Olaf Jacob Martin Luther Bull

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_Bull

Olaf Jacob Martin Luther Breda Bull or Olaf Bull was a Norwegian poet. He was born on November 10, 1883 in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway, and died on June 29, 1933.

His life

Olaf Bull's parents were author Jacob Breda Bull and his second wife Maria Augusta Berglöf. Bull grew up and was mostly raised in Kristiania. At the age of 13, he lived for some time in Hurum in Buskerud, where his father worked as a writer.

He started gymnasium in 1899, and the same year he published his first poem in the school newspaper. After he finished gymnasium, he lived with family in Rome before returning to Kristiania in 1903 to begin his studies at the university. Olaf Bull could be considered a Polymath because in addition to both modern and classical literature, he mastered philosophy, history, politics, art and science. He was known as the “Oslo-poet,” but he lived for extended periods in both France where his son, the poet Jan Bull, was born and in Italy. He spent several years as a journalist for Posten and Dagbladet .

Olaf Bull is buried at Vår Frelsers gravlund in Oslo.

His poetry

Bull's poetry collection ‘‘Digte’’ (1909) formed the foundation upon which he came to be recognized as Norway’s foremost poet. Olaf Bull composed his poetry using what is called in Norwegian sentrallyrikk — poems about “central themes” such as love, sorrow and death. He used fixed stanza patterns and was known for his strong and emotional depictions. His poetry and work conveys a melancholy sense that all is transitory. In spite of this disconsolate tone, his recurring and powerful use of mood, faultless form and expressive voice communicate his belief that, although evanescent, art and beauty are important.

Giovanni Bach described his work in this way:

"His poems reveal a masculine power and a forceful affirmation of his own individuality, notwithstanding the extreme pessimism that often envelopes them in a voluminous thick black veil. His poetry is deeply felt, rich in imaginative and intellectual quality."

Bull utilized his extensive knowledge and artistic strength, but showed an underlying fear and depression. He inherited a nervous disposition from his father and abused alcohol. Olaf Bull was known to be anti-authority and was regarded an “outsider” in society, but his poetry demonstrated that he never totally broke with traditional form and structure. Much of his poetry showed a powerful longing for the eternal and persistent. This longing was most apparent when he wrote about classical motifs.

Bibliography

Works published during his lifetime

Digte, Gyldendal, 1909.

Nye Digte, Gyldendal, 1913.

Mitt navn er Knoph, Narveson, 1914 - the first Norwegian book to be translated to Danish; see Norwegian language struggle.

Digte og noveller, Gyldendal, 1916

Samlede digte 1909–1919, Gyldendal, 1919.

Stjernerne, Gyldendal, 1924.

Metope, Gyldendal, 1927.

De hundrede aar, Gyldendal, 1928.

Kjærlighet, Gyldendal, 1929.

Oinos og Eros, Gyldendal, 1930.

Ignis ardens, Gyldendal, 1932.

Play

Kjærlighetens farse:tre akter (Love’s Farce: Three Acts), Aschehoug, 1919, published 1948. Written together with Helge Krog.

Posthumously published works

Ekko og regnbue: notater fra en dikters verksted (Echo and Rainbow: Notes From a Poet’s Workplace), Gyldendal, 1987. Edited by Frans Lasson.

Olaf Bull: brev fra en dikters liv (Olaf Bull: Letters from a Poets Life), 2 vols., Gyldendal, 1989. Edited by Frans Lasson.

Ild og skygger: spredte notater fra et dikterliv, Nørhaven, Viborg, 1991. Edited by Frans Lasson.

Literature about Bull

Suzanne Bull, Ni år: mitt liv med Olaf Bull (Nine years: My Life with Olaf Bull), Aschehoug, 1974.

Petter Næss, "Olaf Bull, a wretched giant of Scandinavian literature (unpublished article, 1990)

Nete Smith, Olaf Bull, in: Twentieth Century Norwegian Writers, vol. 297, Gale Dictionary of Literary Biography, 2004

Fredrik Wandrup, En uro som aldri dør. Olaf Bull og hans samtid (A Restlessness That Never Dies. Olaf Bull and His Time), Gyldendal, 1995.