title: Ibsen: Four Major Plays, Vol. II
author:  Henrik Ibsen 
description: Text: English (translation)<br /> Original Language: Norwegian
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  ![Image](images/9780140440164_HeddaGablerandOtherPlays_IMG_001.jpg)
  
  
  ### HEDDA GABLER AND OTHER PLAYS
  
  
  HENRIK IBSEN was born at Skien, Norway, in 1828. His family went bankrupt when
  he was a child, and he struggled with poverty for many years. His first
  ambition was medicine, but he abandoned this to write and to work in the
  theatre. Of his early verse plays, _The Vikings at Helgeland_ is now best
  remembered. In the year of its publication (1858) he married Susannah
  Thoresen, a pastor’s daughter.
  
  
  A scholarship enabled Ibsen to travel to Rome in 1864. In Italy he wrote
  _Brand_ (1866), which earned him a state pension, and _Peer Gynt_ (1867), for
  which Grieg later wrote the incidental music. These plays established his
  reputation. Apart from two short visits to Norway, he lived in Italy and
  Germany until 1891.
  
  
  From _The League of Youth_ (1869) onwards, Ibsen renounced poetry and wrote
  prose drama. T