Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 August 1903 — Ibsen’s Grnffness. [ARTICLE]

Ibsen’s Grnffness.

In ISOI Georg Brandes happened to be with some friends at Sandviken, near Christiania, when they heard that Ibsen was staying at the local hotel. They decided to invite him to dinner, but he declined when he was told that there would be nine persons at the banquet. “I never dine with so large a party,” he said. Finally he was persuaded to say “Yes,” but in the meantime the number of persons whose request to be present Brandes could not possibly refuse had grown to twentytwo. Ibsen was furious when he discovered this, but Brandes managed to get him to the dining room, where, however, the poet looked so forbidding that champagne had to be served immediately after the soup to give courage to the guests. Ibsen acted like a bear all the evening. When one of the guests, an actress, remarked that she liked his roles better than any others he answered gruffly: “I do not write any roles. I represent characters, and I never work for any actor or actress.”