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Markens Grode (Growth of the Soil)
Knut Hamsun
1917
As the novel begins, we see Sivert striking out on his own, far from any residential area, to establish a farm in the mountains. "The man comes, walking toward the north. He bears a sack, the first sack, carrying food and some few implements."
We watch as he succeeds beyond anyone’s expectations. He becomes "A tiller of the ground, body and soul; a worker on the land without respite. A ghost risen out of the past to point the future, a man from the earliest days of cultivation, a settler in the wilds, nine hundred years old, and, withal, a man of the day."
In the end, one of his acquaintances speaks to him from the heart, saying, "There you are, living in touch with heaven and earth, one of them, one with all these wide, deep-rooted things. No need of a sword in your hands, you go through life bareheaded, barehanded, in the midst of a great kindliness. Look, Nature’s there, for you and yours to have and enjoy."
It is a beautiful book that not only gives insights into the mind of the Nordic farmer but also into the mind of anyone who wishes to lead a wholesome life that causes no harm to man or beast.
- Recommended by Christine Foster Meloni, Culture Club Editor
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Kransen (The Wreath)
Undset, Sigrid
1920
H. Aschehoug & Company, Oslo
Kransen is the first volume in the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy by Sigrid Undset, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928. In these historical novels the reader learns about life in 14th century Norway in magnificent detail through the life of Kristin Lavransdatter, the main character. In Kransen Kristin falls in love with the knight Erlend Nikulausson but their passionate romance creates many complications that involve their families, friends, enemies, and the Church.
This novel was made into a film directed by Liv Ullman, and you can read a review of it in this month’s Screening Room.
An English translation by award-winning translator Tiina Nunnally is available through Penguin Books (http://www.penguinclassics.com).
- Recommended by Christine Foster Meloni, Culture Club Editor
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I De Dage (Giants in the Earth) (1924)
By Aschehoug, O.E. Rolvaag. H. and Company of Oslo
Rolvaag was born in Norway in 1876, and at the age of 20 he emigrated to the United States. He went to live on an uncle’s farm in South Dakota in an area settled principally by Norwegian immigrants. Life on the prairie was a continual struggle for these people, particularly because of the harsh climate. Rolvaag persevered and was eventually able to leave the farm and pursue higher education. He became a teacher of Norwegian language and literature and of the history of Norwegian immigration. He wrote several novels, always in Norwegian, and Giants in the Earth is considered his masterpiece. Giants in the Earth provides a vivid description of what life was like for the hardy Norwegians who came to the Midwest in the late 19th century. The novel focuses on a small group of families that worked together to create a viable community on the prairie. Readers learn a lot about U.S. frontier history but also a great deal about the traditions the Norwegians brought with them, some of which they adapted and others they abandoned. These people had successes but also many heart-breaking failures as they gradually established a foothold in an alien and often unfriendly land.
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