INTRODUCTION.
Six years elapsed between the composition of The Vikings and that of The Pretenders.[1] In the interval Ibsen wrote Love's Comedy, and brought all the world
of Norwegian philistinism, and (as we should now say)
suburbanism, about his ears. Whereas hitherto his
countrymen had ignored, they now execrated him. In
his autobiographic letter of 1870, to Peter Hansen, he
wrote: "The only person who at that time approved
of the book was my wife. . . . My countrymen excommunicated
me. All were against me. The fact
that all were against me—that there was no longer any
one outside my own family circle of whom I could
say 'He believes in me'—must, as you can easily see,
have aroused a mood which found its outlet in The Pretenders." It is to be noted that this was written
during a period of estrangement from Björnson. I do
not know what was Björnson's attitude towards Love's Comedy in particular; but there can be no doubt that,
in general, he believed in and encouraged his brother
- ↑ The original title Kongsemnerne might be more literally translated "The Scions of Royalty." It is rendered by Brandes in German "Königsmaterie," or "the stuff from which kings are made."
