Peer Gynt figure quite so exuberant, outrageous, vitalistic as Peer Gynt. He merely "seems" initially to be an unlikely candidate for such eminence: "What is he", we say, "except a kind of Norwegian roaring boy?" – marvelously attractive to women, a kind of bogus poet, a narcissist, absurd self-idolator, a liar, seducer, bombastic self-deceiver. But this is paltry moralizing – all too much like the scholarly chorus that rants against Falstaff. True, Peer, unlike Falstaff, is not a great wit. But in the Yahwistic, biblical sense, Peer the scamp bears the blessing: More life. On 5 January 1867 Ibsen wrote to Frederik
Per Gynt Per Gynt "Per Gynt" () is a Norwegian fairy tale which originated in the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. It encompasses the themes of identity and relationship. "Per Gynt" tells the folktale of the eponymous Per Gynt and his various exploits. Per Gynt was a hunter from Kvam in Oppland. He rescues three dairy-maids from trolls and shoots the Bøyg, a troll which takes the form of a gigantic serpent and stands as a hindrance to travellers. The fairy tale is most famously recorded by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in "Norwegian Folktales" ("Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn") which was first