines the effect of mental illness on the life and work of Sweden's greatest painter

Miscellaneous Uncollected Writings

New, Major Work. On the Mystery of Evil (Nytt, stort arbeide)

Text of 1959 note outlining JB's original conception for Powderhouse, with commentary by EGM

Excerpts

from Winter in Bellapalma (Vinter i Bellapalma, 1958)

The Town Fathers Quell a Revolution

Compare this passage with the last scene of The Bird-Lovers.

from Moment of Freedom (Frihetens Øyeblikk, 1966)

"I spent the years in Stockholm drawing & painting"

The Prison Rebellion

Callot

fromPowderhouse (Kruttårnet, 1969)

The Caretaker

Homage to Cézanne

fromThe Silence (Stillheten, 1973)

On the Art of Making the Earth Uninhabitable

A Conversation with God

from The Sharks (Haiene, 1974)

The Mate (Styrmannen) opening chapter

The Dutchman (Hollenderen)

Bjørneboe's early experience as a Waldorf teacher carries over into his later work.

from Semmelweis (1968)

Conference of Professors at Vienna General Hospital (Scene 2)

Translated by Joe Martin

from Amputation (1970)

The Surgeons Prepare for a Demonstration

Translated by Solrun Hoass

Paintings and Drawings

Overview of JB's art on this site

Male madonna (painting, 1947)

Rear court in Stockholm (painting, 1944)

Greenhouse (painting, 1943)

Self-portrait (painting, undated)

Trattoria (Drawing from "I skyggen av Firenze" (In the shadow of Florence), 1950)

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This page last updated February 2005