Aasmund Olavsson Vinje

Born:	April 6, 1818 Vinje, Telemark, Norway
Died:	July 20, 1870 Gran in Hadeland, Oppland, Norway
Occupation:	Journalist, poet, essayist
Nationality:	Norwegian

Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (April 6, 1818 - July 30, 1870) was a famous Norwegian poet and journalist who is remembered for poetry, travel writing, and his pioneering use of Landsmål (now known as Nynorsk).

Vinje was born into a poor but well-read family in Vinje, Telemark. He had a voracious appetite for learning and supported himself in part by teaching. He earned his university entrance exam after attending the same school as Henrik Ibsen, studied law, and became an attorney. He founded the periodical Dølen (The dales-man) in 1858, in which he published travel accounts, and editorial comments on art, language and politics that serve as records for the period in which he lived. The Dølen ceased plication in 1870.

Vinje did much to articulate the difference between city and rural life in Norway and was among the sophisticated exponents of Norwegian romantic nationalism. Despite this, he was also know for his critical scepticism and double views (no: tvisyn) - that is, he advocated to embrace both pro and contra arguments to avoid confirmation bias. He was politically active to the extent that the government fired him from his work as an attorney for criticizing its foreign policy.

Among his writings, the Ferdaminni fraa Sumaren 1860 (A remembrance of a voyage in the summer 1860, not translated), rank in high esteem in norwegian literature, describing a journey from Oslo to Trondheim in order to cover the coronation of king Charles in the Nidarosdomen cathedral for his periodical. It can be seen as a program for Vinje and the Dølen that the description deals more warm-hearted with his meetings with ordinary people along the journey, than with the royalities he encountered at the coronation.

In 1863 he wrote A Norseman's View of Britain and the British, which was translated into Norwegian ten years later. Some of Vinje's poetry is still very much alive in Norway, especially the poem Ved Rundane (English At Rondane), with its tune by Edvard Grieg.

Dying from stomach cancer, Vinje decided to spend his last days in the countryside. He died as a guest of his friend, minister (later bishop) A. Chr. Bang in Gran in Hadeland on July 30, 1870 and is buried nearby at Søsterkirkene ("Sister Churches").

References

• Glienke, Bernhard. Vinje in London, In his Metropolis und nordische Moderne (Frankfurt, Peter Lang, 1999) (Beiträge zur Skandinavistik; Band 15)

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