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ENTERING THE FOREIGN SERVICE of Sweden-Norway in 1884, Sigurd Ibsen, son of playwright Henrik Ibsen, initially impressed his colleagues as "a great father's small son."1 Only twenty-four years old, and still years away from establishing his own public persona, he had lived most of his life outside of Norway, following his father's peregrinating footsteps through a self-imposed exile. Growing up in Germany and Italy, he developed a continental outlook. His parents, however, made a point of raising Sigurd as a Norwegian, taking him on numerous trips to Norway, but they continued to live on the continent. In Norway, friends and family were frequently surprised that he spoke Norwegian so well. In fact, he spoke perfect Norwegian; but without a trace of dialect, it was too perfect. He was Norwegian, but non-Norwegian at the same time.2
In 1878, when Sigurd completed his gymnasium studies in Germany, Henrik thought of returning to Norway so his son could take his law degree there, but regulations against accepting foreign studies would have required that he repeat a year or two. This infuriated Henrik and disappointed Sigurd, who subsequently decided to study' in Rome where he completed his law degree in 1882. "Han er den yngste juridiske doktor i Rom, 22 ½ "ar" [He is the youngest doctor of law in Rome, 22 ½ years old], his father wrote proudly to Bjornstjerne Bjornson, in August, following Sigurd's successful defense of his dissertation.3
At a time when his father was in the midst of his most productive period, Sigurd in spite of his obvious intellectual prowess and academic success, remained restless and unsure of his calling. Fulfilling a promise Henrik had made to his son during his stuthes, Sigurd was given a trip to Paris where he stayed nearly nvo monriis in the spring of 1883. Writing his parents almost daily, he told of visits to museums, salons, and theaters; all the while, with typical Ibsen exactitude, keeping a careful accounting of his expenses, dutifully reporting them back home.4
Although the idea had been broached in correspondence with his father in 1880, during Sigurd's time in Paris he began to consider seriously the possibility of a diplomatic career.5 The itinerant life of a diplomat could, in fact, appear quite attractive to...