Kielland, Alexander

Kielland, Alexander (Lange)

(born Feb. 18, 1849, Stavanger, Nor.—died April 6, 1906, Bergen) Norwegian novelist, short-story writer, and dramatist. Kielland, who was born into an aristocratic family, took a degree in law in 1871 and was a businessman for almost a decade. After a trip to Paris, he began to write. His first book of short stories was published in 1879, and he soon became dedicated to social reform. His influential novels include Garman and Worse (1880) and Skipper Worse (1882), both of which are set in and around Stavanger. He was perhaps the foremost prose stylist of his day, and, together with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, and Jonas Lie, he is considered one of the “big four” of 19th-century Norwegian literature.