Ibsen was born in Skien, a tiny costal town. His father was a prosperous merchant, whose financial failure brought the family a heavy blow on the social position. Poverty interrupted Ibsen's education, he was for a time apprenticed to a druggist in Grimstad, and in 1846 he was compelled to support an illegitimate child born to a servant girl.

In 1850 Insen moved to Christiania (now Oslo), where he attended Heltberg's 'student factory' for university candidates, and occasionally earned from his journalistic writings. In the same year he wrote two plays, Catilina, a tragedy, and The Burial Mound. After failing university entrance examinations he was appointed in 1851 as 'stage poet' of Den Nationale Scene, a small theatre in Bergen.

Ibsen returned in 1857 to Christiania to become artistic director of the new Norwegian (Norske) Theatre. In 1858 he married Suzannah Thoresen, stepchild of the novelits Magdalene Thoresen. After many notable productions the theatre went bankrupt, and Ibsen was appointed to the Christiania Theatre. When he received in 1864 an award for foreign travel from the government, and had also financial help from Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Ibsen left Norway for Italy in April, and travelled abroad for the next 27 years, returning to Norway only for brief visits. During this time, when he lived in Rome, Munich and Dresden, Ibsen wrote most of his best-known works, among others Brand (1866), Peer Gynt (1867), Pillars of Society (1877), A Doll´s House (1879) and An Enemy of the People (1882).

In 1866 Ibsen received poet's annual stipend, and he also had royalties from his dramatic poem Brand. This secured his literary position, and in the following years with the receipt of a new grant, he visited Stockholm, dined with the King, and later represented Norway at the opening of the Suez Canal. In the 1870s he worked with composer Edward Grieg on the premiere of Peer Gynt.

Ibsen returned to Norway in 1891 and continued to write until a stroke in 1900. His son married Bjørnson's daugter Bergliot. The marriage mellowed the last years of friendship between the two writer, who had a break in relationship after Ibsen's play The League of Youth (1869), where the central character resembled Bjørnson.

Ibsen died in Christiania on May 23, 1906.

See also: James Joyce, Georg Brandes, Knut Hamsun, Mao Zedong's wife Chiang Ch'ing

For further reading:

• Georg Bernard Shaw: THE QUINTESSENCE OF IBSENISM, 1891

Selected works:

• CATILINA, 1850 - Catiline
• KAEMPEHØIEN, 1850 - The Burial Mound/The Warrior's Barrow
• SANCTHANSNATTEN, 1853 - St. John's Night
• FRU INGER TIL ØSTRAAT, 1855 - Lady Inger of Østraat
• GILDET PAA SOLHAUG, 1856 - The Feast at Solhaus
• OLAF LILJEKRANS, 1857
• HAERMAENDENE PAA HELGELAND, 1858 - The Vikings at Helgeland
• KJAERLIGHEDENS KOMEDIE, 1862 - Love's comedy
• KONGSEMNERNE, 1864 - The Pretenders
• BRAND, 1866 - suom.
• PEER GYNT, 1867
• DE UNGES FORBUND, 1869 - The League of Youth
• SAMFUNDETS STOTTER, 1871 - Pillars of Society film adaptations: 1916, dir. by Raoul Walsh; Stützen derGesellschaft 1937, dir. by Detlef Sierck/Douglas Sirk
• KEJSER OG GALILAEER, 1864-1873 - Emperer and Galilean - prod. 1896
• ET DUKKEHJEM, 1879 - A Doll's House film adaptations: 1918, dir. by Maurice Tourneur; film 1922, dir. by Charles Bryant; 1973, dir. by Jospeh Losey, starring Jane Fonda; 1973, dir. by Patrick Garland, starring Claire Bloom; 1973 'Nora Helmer', dir. by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
• GENGANGERE, 1881 - Ghosts film 1915, dir. by George Nicholls, prod. by D.W. Griffith
• EN FOLKEFIENDE, 1882 - An Enemy of the People film Ein Volksfeind 1837, dir. by Hans Steinhof; 1977, dir. by George Schaefer, Arthur Miller's version of the play starring Steve McQueenand and Bibi Anderdson; 1980, written and directed by Satyajit Ray
• VILDANDEN, 1884 - The Wild Duck
• ROSMERSHOLM, 1886
• FRUEN FRA HAVET, 1888 - The Lady from the Sea
• HEDDA GABLER, 1890 - suom. - film 1924, dir. by Franz Eckstein ; 1975 'Hedda', dir. by Trevor Nunn
• BYGMESTER SOLNESS, 1892 - The Master Builder
• LILLE EYOLF, 1894 - Little Eyolf
• JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN, 1896
• NAAR VI DØDE VAAGNER, 1899 - Whe We Dead Awaken