l a n d , a n d b y W e l h a v e n ’s b i o g r a p h e r , A r n e L o c h e n . A f l e x i b l e
p r o s e h a s b e e n t h e w e a p o n w i t h w h i c h t h e e d i t o r s , C h r i s t i a n
U r i e l e ( d i e d 1899), E r i k V u l l u m a n d O . T h o m m e s s e n h a v e
a t t r a c t e d a t t e n t i o n i n t h e a r e n a o f p o l i t i c s . T h e p a i n t e r C h r i s t i a n
K r o h g h a s a l s o w o n a n a m e a m o n g c o n t e m p o r a r y p r o s e w r i t e r s
a s a p i q u a n t w r i t e r o f s o c i e t y a r t i c l e s . T h e y o u n g a r t h i s t o r i a n s .
A n d r e a s A t jb e r t a n d J ests T h u s , a n d t h e l i t e r a r y c r i t i c s , C h r .
C o l l i n , J u s t B i n g , G e r h a r d G r a n , H j a l m a r . C h r i s t e n s e n ,
S ig u r d B o d t k e r , C a r l N æ r u p a n d N i l s K ja e r , n a t u r a l l y d e m a n d
a w h o l l y a r t i s t i c f o rm .
A m o n g t h e s c i e n t i f i c m e n w h o s e p r o s e r e v e a l s a m a r k e d f e e l i n g
f o r a p u r e a n d c o r r e c t h a n d l i n g o f l a n g u a g e , w e m a y f i n a l l y
m e n t i o n F r i d t j o f N a n s e n , w h o s e 'a c c o u n t s o f t h e tw o f a m o u s
p o l a r e x p e d i t i o n s h a v e j u s t l y b e c o m e f a v o u r i t e b o o k s w i t h a l l c l a s s e s .
B IB L IO G R A PH Y .
P a u l B o t t en -Ha n s e n . L a Norvège littéraire. K r is tia n ia 1868.
E d m u n d G o s s e . Norwegian Literature (in th e En cy clo p aed ia B ritan n ic a ).
H e n r i k J æ g e r . Illustreret norsk literaturhistorie. Vol. I—I I .2 K ris tia n ia
1892— 1896.
J . B. H a l v o r s e n . Norsk Forfatter-Lexikon 18M—1880. Yol. I—Y. K ris tia n ia
1883— 1900.
T h e l a s t m e n tio n e d w o rk , as re g a rd s a c cu ra cy a n d ex h a u s tiv e n e s s , is a n
u n r iv a lle d a lp h a b e tic a l re c o rd o f m o d e rn N o rw e g ian w r ite r s an d th e i r w ritin g s .
B y i t s a u th o r ’s d e e p ly re g r e tte d d e a th , th e w o rk h a s r e c e n tly b e e n in t e r r u p te d
b e fo re co n c lu sio n .
THE PRESS
Ju s t as Norway was the last European country but one, into
which the art of printing found its wayBH Turkey alone being
behind us in this respect -§§ so the beginning of a printed periodical
literature was much later in Norway than in most other countries.
Here, as elsewhere, the newspapers had their forerunners,
partly in the shape of pamphlets containing accounts of single
remarkable events (battles, natural phenomena, etci), or critical
reflections upon such events, partly in the form of periodical
writings of an instructive and moralising nature, such as the «Short
Weekly Treatises on Various, and in Their Several Ways, Useful
and Edifying Matters», published anonymously by Bishop U r . N a n n e -
s t a d (1760—61), and the «Monthly Treatises» appearing in 1762.
The first newspaper proper, however, was the still-existing Norsks
Intelligenz-Seddeler, which began to be published in Kristiania in
1763. I t was originally published once a week in small quarto,
and contained for the most part only advertisements; and it was
altogether free from political or other tendencies. Not long after,
Bergen and Trondhjem each had its own newspaper, namely
Efterretninger fra Adresse-Contoiret i Bergen (1765), and Trond-
hjems Adresse-Gontoirs Efterretninger (1767), of about the same size
and contents as the Intelligenz-Seddeler. These newspapers had
acquired from the government the sole right to all the advertisements
in the diocese in which they were published, a monopoly
which they held until 1864 and 1876 respectively. In 1780, Kri-
stiansand also obtained its privileged newspaper entitled Ghristian-
sandske TJge-Blade. In addition to these; papers, several weekly
periodicals appeared during the succeeding period in Kristiania,