Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. As one of the founders of Modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playwrights of his time. His major works include "Brand", "Peer Gynt", "An Enemy of the People", "Emperor and Galilean", "A Doll's House", "Hedda Gabler", "Ghosts", "The Wild Duck", "When We Dead Awaken", "Pillars of Society", "The Lady from the Sea", "Rosmersholm", "The Master Builder", and "John Gabriel Borkman". He is the most frequently
Peer Gynt than what is to be found in Asbjørnsen's "Norwegian Folktales" (in the section entitled 'Stories from the Mountain')." In those stories, Peer Gynt rescues the three dairy-maids from the trolls and shoots the Bøyg, who was originally a gigantic worm-shaped troll-being. Peer was known to tell tall tales of his own achievements, a trait Peer in the play inherited. The "buck-ride" story, which Peer tells his mother in the play's first scene, is also from this source, but, as Åse points out, it was originally Gudbrand Glesne from Vågå who did the tour with the reindeer stag and finally shot