Author: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson helped shape modern Norwegian literature through fiction, drama, poetry, and journalism, as well as public life. A Happy Boy is an English rendering of his rural tale En glad gut, following the young Øyvind as education, work, and affection widen his prospects. Project Gutenberg records Rasmus B. Anderson as translator and dates the story's composition to 1859 and 1860, during Bjørnson's early sequence of peasant narratives. The edition's publisher note says Bjørnson selected Anderson as his American translator and reviewed each work before translation, giving the text an unusually direct authorial connection. Nobel materials from 1903 place the tale beside Synnøve Solbakken and Arne as portraits of contemporary country life. Bjørnson received the Nobel Prize in Literature that year. The ceremony speech also praised the range of his plays and lyric verse, including the words that became Norway's national anthem.