Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson, Det Ny System [The New System]

Kathy Rees (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.5: Norwegian Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Kjerstin Moody (Gustavus Adolphus College), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London), Anja Tröger (University of Edinburgh)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1879

Places

Norway (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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This play is primarily social satire, a psychological analysis of the effect of the “small state” on its citizens. We never learn what the “new system” actually is, although engineering terms are used to create a semblance of it. It is a metaphor for a business philosophy which is based on lies and bravado. Attempts to expose the system have been discredited, until a fresh voice from America intervenes, prepared to stand up to vested interests at any cost.

The play opens with a discussion between Karl Ravn, a formerly enthusiastic and confident railroad engineer who is now embittered and cynical, and Hans Kampe, recently returned from a seven-year period in America, and full of ambitious new ideas. Also present is Hans’s father, who “was beyond a doubt our cleverest man –

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1106 words

Citation: Rees, Kathy. "Det Ny System". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 October 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38799, accessed 18 April 2024.]

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