imported>BD2412: /* Biography */ Clean up spacing around commas and other punctuation fixes, replaced: , → ,

2025-01-11T05:09:48Z

Biography: Clean up spacing around commas and other punctuation fixes, replaced: , → ,

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{{Short description|Norwegian writer}}
{{Use dmy dates | date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ronald Fangen
| image = Ronald Fangen 1932.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Ronald Fangen in 1932
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1895|4|29|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Kragerø]], Norway
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1946|5|22|1895|4|29|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Snarøya]], Norway
| nationality = Norwegian
| other_names =
| spouse =
| parents =
| children =
| relatives =
| occupation = Novelist, essayist, playwright, psalmist, journalist and literary critic
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| awards =
}}

'''Ronald Fangen''' (29 April 1895 – 22 May 1946) was a Norwegian novelist, essayist, playwright, psalmist, journalist and literary critic.<ref name=snl>{{cite web|url =https://snl.no/Ronald_Fangen |title= Ronald Fangen |publisher =Store norske leksikon |author=Erik Bjerck Hagen|accessdate= April 1, 2018}}</ref>

==Biography==
Ronald August Fangen was born at [[Kragerø]] in [[Telemark]], Norway. His parents were Sten August Fangen (1858-1933) and Alice Maud Lister (1864-1931).
Following his parents' divorce when he was five years old, he lived partly with relatives in [[Bergen]] and partly at [[Finse]].
As a child, he was frequently ill. This strongly influenced him as did the death of an older brother who took his own life after being accused of school fraud.<ref name=nbl>{{cite web|url =https://nbl.snl.no/Ronald_Fangen|title= Ronald Fangen |publisher = Norsk biografisk leksikon |author=Jan Inge Sørbø|accessdate= April 1, 2018}}</ref>

Fangen became a journalist with the newspaper ''[[Verdens Gang (1868-1923 newspaper)|Verdens Gang]]''in from 1913. Fangen made his literary debut in 1915 with the novel ''De svake''. In 1923 he started the journal ''Vor Verden'', with [[Henrik Groth]] as editor-in-chief. He served as chairman of the Norwegian Author's Association (''Forfatterforeningen'') from 1928-32.<ref name="nbl"/><ref>{{cite web|url =https://lokalhistoriewiki.no/wiki/Ronald_Fangen|title= Arild Sandvold
|publisher= lokalhistoriewiki |accessdate= May 1, 2018}}</ref>

Fangen issued several religious essays and publications during his career.
Fangen is most commonly associated with the hymn ''Guds menighet er jordens største under'' (1942). With melody by [[Arild Sandvold]] (1895–1984), it was originally a part of the Missionary Canton of the Norwegian Missionary Society's 100th anniversary published in August 1942. The hymn has remained popular in Norway and was included in the ''Norsk salmebok'' in 1985 and 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://snl.no/Guds_menighet_er_jordens_st%C3%B8rste_under|title= Guds menighet er jordens største under|author= Stig Wernø Holter
|publisher=Store norske leksikon |accessdate= April 1, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url =https://nbl.snl.no/Arild_Sandvold |title= Arild Sandvold
|author= Harald Herresthal |publisher= Norsk biografisk leksikon|accessdate= April 1, 2018}}</ref>

The Christian organization known as the [[Oxford Group]] came to Norway in 1934 at the invitation of [[C. J. Hambro]], President of the [[Norwegian Parliament]]. Fangen joined it and soon became one of its leading personalities. In October 1934, Fangen took part in an Oxford Group house party, at the invitation of Carl Hambro. The Oxford Group had been founded by founded by the American Lutheran missionary [[Frank Buchman]]. Hambro invited 120 of his friends to meet Buchman and thirty companions at the Hotel Norge Høsbjør at [[Brumunddal]].
Garth Lean, Buchman’s biographer writes that: ‘Fangen, the novelist, brought two bottles of whisky and a crate of books, expecting boredom. He did not find time to open either. His change was immediately visible and long remembered. Even twenty years later, poet [[Alf Larsen]] spoke of the “hopeless naivety” of the Group's philosophy as compared with his own [[anthroposophy]]. It had however completely transformed Fangen, who before that, in his opinion, had been the most unpleasant man in Norway.’<ref name=buchman>{{cite book|url=http://www.frankbuchman.info/getBookPage.php?Book=fbal&Page=217&Style=BookDisplay&Search=&Highlight= |title=Frank Buchman - A Life |first=Garth |last=Lean |location=London |publisher=Constable & Co.|year=1985 |page=217}}</ref>

He received [[Gyldendal's Endowment]] in 1940.
In November 1940, Fangen was the first Norwegian writer to be arrested by during the [[Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany]]. He arrest was due to an essay published in the periodical ''[[Kirke og Kultur]]''. He was imprisoned at [[Møllergata 19]] from October 1940 to January 1941. He was then transferred to Ullevål Hospital, since he was very ill during this period. After the liberation of Norway, Fangen was instrumental in the formation of the newspaper ''[[Vårt Land (Norwegian newspaper)|Vårt Land]]'', which was first issued in August 1945.<ref name="snl"/>

In 1946, he perished in a plane crash on [[Snarøya]] near [[Oslo Airport Fornebu]].
Among biographers who have written about Fangen and his writings are [[Carl Fredrik Engelstad]], Egil Yngvar Elseth, Reidar Huseby and [[Jan Inge Sørbø]].<ref name="nbl"/>

==Selected bibliography==
* ''De svake'' (1915; novel)
* ''Slægt føder slægt'' (1916; novel)
* ''Streiftog i digtning og tænkning'' (1919; essays)
* ''Syndefald'' (1920; play)
* ''Fienden'' (1922; play)
* ''Duel'' (1932; novel)
* ''Dagen og veien'' (1934; essays)
*''En kristen verdensrevolusjon. Mitt møte med Oxforgruppebevegelsen'' (1935; essays)
* ''Kristen enhet. Gruppebevegelsens økumeniske budskap'' (1937; essays)
* ''Kristendommen og vår tid'' (1938 essays)
* ''Kristent budskap til vår tid. Nordiske prekener'' (1939; essays)
* ''Borgerfesten'' (1939; novel)
* ''Krig og kristen tro'' (1940; essays)
* ''En lysets engel'' (1945; novel)
* ''I nazistenes fengsel'' (1975; notes from prison, posthumously)

== Awards ==
*[[Gyldendal's Endowment]] - 1940

== Biographies ==
*[[Carl Fredrik Engelstad]] (1946) ''Ronald Fangen: en mann og hans samtid'' (Oslo : Gyldendal)
*Egil Yngvar Elseth (1953) ''Ronald Fangen. Fra humanist til kristen'' (Oslo : Gyldendal Norsk Forl.)
*Bernt T. Oftestad (1981) ''Kristentro og kulturansvar hos Ronald Fangen'' (Oslo : Gyldendal)
*Reidar Huseby, ed. (1995) ''Frihet, ansvar, tjeneste. Ronald Fangens liv og visjon'' (Verbum) {{ISBN|978-8-254-306932}}
*[[Jan Inge Sørbø]] (1999) ''Over dype svelg. Eit essay om Ronalds Fangens aktualitet'', (Oslo : Gyldendal) {{ISBN|978-8-205-254183}}
*Stewart D Govig (2005) ''Ronald Fangen : Church and Culture in Norway'' (iUniverse, Inc.) {{ISBN|978-0-595-35441-2}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fangen, Ronald}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1946 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Kragerø]]
[[Category:Norwegian hymnwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century Norwegian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Norwegian essayists]]
[[Category:20th-century Norwegian novelists]]
[[Category:Norwegian male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Norwegian male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Norwegian journalists]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1946]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Norway]]

Ronald Fangen - Revision history

imported>BD2412: /* Biography */ Clean up spacing around commas and other punctuation fixes, replaced: , → ,