Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)

By Henrik Ibsen

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen’.

Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Ibsen includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Jul 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781788775809

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a Norwegian playwright who thrived during the late nineteenth century. He began his professional career at age 15 as a pharmacist’s apprentice. He would spend his free time writing plays, publishing his first work Catilina in 1850, followed by The Burial Mound that same year. He eventually earned a position as a theatre director and began producing his own material. Ibsen’s prolific catalogue is noted for depicting modern and real topics. His major titles include Brand, Peer Gynt and Hedda Gabler.

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The Complete Works of

HENRIK IBSEN

VOLUME 10 OF 29

Peer Gynt

Parts Edition

By Delphi Classics, 2013

Version 1

COPYRIGHT

‘Peer Gynt’

Henrik Ibsen: Parts Edition (in 29 parts)

First published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2017.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 78877 580 9

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

Contact: [e-mail]

www.delphiclassics.com

Henrik Ibsen: Parts Edition

This eBook is Part 10 of the Delphi Classics edition of Henrik Ibsen in 29 Parts. It features the unabridged text of Peer Gynt from the bestselling edition of the author’s Complete Works. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. Our Parts Editions feature original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of Henrik Ibsen, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

Visit here to buy the entire Parts Edition of Henrik Ibsen or the Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen in a single eBook.

Learn more about our Parts Edition, with free downloads, via this link or browse our most popular Parts here.

HENRIK IBSEN

IN 29 VOLUMES

Parts Edition Contents

The Plays

1, Catiline

2, The Burial Mound

3, Lady Inger of Oestraat

4, The Feast at Solhaug

5, Olaf Liljekrans

6, The Vikings at Helgeland

7, Love’s Comedy

8, The Pretenders

9, Brand

10, Peer Gynt

11, The League of Youth

12, Emperor and Galilean

13, Pillars of Society

14, A Doll’s House

15, Ghosts

16, An Enemy of the People

17, The Wild Duck

18, Rosmersholm

19, The Lady from the Sea

20, Hedda Gabler

21, The Master Builder

22, Little Eyolf

23, John Gabriel Borkman

24, When We Dead Awaken

The Poems

25, The Poetry

The Norwegian Texts (De norske tekster)

26, The Original Texts

The Non-Fiction

27, Speeches and New Letters

The Criticism

28, The Criticism

The Biography

29, The Life of Henrik Ibsen by Edmund Gosse

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Peer Gynt

Translated by William and Charles Archer

Loosely based on the Norwegian fairy tale of Per Gynt, concerning a hunter from Kvam and has various adventures, this is the most widely performed Norwegian play in Ibsen’s homeland. His last play in poetic form, Peer Gynt was written in deliberate disregard of the limitations that the conventional stagecraft of the 19th century imposed on drama. Its forty scenes move uninhibitedly in time and space, blending folkloric fantasy and unsentimental realism. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones.

On 5 January 1867 Ibsen wrote to Frederik Hegel, his publisher, of his plan for the play, which would be a long dramatic poem, having as its principal a part-legendary, part-fictional character from Norwegian folklore during recent times. It will bear no resemblance to Brand, and will contain no direct polemics or anything of that kind. He began to write Peer Gynt on 14 January, employing a far greater variety of metres in its rhymed verse than he had used in his previous verse plays. The first two acts were completed in Rome and the third in Casamicciola on the north of the island of Ischia. In the composition of the play, Ibsen was generally inspired by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen’s collection of Norwegian Fairy Tales, published in 1845. Several of the characters are modelled after Ibsen’s own family, notably his parents Knud Ibsen and Marichen Altenburg.

The play forms a satire of Norwegian egotism and narrowness, sparking widespread hostility from Hans Christian Andersen and other Scandinavian writers at the time of publication.  The first edition of 1,250 copies was published on 14 November, 1867 in Copenhagen and quickly sold out, demanding a further re-print of 2,000 copies. Peer Gynt was first performed in Christiania on 24 February 1876, with original music composed by Edvard Grieg, which in itself has since become a highly celebrated work of art.

The play introduces Peer Gynt, the son of the once highly regarded Jon Gynt, who spent all his money on feasting and living lavishly, and had to go from his farm as a wandering salesman, leaving his wife and son behind in debt. Åse, the mother, wished to raise her son to restore the lost fortune of his father, but Peer is soon to be considered useless. He is a poet and a braggart, not unlike the youngest son from Norwegian fairy tales, the Ash Lad, with whom he shares some characteristics. As the play opens, Peer provides an account of a reindeer hunt that went awry, a famous theatrical scene generally known as the Buckride. His mother scorns him for his vivid imagination, and taunts him because he spoiled his chances with Ingrid, the daughter of the richest farmer. Peer leaves for Ingrid’s wedding, scheduled for the following day, because he may still get a chance with the bride. His mother follows quickly to stop him from shaming himself completely.

Henrik Klausen as Peer, 1876

CONTENTS

THE CHARACTERS

ACT FIRST

SCENE FIRST

SCENE SECOND

SCENE THIRD

ACT SECOND

SCENE FIRST

SCENE SECOND

SCENE THIRD

SCENE FOURTH

SCENE FIFTH

SCENE SIXTH

SCENE SEVENTH

SCENE EIGHTH

ACT THIRD

SCENE FIRST

SCENE SECOND

SCENE THIRD

SCENE FOURTH

ACT FOURTH

SCENE FIRST

SCENE SECOND

SCENE THIRD

SCENE FOURTH

SCENE FIFTH

SCENE SIXTH

SCENE SEVENTH

SCENE EIGHTH

SCENE NINTH

SCENE TENTH

SCENE ELEVENTH

SCENE TWELFTH

SCENE THIRTEENTH

ACT FIFTH

SCENE FIRST

SCENE SECOND

SCENE THIRD

SCENE FOURTH

SCENE FIFTH

SCENE SIXTH

SCENE SEVENTH

SCENE EIGHTH

SCENE NINTH

SCENE TENTH

A contemporary illustration of Peer Gynt

THE CHARACTERS

ÅSE, a peasant’s widow.

PEER GYNT, her son.

TWO OLD WOMEN with corn-sacks.

ASLAK, a smith.

WEDDING–GUESTS.

A MASTER–COOK, A FIDDLER, etc.

A MAN AND WIFE, newcomers to the district.

SOLVEIG and LITTLE HELGA, their daughters.

THE FARMER AT HEGSTAD.

INGRID, his daughter.

THE BRIDEGROOM and His PARENTS.

THREE SAETER–GIRLS.

A GREEN–CLAD WOMAN.

THE OLD MAN OF THE DOVRE.

A TROLL–COURTIER.

SEVERAL OTHERS.

TROLL–MAIDENS and TROLL–URCHINS.

A COUPLE OF WITCHES.

BROWNIES, NIXIES, GNOMES, etc.

AN UGLY BRAT.

A VOICE IN THE DARKNESS.

BIRD–CRIES.

KARI, a cottar’s wife.

Master COTTON, Monsieur BALLON, Herren VON EBERKOPF and TRUMPETERSTRALE, gentlemen on their travels.

A THIEF and A RECEIVER.

ANITRA, daughter of a Bedouin chief.

ARABS, FEMALE SLAVES, DANCING–GIRLS, etc.

THE MEMNON–STATUE (singing).

THE SPHINX AT GIZEH (muta persona).

PROFESSOR BEGRIFFENFELDT, Dr. Phil., director of the madhouse at Cairo.

HUHU, a language-reformer from the coast of Malabar.

HUSSEIN, an eastern Minister.

A FELLAH, with a royal mummy.

SEVERAL MADMEN, with their KEEPERS.

A NORWEGIAN SKIPPER and HIS CREW.

A STRANGE PASSENGER.

A PASTOR.

A FUNERAL–PARTY.

A PARISH–OFFICER.

A BUTTON–MOULDER.

A LEAN PERSON.

[The action, which opens in the beginning of the nineteenth century, and ends around the 1860’s, takes place partly in Gudbrandsdalen, and on the mountains around it, partly on the coast of Morocco, in the desert of Sahara, in a madhouse at Cairo, at sea, etc.]

ACT FIRST

SCENE FIRST

[A wooded hillside near ÅSE’s farm. A river rushes down the slope. On the further side of it an old mill shed. It is a hot day in summer.]

[PEER GYNT, a strongly-built youth of twenty, comes down the pathway. His mother, ÅSE, a small, slightly built woman, follows him, scolding angrily.]

ÅSE

Peer, you’re lying!

PEER [without stopping]

No, I am not!

ÅSE

Well then, swear that it is true!

PEER

Swear? Why should I?

ÅSE

See, you dare not!

It’s a lie from first to last.

PEER [stopping]

It is true — each blessed word!

ÅSE [confronting him]

Don’t you blush before your mother?

First you skulk among the mountains

monthlong in the busiest season,

stalking reindeer in the snows;

home you come then, torn and tattered,

gun amissing, likewise game; —

and at last, with open eyes,

think to get me to believe

all the wildest hunters’-lies! —

Well, where did you find the buck, then?

PEER

West near Gendin.

ÅSE [laughing scornfully]

Ah! Indeed!

PEER

Keen the blast towards me swept;

hidden by an alder-clump,

he was scraping in the snow-crust

after lichen —

ÅSE [as before]

Doubtless, yes!

PEER

Breathlessly I stood and listened,

heard the crunching of his hoof,

saw the branches of one antler.

Softly then among the boulders

I crept forward on my belly.

Crouched in the moraine I peered up; —

such a buck, so sleek and fat,

you, I’m sure, have ne’er set eyes on.

ÅSE

No, of course not!

PEER

Bang! I fired!

Clean he dropped upon the hillside.

But the instant that he fell

I sat firm astride his back,

gripped him by the left ear tightly,

and had almost sunk my knife-blade

in his neck, behind his skull —

when, behold! the brute screamed wildly,

sprang upon his feet like lightning,

with a back-cast of his head

from my fist made knife and sheath fly,

pinned me tightly by the thigh,

jammed his horns against my legs,

clenched me like a pair of tongs; —

then forthwith away he flew

right along the Gendin-Edge!

ÅSE [involuntarily]

Jesus save us — !

PEER

Have you ever

chanced to see the Gendin-Edge?

Nigh on four miles long it stretches

sharp before you like a scythe.

Down o’er glaciers, landslips, scaurs,

down the toppling grey moraines,

you can see, both right and left,

straight into the tarns that slumber,

black and sluggish, more than seven

hundred fathoms deep below you.

Right along the Edge we two

clove our passage through the air.

Never rode I such a colt!

Straight before us as we rushed

‘twas as though there glittered suns.

Brown-backed eagles that were sailing

in the wide and dizzy void

half-way ‘twixt us and the tarns,

dropped behind, like motes in air.

Ice-floes on the shores broke crashing,

but no murmur reached my ears.

Only sprites of dizziness sprang,

dancing, round; — they sang, they swung,

circle-wise, past sight and hearing!

ÅSE [dizzy]

Oh, God save me!

PEER

All at once,

at a desperate, break-neck spot,

rose a great cock-ptarmigan,

flapping, cackling, terrified,

from the crack where he lay hidden

at the buck’s feet on the Edge.

Then the buck shied half around,

leapt sky-high, and down we plunged

both of us into the depths!

[ÅSE totters, and catches at the trunk of a tree.  PEER GYNT continues:]

Mountain walls behind us, black,

and below a void unfathomed!

First we clove through banks of mist,

then we clove a flock of sea-gulls,

so that they, in mid-air startled,

flew in all directions, screaming.

Downward rushed we, ever downward.

But beneath us something shimmered,

whitish, like a reindeer’s belly. —

Mother, ‘twas our own reflection

in the glass-smooth mountain tarn,

shooting up towards the surface

with the same wild rush of speed

wherewith we were shooting downwards.

ÅSE [gasping for breath]

Peer! God help me — ! Quickly, tell — !

Aase on the Mill-house Roof

PEER

Buck from over, buck from under,

in a moment clashed together,

scattering foam-flecks all around.

There we lay then, floating, plashing, —

But at last we made our way

somehow to the northern shore;

buck, he swam, I clung behind him: —

I ran homewards —

ÅSE

But the buck, dear?

PEER

He’s there still, for aught I know; —

[Snaps his fingers, turns on his heel, and adds:]

catch him, and you’re welcome to him!

ÅSE

And your neck you haven’t broken?

Haven’t broken both your thighs?

and your backbone, too, is whole?

Oh, dear Lord — what thanks, what praise,

should be thine who helped my boy!

There’s a rent, though, in your breeches;

but it’s scarce worth talking of

when one thinks what dreadful things

might have come of such a leap — !

[Stops suddenly, looks at him open-mouthed and wide-eyed; cannot find words for some time, but at last bursts out:]

Oh, you devil’s story-teller,

Cross of Christ, how you can lie!

All this screed you foist upon me,

I remember now, I knew it

when I was a girl of twenty.

Gudbrand Glesne it befell,

never you, you —

PEER

Me as well.

Such a thing can happen twice.

ÅSE [exasperated]

Yes, a lie, turned topsy-turvy,

can be prinked and tinselled out,

decked in plumage new and