Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen

Sep 20, 2026

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A comprehensive collection of Henrik Ibsen’s major literary output, organized into plays, poems, Norwegian texts, non-fiction, speeches and new letters, criticism, and biographical material. The contents list traces Ibsen’s works from early dramatic experiments through later masterpieces, then extends to poetry and critical reception. The included text provides historical context for Ibsen’s background in Skien and Grimstad, and explains how his first play, Catiline, was written, studied, published under a pseudonym, and eventually performed decades later with mixed reviews.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages6971

Reading Time178 h 55 min

AccessFree to download

The Plays

The Poems

The Non-Fiction

The Criticism

The Biography

The Complete Works of HENRIK IBSEN (1828-1906) Contents The Plays CATILINE THE BURIAL MOUND LADYINGER OF OESTRAATTHE FEAST AT SOLHAUG OLAF LILJEKRANS THE VIKINGS AT HELGELAND LOVE’S COMEDY THE PRETENDERS BRAND PEER GYNT THE LEAGUE OF YOUTH EMPEROR AND GALILEAN PILLARS OF SOCIETY A DOLL’S HOUSE GHOSTS AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE THE WILD DUCK ROSMERSHOLM THE LADY FROM THE SEA HEDDA GABLER THE MASTER BUILDER LITTLE EYOLF JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN The Poems INTRODUCTION TO IBSEN’S POETRY by Fydell Edmund Garrett LIST OF POEMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER LIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER The Norwegian Texts (De norske tekster) LIST OF WORKS (LISTE OVER IBSENS VERKER) The Non-Fiction SPEECHES AND NEW LETTERS The Criticism HENRIK IBSEN by Arthur Symons A DOLL’S HOUSE by Montrose J. Moses GHOSTS by Montrose J. Moses HEDDA GABLER by Frank W. Chandler THE MASTER BUILDER by Frank W. Chandler HENRIK IBSEN by Henry James IBSEN’S NEW DRAMA by James Joyce The Biography THE LIFE OF HENRIK IBSEN by Edmund Gosse © Delphi Classics 2013 Version 1 The Complete Works of HENRIK IBSEN By Delphi Classics, 2013 Other Leading Playwrights by Delphi Classics [www.delphiclassics.com](www.delphiclassics.com) The Plays The playwrights’ birthplace, Stockmanngården in Skien, Norway. The house was burnt down in 1886. Another view of the birthplace—the white building in front of the church The centre ofSkien today CATILINE Translated by Anders Orbeck Henrik Ibsen was born into a well-to-do merchant family in the small port town of Skien, noted for shipping timber, in Telemark county, Norway, in 1828. Although at first he enjoyed a privileged childhood, his upbringing was heavily influenced by how his father became the victim of unfortunate financial transactions in the mid-1830s. In the course of one year, the merchant Knud Ibsen was obliged to close down his businesses, his properties were auctioned off and the family’s prosperity was abruptly reversed to poverty. Life in Skien was very sheltered, offering little satisfaction to the ambitious and forward thinking Ibsen. Aged fifteen, he left his hometown for Grimstad to begin apothecary studies. In the course of his time in Grimstad he made his earliest attempts as a poet and in September 1849 had a poem published for the first time, In the Autumn. Ibsen’s first play, Catiline, was written over the first three months of 1849, when the young playwright was only twenty years old and currently working as an assistant to the chemist Lars Nielsen in Grimstad. Ibsen wrote most of the play at night time, in the precious few hours he had left free to him for study and composition, which explains why the majority of the drama is set in the evening. At the same time as working as a chemist’s apprentice, he was studying for the examination qualifying for university entrance. Therefore, he had private coaching in Latin, and among other works he read the Roman historian Sallust’s account of Catiline and Cicero’s famous Catiline speeches. These ancient texts were to inspire Ibsen’s first foray into play writing. After completing the play, Ibsen read Catiline to his two closest friends in Grimstad, Christopher Due and Ole Carelius Schulerud, who were very enthusiastic about his work. Due made a copy of the manuscript and Schulerud took it to the Christiania Theatre and also arranged publication in book format. Nevertheless, the board of the theatre rejected the play and every bookseller they took it to also declined the work. However, Schulerud did not give in until he had had his friend’s work published. With the aid ofa sum of money he had inherited, he had Catiline published on commission by the bookseller P. F. Steensballe in Christiania. The play was published under the pseudonym Brynjolf Bjarme on April 12th 1850 in an edition of 250 copies. Reviews were mostly favourable, but sales were low. The play recounts the story of

FAQs

How is Henrik Ibsen’s work organized in this collection?

It is structured into The Plays, The Poems, Norwegian Texts, The Non-Fiction (including speeches and new letters), The Criticism, and The Biography.

What early life context does the text give for Ibsen?

It describes his sheltered childhood in Skien, the financial decline caused by his father’s setbacks, and his move to Grimstad at age fifteen to study apothecary work.

How did Ibsen’s first play, Catiline, come to be published?

After writing it in 1849, he read it to close friends who helped arrange publication; the theatre rejected it, but continued efforts led to its publication under a pseudonym in 1850.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Ivy