KIELLAND, ALEXANDER LANGE

(1849-1906)

A Norwegian novelist and short story writer, Kielland is considered one of the finest stylists in Norwegian literature. He was born into a wealthy merchant family in the city of Stavanger, Norway. After graduating from the town's Latin School, he took a law degree at the university in Christiania (now Oslo), married, and purchased a brickworks near his hometown. Dissatisfied with his life, however, he read, among others, the Danish philosopherSøren Kierkegaard, and in 1878 he left Stavanger for Paris, hoping to become a writer. His first book appeared, through the assistance ofBjørnstjerne Bjørnson,asNovelletter(1879; tr.Tales of Two Countries, 1891). Encouraged by the Danishcritic Georg Brandes, Kielland next wrote a novel,Garman og Worse(1880; tr.Garman and Worse, 1885), in which he drew heavily on his own family history; the book combines biting satire with a realistic portrait of Stavanger life in a bygone age.

Kielland's purpose was not to write cultural history, but rather to castigate numerous social ills: class distinctions, hypocrisy and the abuse of power by state church ministers and other religious leaders, the stupidity of the school system, and lack of integrity in business and industry. His next novel,Arbeidsfolk(1881; Workers), is extremely polemical, but without the wit, style, and grace of his best works. Similarly toArbeidsfolk,hisseveralnextnovelsprivileged heavy-handed satire over style and characterization.Else(1881; tr.Elsie: A Christmas Story, 1894) castigated the rich for their lack of concern for the poor, andSkipper Worse(1882; tr. 1885), a prequel toGarman og Worse, offers a satirical account of how religion can be used to obtain power. But a slender volume of short stories,To Novelletter fra Danmark(1882; tr. inNorse Tales and Sketches, 1896), shows that Kielland had not lost his skills as a writer. The short story "Karen," contained in that volume, is a masterpiece of irony and wit, but without the satire that, as practiced in most of Kielland's novels, could only detract from his artistry.

Three of Kielland's next novels are set in Stavanger, but in the author's own time.Gift(1883; Poison) andFortuna(1884; Fortune; both are translated asProfessor Lovdahl, 1904) attack, respectively, the Latin School and the questionable ethics of the business world.Sankt Hans Fest(1887; Saint John's Festival) excoriates religious bigotry, andSne(1886; tr.Snow, 1887), also set in southwestern Norway, shows what happens when fundamentalist religion mixes with conservative politics.

Kielland was not much of a dramatist, but he wrote several light and entertaining plays, includingTre Par(1886; tr.Three Couples, 1917),Bettys Formynder(1887; Betty's Guardian), andProfessoren(1888; The Professor), which became notorious for its unflattering portrait of the philosophy professorMarcus Jacob Monrad.The novelJacob(1891) concludes Kielland's fictional oeuvre. It has been suggested that he may have exhausted his poetic gifts, but also that changes in the literary climate, which no longer favored social criticism as much as before, may account for his sudden abandonment of creative writing. In the final 15 years of his life he turned his talents to writing letters and is known as Norway's most artful correspondent.