Henrik Ibsen
1828–1906 · Norwegian (Skien/Oslo) · 19th Century Scandinavia
Known for: Father of modern drama—A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People
Henrik Ibsen spent 27 years in self-imposed exile from Norway, writing plays that scandalized Europe. A Doll's House (1879), in which Nora walks out on her husband, was a cultural earthquake that sparked debates about women's rights across the continent. Ghosts, addressing syphilis and euthanasia, was called 'an open drain' by critics.
He was irascible, vain, obsessed with his appearance, and fiercely independent. He modeled characters on people who had offended him. Every playwright from Shaw to Miller to Albee works in the tradition he established. He returned to Norway as a national hero and suffered strokes that left him unable to write.
What Henrik Ibsen would be watching
The “if they lived today” Q&A on this page gives Henrik Ibsen Marriage Story (2019) as a favourite film. Their reason: “Noah Baumbach understands that divorce is the only honest theater most people will ever experience. Also, Scarlett Johansson's monologue is better than most plays running in Oslo.” Rankquant scores it above 69% of films, drawn from 1,186 IMDb reviewers individually re-centred rather than averaged raw. The full film & TV rankings are built the same way.
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