Borgen, Johan

Borgen, Johan 

(pseudonym, Mumle Gásegg). Born Apr. 28, 1902, in Oslo. Norwegian author and journalist.

Borgen’s collections of sketches Observations and Objections (1932) and Sixty by Mumle Gásegg (1936) are directed against bourgeois hypocrisy. In the plays Office Supervisor Lee (1936), While We Wait (1938), and others he proved himself a master of psychological analysis. During the World War II years he was an emigré in Sweden, where he led antifascist activity. He wrote the novels There Will Be No Summer (1944), The Path of Love (1946), The Little Lord (a trilogy on the fate of a traitor, 1955; Russian translation, 1968), Dark Waters (1956), and Now He Is in Our Hands (1957). These deal with the attitude of Norwegian intellectuals during World War II. In his novel / (1959), Borgen paid tribute to Freudian psychoanalysis. From 1954 to 1963 he was the editor of the literary journal Vinduet.

WORKS

Dagerpü Grini. [Oslo], 1945.
Noveller i utvalg, 1936–1961. Oslo, 1961.
Blatind. Oslo, 1964.
Ord gjennom ar: Essays. Oslo, 1966.
Traer alene i skogen. Oslo, 1969.

REFERENCES

Surits, E. “Zakliuchitel’naia chast’ trilogii Borgena.” Inostrannaia literatura, 1958, no. 8.
Houm, Ph. Norges litteratur fra 1914 til 1950 arene. Oslo, 1955.
Nag, M. “J. Borgen—ord-kunstner og kjemper.” Friheten, May 4, 1962.

E. A. SURITS