Norwegian · 1828–1906
Ibsen invented modern drama by bringing bourgeois life and its discontents onto the stage with unprecedented realism. After early verse dramas on Norwegian historical themes, he spent 27 years in self-imposed exile in Italy and Germany, producing the prose plays that revolutionized theater: A Doll's House, Ghosts, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder. His women characters—Nora, Mrs. Alving, Hedda—challenged Victorian assumptions about gender and marriage, provoking scandal and acclaim across Europe. Shaw championed him in England; Chekhov absorbed his influence in Russia. When he finally returned to Norway, he was the most famous Scandinavian who ever lived.