Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson, Over ævne, Første Stykke [Beyond Human Power]

Kathy Rees (Independent Scholar - Europe)

Ed. by Susan Brantly, University of Wisconsin
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.5: Norwegian Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London), Anja Tröger (University of Edinburgh)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1883

Places

Norway (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

This play is a study of the function of the miraculous in Christian faith. In a letter to his wife Karoline from America, dated February 1881, Bjørnson observed that next to The King,the play that he was then writing, Over ævne, Første Stykke [Beyond Human Power] “was the work most in harmony with my being and my development” (Haugen 210).

The play is very short, comprising only two acts. There are some abrupt atmospheric shifts, changing from spiritual ecstasy to a comic exposé of religious prejudice, culminating in an unexpected catastrophe.

Act 1

The scene is laid in Nordland, the Land of the Midnight Sun where nothing seems commonplace and nothing seems impossible. The first act opens with the bedridden Clara Sang talking with her sister, Hanna Roberts, newly arrived from America. Hanna had not...

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706 words

Citation: Rees, Kathy. "Over ævne, Første Stykke". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 September 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35815, accessed 13 December 2025.]

Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson, Over ævne, Første Stykke [Beyond Human Power]

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

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