Absalom's Hair and A Painful Memory from Childhood were originally published in 1894 in Copenhagen. Bjornstjerne Bjornson (1832-1910) was a poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, editor, public speaker, theatre director, and one of the most prominent public figures in the Norway of his day. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1903 and is generally known, together with Henrik Ibsen, Alexander Kielland, and Jonas Lie, as one of "the four great ones" of 19th-century Norwegian literature. His poem "Ja, vi elsker dette landet" ("Yes, We Love This Land") is the Norwegian national anthem.