Olaf Bull

Not to be confused with Ole Bull.

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

Contents

1 His life
2 His poetry
3 Bibliography

3.1 Works published during his lifetime
3.2 Novels
3.3 Play
3.4 Posthumously published works

4 Literature about Bull
5 Reference

His life

Olaf Bull was son of the author Jacob Breda Bull and his second wife Maria Augusta Berglöf. He grew up in Kristiania. Mostly raised in Kristiania, he lived for a period in Hurum in Buskerud, where his father wrote, when he was 13 years of age.

He attended gymnasium beginning in 1899, and the same year published his first poem in the school newspaper. After he finished gymnasium he lived with family in Rome, before he returned to Kristiania and began study at the university in 1903. Olaf Bull was almost a Polymath – in addition to both modern and classical literature, he also mastered philosophy, history, politics, art and science. He was known as the “Oslo-poet,” but lived for extended periods in both France and Italy. He spent several years as a journalist for Posten and Dagbladet .

His poetry

His poems ‘‘Digte’’ came out in 1909 and it formed the foundation upon which Bull 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—that nothing lasts. In spite of this disconsolate tone, his recurrent, powerful use of mood, faultless form and expressive voice communicates his belief that, although evanescent, art and beauty are important.

Bach described his work as:

"His poems reveal a masculine power and a forceful affirmation of his own individuality, notwithstanding the extreme pessismism that often envelopes them in a voluminous thick black veil. His poetry is deeply felt, rich in imaginative and intellectual quality." The History of the Scandanavian Literatures, Edited by Giovanni Bach, Dial Press, Inc., New York.

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 after the eternal and persistent; this showed up particularly when he wrote in classical motifs.

Bibliography

Works published during his lifetime

Digte, Gyldendal, 1909.
Nye Digte, Gyldendal, 1913.
Mitt navn er Knoph, Narveson, 1914.
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.

Novels

Mitt navn er Knoph, 1914 (Crime fiction)

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. Utgitt ved Frans Lasson.
Olaf Bull: brev fra en dikters liv (Olaf Bull: Letters from a Poets Life), 2 bd., Gyldendal, 1989. Utgitt ved Lasson.
Ild og skygger: spredte notater fra et dikterliv, Nørhaven, Viborg, 1991. Utgitt ved Lasson.

Literature about Bull

Suzanne Bull, Ni år: mitt liv med Olaf Bull (Nine years: My Life with Olaf Bull), Aschehoug, 1974.
Fredrik Wandrup, En uro som aldri dør. Olaf Bull og hans samtid (A Restlessness That Never Dies. Olaf Bull and His Time), Gyldendal, 1995.

Reference

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