Background
Johan Collett Müller Borgen was born on April 28, 1902, in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was the son of Paul Horst Borgen, a lawyer and property owner, and Andrea Bommen Borgen.
Trondheimsvegen 362, 2016 Frogner, Norway
Borgen attended private schools; first at Froenene Platous Forskole, then at Frogner Skole.
(The Scandinavian imagination seems obsessed with the conc...)
The Scandinavian imagination seems obsessed with the concept of guilt - an obsession Norwegian novelist Borgen (1902-79) appears to fully share. This novel's main character, Matias Roos, is a splintered personality obsessed by frontiers, guilty of an unspecified crime, and in search of a path of atonement.
https://www.amazon.com/Scapegoat-English-Translations-Scandinavian-Literature/dp/1870041216/?tag=2022091-20
1993
journalist literary critic writer
Johan Collett Müller Borgen was born on April 28, 1902, in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was the son of Paul Horst Borgen, a lawyer and property owner, and Andrea Bommen Borgen.
Borgen attended private schools; first at Froenene Platous Forskole, then at Frogner Skole. After the war, Borgen studied law briefly but soon turned to journalism.
From 1930 to 1941, Borgen was employed as a journalist at Dagbladet. He became known for his witty, sarcastic columns, written under the pseudonym Mumle Gåsägg - the name is taken from Peter Asbjörnsen's (1812-1885) folk-tales. Borgen also wrote literary reviews.
Borgen's Når alt kommer til alt, which came out in 1934, depicted the existential problems of a middle-aged intellectual. The protagonist also appeared in his play Mens vi venter (1938), which gained considerable success when it was staged at the National Theatre. This work continued Borgen's themes of fear of isolation and escape from everyday life. In 1935, he signed a petition with over thirty other writers, among them Nordahl Grieg and Sigrid Undset, to protest Carl von Ossietsky's imprisonment in Germany. The only major Norwegian writer who openly defended the right of the German state to confine Ossietsky, a journalist, pacifist, and the recipient of the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize, was Knut Hamsun, who sneered at the petition. However, Hamsun had influence deeply Borgen's writing, and he had to struggle long to find his own voice.
During World War II Borgen was arrested by the Gestapo - mainly because of his satirical attacks on the Nazis - and imprisoned in the domestic concentration camp of Grini. Following his release, Borgen escaped to Sweden. His experiences in Grini Borgen later depicted in his book of memoir, Dager på Grini (1945). During the period 1947-59, he worked as a stage instructor in Oslo and instructed over forty performances. From 1954 to 1959, he was the editor of the literary journal Vinduet. Borgen remained highly productive until his death. He died on October 16, 1979, in his home in Hvaler, Ostfold.
(The Scandinavian imagination seems obsessed with the conc...)
1993After the war, Borgen supported the Communists for many years and contributed to Friheten, a mouthpiece for the Communist Party However, in the1960s critical liberalism was a more accurate characterization of his world view.
Borgen spent most of his life in and around Oslo, but traveled the world as well, especially Europe and the Middle East; he also lived briefly in London, Paris, Copenhagen, and California.
In 1928, Borgen married Ruth Bergljot Engelstad; the marriage ended in divorce. Johan Borgen was married to Annemarta Evjenth Borgen. The couple had three children.
Later in life, Borgen had with the actress Liv Strømsted a long affair, which he tried to hide from his wife.