Editing Henrik Ibsen (section)

===Childhood===

In his unfinished biography ''From Skien to Rome,'' Henrik Ibsen wrote about the Skien of his childhood:
{{Blockquote|In my childhood, Skien was an extremely joyful and festive town, quite the opposite of what it would later become. Many highly cultured, prosperous families at that time lived partly in the city itself, partly on large farms in the area. Close or more remote kinship connected most of these families amongst themselves, and balls, dinner parties, and musical soirées came one after another in rapid succession both during winters and summers. [...] Visits from strangers were almost a constant occurrence at our spacious farmhouse and especially around Christmastime and the market days, our townhouse was full and the table was set from morning to nightfall.|Henrik Ibsen<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ibsen |first1=Henrik |title=Barndomsminder |url=https://www.ibsen.uio.no/SAK_P18810117Barnd.xhtml |work=Henrik Ibsens skrifter|publisher=University of Oslo|date=1888}}</ref>}}

Haave writes that the sources who knew Henrik in childhood described him as "a boy who was pampered by his father, who enjoyed being creative in solitude, and who provoked peers with his superiority and arrogance."<ref name="Haave" /> Henrik engaged in model theater, which was particularly popular among boys from bourgeois homes in Europe in the early 1800s.<ref name="Haave" /> In contrast to his father, who was described as sociable and playful with a cheerful and friendly demeanor, Henrik was depicted as a more introverted personality. This trait was said to be shared with several relatives in the Paus family, and later with his own son, [[Sigurd Ibsen|Sigurd]]. Johan Kielland Bergwitz claimed that "it is with the [[Paus family]] that Henrik Ibsen has the most pronounced temperament traits in common."<ref name=Bergwitz/><!-- p. 44 --> Referring to the Paus side of the family, Hedvig Ibsen remarked, "we belong to a silent family," playfully echoing the similarity between "taus" (silent) and "Paus."<ref>Mosfjeld 1949, p. 17.</ref> One of the Cudrio sisters from the neighboring farm, who knew Henrik Ibsen in childhood, said, "he was immensely cunning and malicious, and he even beat us. But when he grew up, he became incredibly handsome, yet no one liked him because he was so malicious. No one wanted to be with him."<ref name="Haave" />

When Henrik Ibsen was around seven years old, his father's fortunes took a turn for the worse, and in 1835 the family was forced to sell Altenburggården. The following year they moved to their stately summer home and farm, ''{{ill|Venstøp|no}}'', outside of the city.<ref>Michael Meyers. ''Henrik Ibsen'', Chapter one.</ref> They were still relatively affluent, had four servants,<ref>[[Jørgen Haave]] (2013): "[https://dev.telemarkmuseum.no/wp-content/uploads/Haave-Jorgen.-Bidrag-til-antologien-Norsk-havekunst-2013.-Utsikten-fra-Ibsens-gutterom-1.pdf Utsikten fra Ibsens gutterom]," in Einar Sørensen (ed.), ''Norsk havekunst under europeisk himmel'', Scandinavian Academic Press/Spartacus forlag</ref> and socialised with other members of the Skien elite, e.g. through lavish parties; their closest neighbours on Southern Venstøp were former shipowner and mayor of Skien Ulrich Frederik Cudrio and his family, who also had been forced to sell their townhouse.<ref name="Haave" /> In 1843, after Henrik left home, the Ibsen family moved to a townhouse at Snipetorp, owned by Knud Ibsen's half-brother and former apprentice Christopher Blom Paus, who had established himself as an independent merchant in Skien in 1836 and who eventually became one of the city's leading shipowners.<ref name="Templeton">Templeton, Joan (1997). ''Ibsen's Women''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1ff.</ref> Knud continued to struggle to maintain his business and had some success in the 1840s, but in the 1850s his business ventures and professional activities came to an end, and he became reliant on  support from his successful younger half-brothers.<ref name="Haave" />