Nils Kjær was a Norwegian playwright, short story writer, essayist, literary critic and theatre critic.

Personal life

Kjær was born in Holmestrand

Holmestrand

is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Holmestrad. The city was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . The neighboring rural municipality of Botne was merged into the municipality of Holmestrand on 1 January...

 as the son of Nils Henrik Kjær and Christine Smestad. He married translator and teacher Fredrikke Margrete ("Maggen") Dons in 1896.

Career

Kjær took his examen artium

Examen artium

Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1630...

 in 1890, and studied at the University of Oslo

University of Oslo

The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

 from 1890 to 1892. His first book was Essays; fremmede forfattere from 1895, a collection of articles published in Dagbladet

Dagbladet

Dagbladet is Norway's second largest tabloid newspaper, and the third largest newspaper overall with a circulation of 105,255 copies in 2009, 18,128 papers less than in 2008. The editor in chief is Lars Helle....

and Kringsjaa

Kringsjaa

Kringsjaa was a periodical which was published weekly from 1893–1910. It was published by Olaf Norlis forlag in Kristiania. The paper was around 80–100 pages, and was based on subscription...

. He made his début as a playwright with the tragedy Regnskabets dag from 1902. His satirical comedy Det lykkelige valg from 1913 was successfully performed on several Scandinavian stages. The performance at the National Theatre

Nationaltheatret

The National Theatre in Oslo is one of Norway's largest and most prominent venues for performance of dramatic arts.The theatre had its first performance on 1 September 1899 but can trace its origins to Christiania Theatre, which was founded in 1829...

 in Oslo (premièred on 29 January 1914) was produced by Gustav Thomassen

Gustav Thomassen

Gustav Thomassen was a Norwegian actor and theatre director. He made his stage debut in 1881 at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen. He worked at Den Nationale Scene until 1905, and served as theatre director from 1900 to 1905. From 1905 to 1929 he worked as an actor and instructor at Nationaltheatret...

, and saw Johanne Dybwad

Johanne Dybwad (actor)

Johanne Dybwad was a Norwegian stage actress and stage producer. She was the leading actress in Norwegian theatre for half a century.-Early and personal life:...

 playing the character "Lavinia" and David Knudsen

David Knudsen

David Knudsen was a Norwegian actor. He made his stage debut on Den Nationale Scene in 1902, and played for the National Theatre from 1911 to 1960....

 as the politician "Celius". His other plays were Mimosas hjemkomst from 1907, For træet er der haab from 1917, and Ønskekvisten. He issued an edition of Ludvig Holberg

Ludvig Holberg

Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano-Norwegian double monarchy, who spent most of his adult life in Denmark. He was influenced by Humanism, the Enlightenment and the Baroque...

's comedies in 1898. His book Det evige Savn from 1907 contained two short stories

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

.

Kjær wrote travel letters and participated in public debates, as well as reviewing literature and theatre. He delivered articles to the newspapers Morgenbladet

Morgenbladet

Morgenbladet is a Norwegian weekly newspaper. It was founded in 1819 by the book printer Niels Wulfsberg, and was the country's first daily newspaper. For a long time, it was also the country's biggest newspaper. It was closed down by the German Wehrmacht during World War II...

and Verdens Gang

Verdens Gang (1868-1923 newspaper)

Verdens Gang is a former Norwegian newspaper, issued in Oslo from 1868 to 1923.It was established as a weekly magazine in 1868, later expanded to three issues a week, and was issued daily from 1885. It was the most widespread political newspaper in Norway for many years, and had considerable...

, he was a theatre critic for Aftenposten

Aftenposten

Aftenposten is Norway's largest newspaper. It retook this position in 2010, taking it from the tabloid Verdens Gang which had been the largest newspaper for several decades. It is based in Oslo. The morning edition, which is distributed across all of Norway, had a circulation of 250,179 in 2007...

from 1909 to 1921, and wrote for Tidens Tegn

Tidens Tegn

Tidens Tegn is a former Norwegian newspaper, issued in Oslo from 1910 to 1941.-Editors:The founder and first editor-in-chief of Tidens Tegn was Ola Thommessen, who edited the newspaper until 1917. Thommessen had recently left the editor chair of Verdens Gang in protest, bringing much of Verdens...

from 1922.

In an obituary in the periodical Samtiden

Samtiden

Samtiden is a Norwegian political and literary magazine. It was founded by Jørgen Brunchorst and Gerhard Gran in 1890. The magazine's first publisher was John Griegs forlag , and from 1900 Aschehoug . Gran was the magazine's editor from 1892 to 1925. Cathrine Sandnes has been editor-in-chief from...

1924, Sigurd Hoel

Sigurd Hoel

Sigurd Hoel was a Norwegian author and publishing consultant, born in Nord-Odal. He debuted with the collection of short stories Veien vi gaar in 1922...

characterized Kjær as being more critical and analytical than creative, and having more talent for ridicule than for enthusiasm.