Christians Pram

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Christians Henriksen Pram

Christen Henriksen Pram (born September 4, 1756 in Lesja , † November 28, 1821 in Sankt Thomas , Danish West Indies ) was a Norwegian poet .

Life

His parents were the chaplain and later pastor Henrik Frederik Pram (1726–1800) and his wife Olava Maria de Stockfleth (1738–1815), a pastor's daughter from Fåberg . On May 24, 1782 he married Maria Magdalena Erichsen (July 30, 1754– September 30, 1819), daughter of the city ​​physician Johann Gottfried Erichsen (1713–1768) and his wife Anna, née. Thode (1728-1766). The marriage was unhappy with outbreaks of violence and the couple were temporarily separated.

Christen Pram lived in Denmark for most of his life but was a Norwegian patriot. He was the first Norwegian novelist.

When Pram was eight years old, his father became a pastor in Slagslunde on Zealand . The parental home became a center for the care of Norwegian . There he met the poet Edvard Storm , the lawyer Peder Kofod Ancher and the historian Peter Frederik Suhm . These encounters gave him access to the upper classes of Copenhagen and were of great importance for his later works. There he met Ernst Heinrich von Schimmelmann , who opened the door to his civil service career for him. He also became a member of “Norske Selskab” (Norwegian Society) in Copenhagen.

In 1772 Pram passed the "Examen artium" after his home lessons and began studying. Because of the need to earn a living, he chose law, did not attend the lectures sufficiently and consequently did not graduate. He attended many different lectures, read classical literature and learned modern languages. He was particularly concerned with statistics and economics . In 1781 he got a position at the business college and worked most of his working life in various positions. He was a supporter of enlightened absolutism. In 1802 he became a judicial councilor and in 1812 a budget councilor. In 1816 the business college was merged with "Vestindisk-guineiske Rente- og Generaltoldkammer" and he was given his farewell.

From 1782 to 1787 he published the trade newspaper Efterretninger om Handel, Skibsfart, Fabrik- og Manufacturvæsen .

Pram developed his poetic skills early on. He tried his hand at various fields with varying degrees of success. In 1779 he won a prize for his heroids "Philippa til Erik". The poem "Emilias kilde" from 1782, describing nature, reinforced its reputation. Then came his most famous poem "Starkather" in 15 chants, which is based on a material from the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus . In poetry, the 7000 verses are considered dry and unpoetic, but it attracted general attention as far as Sweden because it was believed to be a testimony to the Old Norse Renaissance. In the poem he turns Starkather into a Norwegian. But nothing of the old Norse spirit can be felt, rather it is an allegorical framework for all kinds of moral-philosophical considerations. He wrote a whole series of plays that could not hold up in the theater. Ægteskabsskolen (School of Marriage; 1795) was comparatively successful with 15 performances. Again based on Saxos Gesta Danorum is a historical play entitled Lagertha (1789), in which the life of the Nordic warrior ( shieldmaiden ) Lathgertha is depicted. This was the model for the ballet piece Lagertha (1801) by Vincenzo Galeotti (choreography) and Claus Schall (music), which as a total work of art includes songs, pantomime , dance and dialogues.

Together with Knud Lyne Rahbek he published the culture newspaper Minerva in 1785 . From 1790 to 1793 he edited it alone. In Minerva he had a fixed foreign policy column and won many readers through his well-written short stories. From 1796 to 1804 and from 1818 to 1819 he published Borgervennen (Bürgerfreund).

Jørgen, en Dosmers Levnedsbeskrivelse and Hans Kruuskop (both 1786) were the high point of his literary work. Both works were about the struggle of young men against a hostile environment, against bullying and loss of freedom. They are characterized by a skeptical view of people, sharp irony and social criticism. Jørgen is in the Voltaire tradition . John Thral. Bidrag til Frihedens history from 1787 has an English main character and gives a panorama of the European states on the eve of the French Revolution. The novel ends with an appeal for land reform in Denmark, which Pram supported, considering the situation in Norway as an ideal. While his comedy Ægteskabsskolen was only a short success, his short stories have a special place in Norwegian literary history, as they are the first stories by a Norwegian in the Norwegian language. Above all, Pram felt like a Norwegian.

In 1795 Pram won an award for the best program for a Norwegian university: Forsøg om en Højskoles Anlæg i Norge . From 1804 to 1806 he made two long business trips to Norway. His reports to the College in Copenhagen (in 10 volumes) contain a lot of cultural and economic policy information. He had little sense for the wild nature of Norway, but all the more for the cultural landscape. His preferred landscape was Trøndelag .

In 1814 he was a co-founder of “Nordmandsforeningen” in Copenhagen. In the same year he made himself available for the new state of Norway, which declared its independence from Denmark after the end of the Napoleonic Wars . But he didn't even get an answer to his offer. In order to improve his tight economic situation, he traveled to the Danish island of St. Thomas in the Caribbean as a customs administrator in 1819 . He couldn't stand the climate and died there in 1821.

Works (selection)

  • Philippa to Erik. A heroid . 1779
  • Emilia's Kilde . 1782
  • Hymn til Vaaren . 1784
  • Stærkodder. Et Digt i farten Sange . 1785
  • Jørgen, en Dosmers Levnedsbeskrivelse . 1786
  • Hans Kruuskop . 1786
  • Om en Husmoders Pligte . 1787 (award-winning)
  • John Thral. Bidrag til Frihedens history . 1787
  • Frode and Fingal, Skuespill . 1790
  • Forsøg om Dragten, især for Denmark and Norway . 1791 (award-winning)
  • Lagertha. Et dramatisk Forsøg . 1790 (ballet 1801)
  • Ægteskabsskolen. Lystspil i fem Akter . 1795
  • Forsøg om en Højskoles Anlæg i Norge . 1795 (award-winning)
  • Edited by Minerva , 1785–1789, 1790–1793

literature

Notes and individual references

The article is essentially based on Norsk biografisk leksikon . Any other information is shown separately.

  1. ^ A b c F. Rønning: Pram, Christen Henriksen . In: Carl Frederik Bricka (Ed.): Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537-1814. 1st edition. tape 13 : Pelli – Reravius . Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, Copenhagen 1899, p. 266 (Danish, runeberg.org ).
  2. ↑ "Stadtphysikus" (stadsfysikus) was a tenured doctor in a city that own Fylke was (Oslo, Bergen).
  3. ^ F. Rønning: Pram, Christen Henriksen . In: Carl Frederik Bricka (Ed.): Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537-1814. 1st edition. tape 13 : Pelli – Reravius . Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, Copenhagen 1899, p. 269 (Danish, runeberg.org ).
  4. ↑ The "Examen artium" was the regular entrance examination for university, which required knowledge of Latin and Greek. So it corresponded to the Abitur, but was accepted by the university until 1883.
  5. ↑ In the time of absolutism an honorary title, first for the members of the Supreme Court, but then also for members of other authorities.
  6. ^ "Etatsrat" was a member of the State Council who advised the king.
  7. ↑ Røninng calls him "real judicial councilor" for 1802 and "real budget councilor" for 1810.
  8. ↑ a b c d F. Rønning: Pram, Christen Henriksen . In: Carl Frederik Bricka (Ed.): Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537-1814. 1st edition. tape 13 : Pelli – Reravius . Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, Copenhagen 1899, p. 267 (Danish, runeberg.org ).
  9. ^ Henning Urup: Dans i Danmark. Danseformerne approx. 1600 to 1950. Museum Tusculanum Press, 2007, ISBN 978-87-635-0580-2 .
personal data
SURNAME Pram, Christians
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pram, Christians Henriksen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian poet
DATE OF BIRTH September 4, 1756
PLACE OF BIRTH Lesja
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1821
Place of death Saint Thomas , Virgin Islands