Christen Collin

Christen Christian Dreyer Collin (21 November 1857 – 1 April 1926) was a Norwegian literary historian.

He was born in Trondhjem as a son of Georg Fredrik Collin (died 1867) and Marie Fredrikke Dreyer (1833–1901). When his father died at the age of ten, Christen Collin was raised by his maternal grandfather in Tromsøe. He took the cand.philol. degree at the Royal Frederick University in 1887, and studied abroad while writing for Verdens Gang before returning home and founding the periodical Nyt Tidsskrift.

He started teaching at the Royal Frederick University in 1892, and was promoted to docent in the history of European literature in 1895. He was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 1897. He was a professor from 1914 to his death, and is best known for his research on English literature and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. He biographed the early Bjørnson in the 1907 book Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Hans barndom og ungdom. A collection of letter correspondence between Bjørnson and Collin was released in 1937. A William Shakespeare biography was planned but never finished, but Collin wrote articles on Shakespeare, reissued The Merchant of Venice and translated English poetry. but shunned by the socialists after supporting the existence of a military. During the First World War he strongly supported the Triple Entente.

In July 1894 he married Astrid Greve (1874–1947), a daughter of Mathias Sigwardt Greve and sister of Ulrikke Greve and Bredo Greve. He died in April 1926 in Oslo.