Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen

Born in Norway in 1848, he studied in Christiania and Leipzig before moving to the United States in 1869. Early in his American career he worked in Chicago as editor of the Norwegian-language weekly Fremad, then went on to teach literature at Cornell and later Columbia.

He wrote novels, short stories, poetry, criticism, and literary studies, and became known as one of the first writers to interpret Scandinavian life and literature for an American audience. His work often drew on his own background, especially the experiences of immigrants adjusting to a new country while carrying older loyalties and traditions with them.

He died in 1895, but his writing remains a vivid part of 19th-century Norwegian American literary history. Alongside his fiction, he also published studies of major European writers, showing the wide range of his literary interests.