The Four Greats

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The Four Greats. Clockwise from top left: Kielland, Lie, Ibsen, and Bjørnson.
The Four Greats. Clockwise from top left: Kielland, Lie, Ibsen, and Bjørnson.

The Four Greats (in Danish and Norwegian De Fire Store) is a term used for four of the most influential Norwegian writers of the late 19th century, named Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Henrik Ibsen, Alexander Kielland and Jonas Lie. The term was introduced by their publisher, Gyldendal, for advertising purposes. It was as such biased, but the term stuck, and is commonly used to this day for these writers, who all belonged to the school of realism.