«Oh, that perpetual law and order! I often think that is what does all the mischief in this world of ours», Mrs. Alving exclaims in Ibsen’s Ghosts (1881). This is one of many examples of legal vocabularies and normative topics appearing in numerous of Ibsen’s works, either directly or more indirectly. His dramas feature everything from the rebel Catilina to the fraud convicted John Gabriel Borkman, they deal with a number of legal and moral normative transgressions, and they thematize issues related to marriage law, criminal law, and regulation of the emerging capitalism.
The project IbsenLaw 1828–2028 analyzes legal and normative aspects of Ibsen’s various plays. The project will map what legal topics Ibsen adresses and the dramatic function of those issues within the different dramas. Part of the work will be methodological reflections at the crossroads of legal science, history and literary studies, dealing with the question of legal readings of fictional tects. The overall aim of the project is to develop new readings of Ibsen’s plays and an increased understanding of his authorship in its historical context.
The project will result in an edited volume at Pax Forlag in the Ibsen Year 2028, that celebrates the bicentenary of the author’s birth.
The project is headed by Professor Dag Michalsen, Professor Marit Halvorsen and Associate Professor Marius M. Kjølstad at the Department of Public and International Law.