Bjornson
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Bjornson. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
Bjornstjerne, byern'son, byern'sherne (1832-), a Norwegian poet, dramatist, and novelist. He was born at Kvikne. He was educated at the University of Christiania and became a writer for periodicals. He has written powerful dramas and novels, but his stories of Norwegian peasant life, Arne, A Happy Boy, The Fisher Maiden, and Synnove Solbakken, are known and loved more widely than any of his other works. In his later writings he has shown himself "an advocate of extreme republicanism in politics and free thought in religion." Bankruptcy, The King, The Glove, Beyond his Strength, and The Editor may be mentioned among Bjornson's dramas. The Heritage of the Kurts and In God's Way are later novels. He is the greatest distinctively Norwegian writer of his day and his popularity among his countrymen is very great.--Americana. Bjornson shares with Ibsen the literary supremacy of Norway. The former is its hero and prophet as the latter is its judge.--Burton, Literary Likings. With his death will pass away the last of that immortal trio, Ibsen, Grieg, and Bjornson, who shed the luster of their genius on little Norway. With Bjornson will come to an end the remarkable golden age of Norwegian culture. Not that Norwegian culture is dead. By no means. But its vikings, the men who sallied forth on the seas of cultural adventure, when the national consciousness was beginning to wake after its long sleep, are gone. Bjornson is the last of the giants, and in some ways the greatest. To Norway, at any rate, he was the greatest, for he more than any other, was the personification of the nation, of its character, its aspirations, its ideals. Ibsen, the world knows better, because Ibsen, mighty Thor of Pessimism, hammered away at mankind in the mass, at human nature in its weakness, at the hopelessness of life because of that weakness. His hammer-strokes resounded around the globe. They appalled and fascinated the world. Bjornson was Ibsen's complete antithesis. He was ever the optimist, the hopeful, inspiring, fighting optimist. His gonfalon ever waved in the forefront of battle, but it was always Norway's battles and not the world's disputes that interested him most. He was first and foremost a patriot. After that he was a poet, a teller of folk tales, a writer of home plays, a red republican, a reformer. He wrote the inspiring song poem, "Yes, We Love This Land," which bursts from Norwegian throats on every national occasion. Impulsive, generous, candid and obstinate, he was the Boy of Norway who never grew up. Up to that very dark day when disease laid him low, he was full of the joy of life, of the juvenile spirit of enjoyment. Around his peasant's house on the hillside at Aulestad floated the flags of all nations. It was a veritable shrine in these latter days to which journeyed many visitors to Norway. They found it more than a shrine--a patriarchal family, with the silver-haired, frank, impulsive Bear-Star, Son of Bear, at its head, and his motherly, faithful old wife at his side.--Minneapolis Journal. 2026 Editor's Note: The entry does not mention two honors: Bjørnson wrote the words to "Ja, vi elsker dette landet," Norway's national anthem, and in 1903 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature — only the third ever awarded. He was also a tireless campaigner for Norwegian independence from Sweden, achieved in 1905. (Ed: BR 2026-07-05)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
BJÖRNSTJERNE (byern'son), a Norwegian novelist, poet and dramatist, born at Kvikne, Norway, Dec. 8, 1832. He published his first story, "Synnöve Solbakken," in 1857, and that, with "Arne" (1858) and "A Lively Fellow" (1860), established his reputation as a novelist. "Halte Hulda," "Between Battles" (1858); and "Sigurd Slembe" (1862), are among his plays. Of his novels and romances since 1866 the most notable are "The Bridal March," "The Fisher Maiden," and "Captain Mansana." His principal dramatic works are "Mary Stuart" (1864); "Leonarda" (1879); "A Glove" (1889); "Poems and Songs" in 1870. He died April 26, 1910. BJÖRNSTJERNA, MAGNUS FRED- DERICK FERDINAND (byern'-sternä), COUNT, a Swedish statesman, born in 1779. Having entered the Swedish army and risen to be Colonel, he went with the Swedish troops to Germany in 1813 and took part in the battles of Grossbeeren, Dennewitz, the passage of the Elbe, the storming of Dessau, and the battle of Leipsic. He also received the surrender of Lübeck and of Maestricht. After the capitulation of Paris he fought in Holstein and in Norway, at length concluding with Prince Christian Frederick at Moss the convention uniting Norway and Sweden. In 1826 he was made a Count, and in 1828 Plenipotentiary to Great Britain, where he remained till 1846. He published works on "British Rule in the East Indies,"