H. H. BOYSON

Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen (1848–1895) was a Norwegian-American novelist, poet, essayist, and professor who became one of the leading literary interpreters of Scandinavian life in the United States. Born in Kongsberg, Norway, and educated at the universities of Christiania and Leipzig, he emigrated to America in 1869 and later held the chair of Germanic languages at Columbia University in New York, where he was also a frequent contributor to The Century and other leading magazines.

Writing in English, Boyesen won instant acclaim with his first novel, Gunnar: A Tale of Norse Love (1874), praised by William Dean Howells. His principal works include the novels A Norseman's Pilgrimage (1875), Falconberg (1879), A Daughter of the Philistines (1883), Against Heavy Odds (1890), and The Golden Calf (1892); the tales of Norseland childhood collected in The Modern Vikings (1888); the verse of Idyls of Norway and Other Poems (1882); and such scholarly works as Goethe and Schiller (1879), The Story of Norway (1886), and Essays on Scandinavian Literature (1895). Blending romantic idealism with a keen eye for social realities, Boyesen served as a cultural bridge between the Old World and the New until his death in New York City in 1895.