Henrik Ibsen

1828 – 1906 · died at about 78^[1][2]

Literature

Fun Facts About Henrik Ibsen

• Henrik Ibsen was contrary to the end: when his nurse told a visitor he was a little better, the playwright spluttered his last words, "On the contrary."^[1]
• At fifteen, Ibsen left school to become an apprentice pharmacist in the small town of Grimstad, and that is when he began writing plays.^[1]
• Norway's most famous playwright wrote his masterpieces abroad: Ibsen spent 27 years in self-imposed exile in Italy and Germany, visiting Norway only a few times.^[1]
• Ibsen's play Ghosts was so controversial that authorities took 20 years to allow it to be performed in Norway.^[1]
• George Bernard Shaw argued that Ibsen had surpassed Shakespeare, and Ibsen's play Peer Gynt was consciously informed by the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard.^{[1][3][4][5][6][7][8]}
• Ibsen's only son with his wife, Sigurd Ibsen, became Prime Minister of Norway.^[1]
• Henrik Ibsen was alive at the same time as Jean-Paul Sartre — their lives overlapped for 1 year (1905–1906).^{[1][2][9][10]}
• Henrik Ibsen and John D. Rockefeller died on the same day of the year, May 23.^{[1][2][11][12]}

Henrik Johan Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright. He is considered one of the world's pre-eminent writers of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama". He pioneered theatrical realism but also wrote lyrical epic works. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, and When We Dead Awaken. In 2014, Ibsen was considered the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare. Store norske leksikon describes him as "the center of the Norwegian literary canon".^[1]

Contemporaries

Susan B. Anthony

78 yr overlap

Florence Nightingale

78 yr overlap

Harriet Tubman

78 yr overlap

Leo Tolstoy

78 yr overlap

Jules Verne

77 yr overlap

Giuseppe Verdi

73 yr overlap

Queen Victoria

73 yr overlap

Dmitri Mendeleev

72 yr overlap

Mark Twain

71 yr overlap

Andrew Carnegie

71 yr overlap

Otto von Bismarck

70 yr overlap

Frederick Douglass

67 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Henrik Ibsen

When was Henrik Ibsen born?

Henrik Ibsen was born on March 20, 1828, and died on May 23, 1906.

How old was Henrik Ibsen at death?

Henrik Ibsen was born on March 20, 1828, and died on May 23, 1906, at age 78.

What was Henrik Ibsen known for?

Henrik Ibsen was known for: Norwegian playwright of A Doll's House. Henrik Johan Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright. He is considered one of the world's pre-eminent writers of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama". He pioneered theatrical realism but also wrote lyrical epic works. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, and When We Dead Awaken. In 2014, Ibsen was considered the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare. Store norske leksikon describes him as "the center of the Norwegian literary canon".

Who was alive at the same time as Henrik Ibsen?

Henrik Ibsen's closest contemporary was Susan B. Anthony. Their lives overlapped for 78 years.