Three Comedies

Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne, 1832-1910Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.9

Word count: 299K words
Chapters: 30

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Three Comedies by Bjørnstjerne BjørnsonAuthor: Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne, 1832-1910,Language: English, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Jan 1, 2005

Editor's review

This is a collection of three comedies by the Norwegian writer Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, a public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg. Bjørnson is known for social-problem plays and Norwegian national narrative, and these three comedies show more of his skill in stage dialogue and situational comedy: clear character relations, brisk conflict, and the realism and moral concern characteristic of nineteenth-century Nordic drama. For Chinese readers, its value lies not in familiarity but in filling in a corner of the Nordic dramatic map often overshadowed by Ibsen, showing how a contemporary handled social custom and family relations in comic form. As an English public-domain book, it suits supplementary reading in drama and comparative literature, and stage enthusiasts studying dialogue rhythm. Note that the original is in English with no annotations and involves nineteenth-century Norwegian social context, so readers need basic knowledge of Nordic history and dramatic tradition.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Nordic drama and nineteenth-century European literature
Comparative literature lovers who want Ibsen's contemporary playwrights
Theater fans with English reading ability who enjoy script dialogue
Drama or literature students using public-domain scripts for study

Not a good fit for

Readers who only want light entertainment and are unused to script format
Beginners with weak English who need a Chinese translation
Readers wholly unfamiliar with Norwegian history and society who won't do background reading

Reading tips

Read the character list and scene notes first to clarify relations before dialogue, reducing confusion.
Pick one play to start; after finishing, revisit the turning points of conflict to feel the comic rhythm.
Mark lines about social custom as you read and understand them with Nordic background material.
Read alongside Ibsen's plays of the same period to compare how the two handle social issues.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What are the three comedies about?

The material gives no specific titles or plots; it only confirms a collection of three comedies by Bjørnson. Given his usual work, they mostly revolve around family relations, social custom, and morality, presenting conflict and reconciliation between people in comic form; the specifics require opening the original.

How do they differ from Ibsen's plays?

Bjørnson was Ibsen's contemporary, but his style leans toward gentler comedy and social manners, with conflict often resolved in reconciliation and moral exhortation; Ibsen dissects social problems more sharply. Reading the two side by side gives a fuller picture of nineteenth-century Norwegian drama.

What if I'm not used to reading scripts?

Start with just the character list and scene notes to build a sense of space and relations, then read the dialogue as conversation, imagining tone and action on stage. Slow down at conflict passages and watch for subtext between lines; it gets much easier with practice.

Is this an English or Chinese edition?

This is an English public-domain eBook released by Project Gutenberg, in English, with no Chinese translation or notes. Chinese readers need some English reading ability, or should use Chinese reference material and translations alongside, to understand the nineteenth-century Norwegian social context more accurately.

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About the author

Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne, 1832-1910 Author

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910) was a Norwegian writer, with 35 works held in this collection. As public information is limited, the details of his life are not expanded here, but his works show that he was skilled in fiction, drama, and poetry alike. Representative works such as Synnöve Solbakken and A Happy Boy draw largely on Norwegian rural life, written in a plain style rich in human feeling; Three Dramas, Three Comedies, and Maria Stuart Skotlannissa show his sustained engagement with the theatre; In God's Way: A Novel deals with questions of faith and morality; and Poems and Songs, together with the five-volume Gesammelte Werke, reflects his poetic output and the collected form of his writings. These works cover a variety of subjects and combine realism with lyricism, exerting a fairly broad influence on Norwegian literature.