Sigrid Undset and Her Novels on Medieval Life
Author(s): Richard Beck
Source: Books Abroad , Winter, 1950, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Winter, 1950), pp. 4-10
Published by: Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40088879
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SIGRID UNDSET
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BOOKS ABROAD
Sigrid Undset and Her
Novels on Medieval Life
BY RICHARD BECK
the untimely passing of Sigrid Undset last summer, not only N
way, but the literary world at large lost one of the greatest writ
our time. As is well known, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in
erature for 1928, the third woman to gain that high distinction which,
in itself, is indicative of the prominent position she occup
the realm of contemporary letters.
Sigrid Undset was born May 22, 1882, in Kallundborg, Denmark
daughter of a distinguished Norwegian archaeologist and noted wr
and an equally gifted Danish mother of an uncommonly indepe
mind. At the tender age of two the future poetess moved with her pare
to Oslo, where she grew up, and her writings, particularly those
earlier years, reveal strong influences from the environment of her
hood and youth in the Norwegian capital. Still more fundamental
lasting was the cultural impact which she received in her home, ste
in the atmosphere of ancient Scandinavian and medieval Norw
lore. She inherited her father's interest in historical subjects, and
veloped a profound taste for the Icelandic sagas and the traditions o
native land. Her interest and studies in that field later were to bea
fruit in her monumental historical novels.
At the age of eleven she lost her father, a circumstance which f
mentally changed her future, with the result that at an early age sh
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6 BOOKS ABROAD
thrown upon her own resourc
Oslo, graduating in 1898, and
ten years by doing secretarial
education through extensive r
Sigrid Undset began her liter
with modern life. In these she
should say a Neo-Realist, fe
book, Fru Martha Oulie (190
far more than ordinary prom
Here already Undset is, theref
lem in her modern and mediev
between man and woman in m
of view. She has, however, a f
in her next book, The Happ
around the life of Oslo office
stories deal further with mar
notable of the two, in particul
heroine, who is one of the ma
In 191 1 appeared her first gr
love story, a very provocative
not a little controversy; the w
questioned. She is in dead earn
situation. The narrative is like
and the stage peopled by a lar
Moreover, the interpretation
more penetrating than in the
This novel in various ways m
ary career. It is the last in the
which have as their main them
for happiness and the duty to
him. About this time the nov
Svarstad, from whom she was
The moral ideal and its deman
Sigrid Undset's later works th
full harmony with her spiritu
her significant collection of s
one of her most masterful sto
constitutes in many respects a c
in this later story by the poet
the moral law is the basis of l
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SIGRID UNDSET 7
an under-current of deep an
timistic outlook upon life th
In Undset's literary essays a
following years her moral an
clearly and vigorously, her g
to eternal values; lasting and
foundation. In her writings
religious views become more
becomes to her reality itself,
brotherhood and freedom, th
on a rock, symbol and interp
by the end of another epoch in
reached, but the third and m
dieval novels.
Important though her nove
great historical novels that S
realm of letters and with th
did not find herself, as it we
her powers, until she began w
appealed to her taste and sym
cated, been fostered by her f
in that field at the Univers
a novel dealing with the Saga
of the historical background
effectively translated severa
had also interested herself in
terest in historical subjects was
point in her medieval novels,
development. Her deepenin
that insight and that emotion
medieval life richly vivid a
broad and solid. The authore
in verse and prose, which th
the customs, folkways and ou
her effort is commensurate i
Sigrid Undset's impressive
Lavransdatter, appeared in 1
tively, The Bridal Wreath,
The scene is laid in Norway d
tury. A large number of peop
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8 BOOKS ABROAD
commonly large and the times
acters, however, stand out esp
gulfsson, her father, and Erl
The first volume tells the lov
frivolous Erlend, ending with
against her father's wishes an
devoted Simon, her childho
price. The second volume con
pestuous married life, their h
had wronged others, now they
wages, and Sigrid Undset is t
artist to forget that fact. Er
imprisoned, deprived of his es
The third and last volume o
attempting to begin life again
fore, holds the center of the
mold loses her loved ones, hu
bereft of her worldly possess
a new understanding of God's
is to be found from the storm
is that she goes on a pilgrima
moner, and dies there, like th
to the last she had been engag
the suffering, a heroic figure
in life, memorable in her hum
spirit in the midst of her wor
This great trilogy is indeed
ships, but in even a greater d
to God, the mighty and absor
At the end of her long trail K
wrestled with life to arrive at
strength and tolerance. Her s
defeat; her best self has won t
This remarkable novel rema
masterpiece. It won for her th
admire - her truthfulness in pic
topographical knowledge, not
wegian landscape. Admirable a
its fundamental historical trut
ly familiar with all the main
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SIGRID UNDSET 9
fourteenth century, the poli
Her ability to describe all th
makes the entire civilization
Yet, truthfully and vividly
torical background, she is pr
characters are, to be sure, c
being in a spiritual atmosphe
has the power of revealing t
people. We recognize their k
joice with them, and mourn
one of the great merits of this
to delineate character is one
very heart-core of her peopl
souls. No one can readily for
sionate young girl in The
mother in The Cross is carr
human soul and with a rea
Topsoe- Jensen).
Sigrid Undset's other major
four-volume novel, Olav Aud
in Norway during the secon
this extensive work is gener
datter, the narrative gift of
notable expression, both in c
dieval life and culture. The cen
struggle of the hero, betwee
to a higher power, the will
After the publication of h
Undset turned again to the w
such novels as The Wild Orc
(1930), Ida Elizabeth (1932),
significant in various ways,
portrayal. Married life in its
parents and children are her
Moral problems are, therefor
clash between the flesh and
novelist had embraced the C
hers are not free from prop
however, be said of her nov
ings and demands are there e
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10 BOOKS ABROAD
in its application, centering a
rifices all on the altar of mothe
In her later years, including h
the years of World War II, whe
invasion of Norway, Sigrid Und
and merit, consisting, among o
youth, and collections of artic
casting bright light on her spir
life. Repeatedly she emphasizes
ments in European culture are
same time she fearlessly attack
versity of North Dakota.
Andre Gide has been awarded the
Goethe medal of the city of Frankfurt
on the occasion of the bi-centenary of
the German master poet's birthday.
A group of young writers in Honduras
have founded a new review, Proa,
to express their views and ideas. -
Latinoamerica.
"Perhaps the most typical of the [outstanding
literary figures of France's
colonial empire] are Leopold Sedar
Senghor of French West Africa . . . and
Aime Cesaire of Martinique." - Edward
A. Jones, in The French Review.
Georges Bernanos is coming into his
own in America. Pantheon Books has
just published his first and still greatest
novel, Under the Sun of Satan, in a new,
truly congenial translation by Harry L.
Binsse. There has also been a noticeable
increase of scholarly studies on the late
French Catholic writer.
The Belgian Government Information
Center has issued a series of attractive
pamphlets on slick paper, profusely
and beautifully illustrated, on such varied
aspects of Belgian culture as folklore,
literature, painting, sculpture, architecture,
music. These contain incisive
characterizations of artists, surveys of
various periods, and useful analyses.
Two other pamphlets of the series are of
particular interest: The excellent one on
Negro Art in the Belgian Congo, which
refutes the idea of its being "primitive"
art, defines it as the "fixation of an ecstasy,"
and summarizes its history and
contribution to modern art; and the
pamphlet on the bells of Belgium - their
making and their role in the community's
life.
The most unusual charm of this material
is the humor, realism, and lack
of glorifying the fatherland with which
it is presented: the candid statement that
the Belgian soul is swayed by sober
Christianity and sensual paganism, that
the populace is dual in composition Germanic
and Latin, that portrait painters
had to compromise between reality
and the sitter's mental image of himself.
Two booklets on the growth of the
nation and its governmental organization
complete this group. They would
be helpful to anyone who wants a quick
introduction to Belgium or a starting
point for more detailed study.
Andre Gide has at last yielded to the
lure of the microphone from which he
had so steadfasdy shied away. He has
now recorded thirty-four improvised
"entretiens" on his life and his work for
the Radiodiffusion francaise stations
which have started broadcasting this
series in October.
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