Author Lie Jonas Lauritz Idemil

utor to some of the Christiania journals. His first work was a volume of poems which appeared in 1866 and was not successful. During the four following years he devoted himself almost exclusively to journalism, working hard and without much reward, but acquiring the pen of a ready writer and obtaining command of a style which has proved serviceable in his subsequent career. In 1870 he published Den Fremsynte ("The Visionary or Pictures From Nordland"), a powerful tale of the sea and northern superstitions. In the following year he revisited Nordland and traveled into Finnmark. Having obtained a small traveling pension from the Government, immediately after his journey to Nordland, he sought the greatest contrast he could find in Europe to the scenes of his childhood and started for Rome. For a time he lived in North Germany, then he migrated to Bavaria, spending his winters in Paris. In 1882 he visited Norway for a time, but returned to the continent of Europe. His voluntary exile from his native land ended in the spring of 1893, when he settled at Holskogen, near Kristiansund. His works were numerous after that. Jonas Lie died in Stavern on July 5, 1908. Among Lie's finest works must be considered Familien paa Gilje (The Gilje family), which with its subtitle an interior from the 40s was a striking document of the life of an officer's family, and the few options given to the daughters of such families. One might consider it a Norwegian equivalent of British authors such as Austen and Brontë. His two collections of short stories called Trold involve the superstitions of the fishermen and coast commoners of northern Norway. One of the stories was selected by Roald Dahl for his book of the 14 finest ghost stories of the world. The Visionary or Pictures From Nordland By Jonas Lie; Translated from the Norwegian by Jessie Muir; Hodder Brothers; London; 1894