{{Short description|Norwegian historian and editor (1887–1974)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Infobox person | image = Francis Bull - 1925.jpg | alt = Portrait of Francis Bull | caption = Bull in 1925 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1887|10|4|df=y}} | birth_place = Kristiania, Norway | death_date = {{Death date and age|1974|7|4|1887|10|4|df=y}} | death_place = | occupation = Literary historian | spouse = | children = | parents = | relatives = Johan Peter Bull (brother)<br> Edvard Bull (brother)<br>Theodor Bull (brother) | known_for = | notable_works = | awards = Order of St Olav }}
'''Francis Bull''' (4 October 1887 – 4 July 1974) was a Norwegian literary historian, professor at the University of Oslo for more than thirty years, essayist and speaker, and magazine editor.
==Early and personal life== Bull was born on 4 October 1887, in Kristiania, the son of medical doctor Edvard Isak Hambro Bull (1845–1925) and Ida Marie Sofie Paludan (1861–1957). He was brother to theatre director Johan Peter Bull, historian and politician Edvard Bull<ref name=nbl>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Francis Bull |encyclopedia=Norsk biografisk leksikon|publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget|location=Oslo|editor=Helle, Knut|editor-link=Knut Helle|first= |last= |authorlink= |url=https://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Francis_Bull/utdypning|language=Norwegian|access-date=7 April 2009}}</ref> and genealogist Theodor Bull. Through Edvard Bull he was the uncle of historian Edvard Bull. He was also nephew to military officer Karl Sigwald Johannes Bull, grandnephew to Anders Sandøe Ørsted Bull, great-grandson to Georg Jacob Bull and great-great-grandson to Chief Justice Johan Randulf Bull.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|year=2007|title=Den trønderske slekten Bull|encyclopedia=Store norske leksikon|editor=Henriksen, Petter|first=Terje|last=Bratberg|publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget|location=Oslo|url=https://www.snl.no/Den_tr%C3%B8nderske_slekten_Bull|language=Norwegian|access-date=4 April 2009}}</ref>
In June 1924, he married Ingrid Berntsen (1896–1976).<ref name=nbl/>
==Career== Bull finished his secondary education and enrolled at the University of Oslo, mainly being tutored by Gerhard Gran. As a student Bull wrote the monographs ''Conrad Nicolai Schwach'' (1908) and {{Lang|no|Bjørnson og Sverige}} (published 1911). The last work earned him the cand.philol. degree.<ref name=nbl/> His doctoral dissertation of 1916 was titled {{Lang|no|Fra Holberg til Nordahl Brun}}.<ref name=snl>{{cite encyclopedia |year=2007 |title=Francis Bull|encyclopedia=Store norske leksikon|first=Edvard |last=Beyer |authorlink=Edvard Beyer|editor=Henriksen, Petter |publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget |location=Oslo |url=https://www.snl.no/Francis_Bull |language=Norwegian | access-date=7 April 2009 }}</ref>
Bull was appointed professor in Nordic literature at the University of Oslo in 1920, succeeding the aging Gerhard Gran. In addition to lecturing he co-edited the literary history {{Lang|no|Norsk litteraturhistorie}} (four volumes, 1924–1937). He worked on {{Lang|no|Norsk litteraturhistorie}} for many years, and as a byproduct of this endeavor he wrote hundreds of entries in the biographical dictionary ''Norsk biografisk leksikon'',<ref name=nbl/> of which Gerhard Gran and Edvard Bull were two of the editors-in-chief.
Bull was editor-in-chief of the journal ''Edda'' from 1925 to 1960. He was chairman of the board of Gyldendal Norsk Forlag from 1925 to 1968, and a board member of the National Theatre from 1922 to 1956, with the exception of the years 1941 to 1945. Norway was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany in 1940, and because the National Theatre board did not abide by the directions from the Nazi government,<ref name=nbl/> Bull, along with board members publisher Harald Grieg and banker Johannes Sejersted Bødtker, was arrested in 1941.<ref name=nkl>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Ringdal|first=Nils Johan|authorlink=Nils Johan Ringdal|editor=Dahl, Hans Fredrik|editor-link=Hans Fredrik Dahl|encyclopedia=Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45|title=Bull, Francis|url=http://mediabase1.uib.no/krigslex/b/b5.html#bull-francis|access-date=7 April 2009|year=1995|publisher=Cappelen|location=Oslo|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100104063939/http://mediabase1.uib.no/krigslex/b/b5.html#bull-francis|archive-date=4 January 2010}}</ref><ref name=nkl-grieg>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Ringdal|first=Nils Johan|editor=Dahl, Hans Fredrik|encyclopedia=Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45|title=Grieg, Harald|url=http://mediabase1.uib.no/krigslex/g/g2.html#grieg-harald|access-date=10 April 2009|year=1995|publisher=Cappelen|volume=|location=Oslo|isbn=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090420173411/http://mediabase1.uib.no/krigslex/g/g2.html#grieg-harald|archive-date=20 April 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=national-50years>{{cite book | title=Nationaltheatret gjennom femti år |language=Norwegian |first=Anton |last=Rønneberg |author-link=Anton Rønneberg |pages=384–386|year=1949 |publisher=Gyldendal |location=Oslo}}</ref> Bull spent three years in a concentration camp, Grini. As he had an excellent memory, he was able to continue his lecturing in prison, by holding secret lectures for co-prisoners.<ref name=nbl/> Due to this, Grini was nicknamed "the People's University" by some.<ref name=nkl/> A collection of these lectures was published as {{Lang|no|Tretten taler på Grini}} in 1945. Bull won recognition for this, and was a popular public speaker and lecturer after the war.<ref name=nbl/>
Bull was chairman of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters several times between 1941 and 1957, again except for 1941–1945. He held an honorary degree at Aarhus University from 1946, and was decorated as a Commander with Star of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1957.<ref name=nbl/> He retired as a professor in 1957,<ref name=snl/> and died on 4 July 1974, aged 86, in Hørsholm, Denmark.<ref name=nbl/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == *[http://vestraat.net/TNG/getperson.php?personID=I37145&tree=IEA Family genealogy]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bull, Francis}} Category:1887 births Category:1974 deaths Category:Writers from Oslo Category:Norwegian literary critics Category:Norwegian magazine editors Category:Norwegian literary historians Category:University of Oslo alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of Oslo Category:Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Category:Grini concentration camp survivors Category:Members of the Norwegian Academy Category:20th-century Norwegian historians Category:20th-century Norwegian essayists Francis