Book Description
In her great historical epic Kristin Lavransdatter, set in fourteenth-century Norway, Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset tells the life story of one passionate and headstrong woman. Painting a richly detailed backdrop, Undset immerses readers in the day-to-day life, social conventions, and political and religious undercurrents of the period. Now in one volume, Tiina Nunnally’s award-winning definitive translation brings this remarkable work to life with clarity and lyrical beauty.

As a young girl, Kristin is deeply devoted to her father, a kind and courageous man. But when as a student in a convent school she meets the charming and impetuous Erlend Nikulaussøn, she defies her parents in pursuit of her own desires. Her saga continues through her marriage to Erlend, their tumultuous life together raising seven sons as Erlend seeks to strengthen his political influence, and finally their estrangement as the world around them tumbles into uncertainty.

With its captivating heroine and emotional potency, Kristin Lavransdatter is the masterwork of Norway’s most beloved author—one of the twentieth century’s most prodigious and engaged literary minds—and, in Nunnally’s exquisite translation, a story that continues to enthrall. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (54)

Book and service
Excellent quality of a very hard-to-find book.I purchased 2 copies and was delighted with both of them!Prompt shipping...can't ask for more from an online purchase!

Historical fiction at its best
This is an incredibly rich, multi-layered look at medieval Norwegian life.Undset skillfully interweaves customs, superstitions, and a great knowledge of the Norwegian manorial life into this 1000+ page epic.There are no awkward pauses in the story in which an author gives the background information, but instead is able to blend these details into the narrative.
Though this book might seem like a lengthy time commitment, this book is hard to put down and actually a relatively fast read.

Kristen Lavransdatter: Classic Deluxe Edition
This is an excellent book! You will not be able to put it down. You will be drawn into the characters' lives. This is one of my all time favorite books.Kristin Lavransdatter: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Kristin, I can't stop thinking about you
Kristin Lavransdatter is the biggest literary surprise that ever engulfed me, as I read its 1,168 pages in three weeks on the subway, airplanes, theater auditoriums, nature trails, and anywhere else I could sneak in a few pages, the better to channel my way into Kristin's compelling, meticulously created and true-to-life world.

This story starts slowly, like a locomotive, but by the end it builds a staggering, devastating momentum that still swirls in my mind, months after finishing the novel for the second time.

If you like treason, torture, betrayal, drunken assaults, bar fights, sword fights, political intrigue, charging bears, brothels, plague, poison, suicide, damsels in distress, black magic, and human sacrifice, you'll find it in these pages.

And if you like stories of spiritual quests, coming of age and reflections from age, the bonds between fathers and daughters, and of mothers and sons, platonic love, unrequited love, doomed love, the joys of children, the inextinguishable anguish of burying children, the circle of life that never stops turning, and the most tender, heartbreaking passages I've ever read of the love between a mother and her child, you'll find even more of it in Kristin's life story.

And to all the smug reviewers who chastise Kristin and wish they could have just slapped some sense into her, I say this: can you really imagine that Kristin could have led her life any other way?My answer is this:

"All that happened and would happen was meant to be.Everything happens as it is meant to be."(p. 289, "The Cross")

Kristin is not a saint, but neither is she a cautionary tale. As long as we humans can love and live, we will love well, love madly and sometimes love foolishly, and we'll tell stories about it.And this story of Kristin is for me the truest love story ever told, and I will never forget her.

The Modern Middle Ages
Be prepared to make a commitment to "Kristen Lavransdatter," but if you do you'll be amply rewarded. I call this book the masterpiece of the 20c. that no one's ever heard of. Yet this vividly imagined story of life in the first half of the 14th c. deserves to be widely read, especially as new life has been breathed into it with the Tiina Nunnelly translation.

Kristen Lavransdatter is the lovely daughter of a Norwegian nobleman and landowner, who foolishly falls in love with the dashing Erlend Nikulausson and starts down a long road of passion, love, heartbreak and pain. She and Erlend break the rules of church and society, and come to realize that their marriage is not enough to erase their sin--at least given the people they are. They are larger than life people, heroic and heartless, passionate and proud, stubborn, devout and selfish. In other words, very human. It's rare to read historical fiction where the characters take the front seat, but that's what happens here. At the same time the re-creation of life in Norway in the 14th c. is rich and authentic--the rigors of winter, the constant threat of lean times, the overwhelming presence of the Church, and the traces of myth and superstition.

The society and politics of the time are meticulously portrayed, and there's much to admire. Education is prized, as is individuality and freedom. There doesn't seem to be capital punishment except for the most heinous of crimes, such as treason; banishment and forfeiture of properties are most often the harshest punishments meted out. Women are subservient to fathers and husbands of course, but there seemed to be a lot of room for women to control wealth and land.

The Catholic Church is omnipresent in everyday life, and the characters struggle with the ideas of grace and forgiveness, sin and redemption, men as well as women. This was before the Protestant reformation, and it's clear that all must answer to religious as well as secular authority. In the crucial areas of marriage and separation, inheritance and legitimacy, the Church ruled supreme. Kristen is torn by guilt and sin as often as she struggles with other emotions. Kristen is a complex character, often immature, selfish and unloving, but at the same time capable of great sacrifice for others. Erlend her husband is foolish and rash and always the center of attention, and brings great grief to his family and kin, but he exhibits great courage in protecting his co-conspirators when the plot to overthrow the king is discovered. Other characters are similarly complex, from Kristin's parents to the loyal Simon Andresson, Kristen's bethrothed whom she rejects in favor of Erlend.

I read a few passages of the old English translation that dates back from the publication of this trilogy in the 1920's, and Nunnelly's version is obviously far superior. The Penguin classics edition with the complete trilogy is handsome and cleanly printed, a big consideration when attempting to read an 1100+ page book in paperback. I hope that someone, someday will attempt a table of characters, because I certainly needed one. Naming conventions of the time were different, certain names were in wide use, and everyone was related to everyone, which made the book slow going at times. But persevere--you'll find this book will give you much to contemplate.

... Read more

Book Description
In Kristin Lavransdatter (1920-1922), Sigrid Undset interweaves political, social, and religious history with the daily aspects of family life to create a colorful, richly detailed tapestry of Norway during the fourteenth-century. The trilogy, however, is more than a journey into the past. Undset's own life-her familiarity with Norse sagas and folklore and with a wide range of medieval literature, her experiences as a daughter, wife, and mother, and her deep religious faith-profoundly influenced her writing. Her grasp of the connections between past and present and of human nature itself, combined with the extraordinary quality of her writing, sets her works far above the genre of "historical novels." This new translation by Tina Nunnally-the first English version since Charles Archer's translation in the 1920s-captures Undset's strengths as a stylist. Nunnally, an award-winning translator, retains the natural dialog and lyrical flow of the original Norwegian, with its echoes of Old Norse legends, while deftly avoiding the stilted language and false archaisms of Archer's translation. In addition, she restores key passages left out of that edition.

Undset's ability to present a meticulously accurate historical portrait without sacrificing the poetry and narrative drive of masterful storytelling was particularly significant in her homeland. Granted independence in 1905 after five hundred years of foreign domination, Norway was eager to reclaim its national history and culture. Kristin Lavransdatter became a touchstone for Undset's contemporaries, and continues to be widely read by Norwegians today. In the more than 75 years since it was first published, it has also become a favorite throughout the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (31)

A Medieval Fairy Tale, but a modern story.
The story takes place in fourteenth-century Norway and is essentially about a young girl's journey into womanhood.Kristin Lavransdatter is a young maiden from a close, well-to-do family who falls head-over-heals in love with an impetuous, young man (Erlend Nikulausson) with a tainted reputation.And rightfully so, for Erlend, like so many young men of his age, is a major screw-up, for a lack of a better definition.To complicate matters even more, Kristin is already engaged (in an arranged marriage) to a most prim and proper young man by the name of Simon.Obviously, Kristin's parents and family wish her to obey them and marry Mr. Nice Guy (Simon).However, like so many young, impressionable women, she goes gaga over the bad boy with the great looks and charismatic appeal.Ergo, when she finally does make her choice - all hell breaks loose.

I enjoyed the novel.It was a bit slow at times, and I wish that Undset would develope her characters a little more, but overall it was a very pleasurable read.I definitely would never go so far as to label this one a 'Harlequin Romance'.It is beautifully written and very nicely translated by Tiina Nunnally (yes, that is how Tiina spells her name).I am interested in reading the next two books of this medieval triology - ("The Wife" and "The Cross") mainly because I want to see if this marriage truly does work out.I am not so sure at the moment, because there is no denying that Erlend is a bit of a cad and it is too early to tell if Kristin is truly in love or lust.If I had to guess, I would go with the former, however, even if that is the case, both of these young people ended up hurting quite a few others along the way while carrying out their secret tryst.And we all know about KARMA and how it has a way of sooner or later rearing it's ugly head.

I have never been a big fan of novels written about the medieval times, so I knew beforehand that this novel might be a bit of a challenge for a guy like me.However, I was pleasantly suprised and like I said, I will be definitely picking up the second book of the trilogy "The Wife" to see just what happens next in this epic, Norweigan soap opera.If your are a fan of love stories and/or medieval tales, than odds are you will enjoy this classic.There is a reason why the author Undset won a Nobel Prize (among countless other awards) and also why so many critics loved this trilogy.This novel is very well constructed and there is no doubt one can relate with a story that is just as relevant and prevalent today as it was seven hundred years ago.Like the old Paul Anka song goes "and they called it, puppy loooooooooove..." I know, I know, I can't stand that song either, but it's the first song that comes to mind when describing this story.

Hope you enjoy it!

couldn't put the book down!
Wonderful book.Worth the read.Hardest part of the book is deciphering the names and following the family lineage.

Harlequin Romance/Historical Fiction
Kristin Lavransdatter misses being Clan of the Cave Bear by that much. Ayla is a Chronic Victim. Kristin Lavransdatter born today would be every litigant on Judge Judy who lent thousands of dollars to Deadbeat Men they Really Loved Because They Were Soulmates.

What makes this book such a unique outrage is that it otherwise would have been a fascinating window on Medieval Norway; unfortunately, Sigrid Undset decided to make her main character a total ninny, while having the other characters react to her as if she were some kind of paragon. Other than Erland and Kristin, the other characters are actually likeable people. Well, except for the tiresome and tedious, self-pitying mother. So the effect is this anachronistic duo fouling the strong mead of Medieval Norway with the 40-ounce malt beverage that is them. When the other characters go on about Kristin, we don't believe them, and it only adds insult to injury.

I mean, under the circumstances, must we hear, "She has wise eyes, this daughter of yours..." ?

Note to Sigrid Undset (which she can't read, because she's dead, which is a mixed blessing because at least it means she can't write any other books. Happy Times in Norway was excruciating, too.):If a character is going to be a totally self-destructive idiot, then in order to remain sympathetic, the character needs to have some kind of motivation that resonates with us, and gives us the sense that, if this character had been born in another place and time, there might actually have been a way out for her. So, in Anna Karenina's case, she was married off to a man she doesn't love, and in Emma Bovary's case, we get the sense that things would have turned out a bit better for her had she been given some kind of intellectual outlet and a purpose in life. (And we also know in advance that Gustave Flaubert personally hated everyone in the human race, so we can forgive her for being painted in such a harsh light by the creator who hated her so deeply). This is the actual definition of Tragedy. The character must act consistent with her nature, and events twist those actions into something horrible, and the events are inexorable.

In Kristin's case, there is no such motivation. And there is no logic. If she could defy everyone to run off with Erland, then why couldn't she have defied everyone to marry Arne Gyrdson in the first place?As for the new translation, I'm glad the double-wide trailer has a better coat of paint.

Much ado about Nunnally
I, too, like some of the other reviewers here, was at first disappointed with the "modernized" translation of Nunnally, preferring the quirky "thees" and "thous" and "methinkses" of Archer's translation--until I discovered that in fact Undset wrote in contemporary, not mediaeval, Norwegian.The subject matter is mediaeval; the language is supposed to be 20th century.The Elizabethanized language of Archer reflects his own effort to set the reader in the mood for older times, not something called for by the Undset's Norwegian!(Some of the other reviewers here objected that Vol. II is entitled by Nunnally "The Wife" rather than, as in Archer's, "The Mistress of Husaby."But you will see that the Norwegian title is "Husfrue,"as in the German "Hausfrau," or "Housewife.""Wife" is therefore in fact the proper translation.)I have it on good authority from someone who knows Scandinavian languages that Nunnally's translation is superb.

Another merit of Nunnally is that she restores quite a bit of text that had been bowdlerized by Archer.Check out the difference, to cite just one example that I have noticed, between the way Nunnally and Archer portray the key scene when Erlend takes Kristin's maidenhood:

Nunnally: "Kristin was trembling--she thought it was because her heart was pounding so hard--and her hands were clammy and cold.When he kissed the bare skin above her knee, she tried powerlessly to push him away.Erlend raised his face for a moment, and she was suddenly reminded of a man who had once been given food at the convent--he had kissed the bread they handed to him.She sank back into the hay with open arms and let Erlend do as he liked" (p. 145).

Archer: "Kristin shook--it must be because her heart beat so--her hands were cold and clammy.As he kissed her vehemently she weakly tried to push him from her.Erlend lifted his face a moment--she thought of a man who had been given food at the convent one day--he had kissed the bread they gave him.She sank back upon the hay...." (p. 129).

The two are pretty close where Archer actually gives you the text, but he prudishly leaves out some key stuff (I'm assuming Nunnally is not putting anything in that's not there in the original).The ellipses there at the end of the Archer translation are his own, and you find them throughout the text just at the, um, interesting parts.With both translations given above, something is left to the imagination, as Undset surely wanted it, but with Archer's, you are missing text!Undset expected her readers to be perceptive, not prophetic.And this is a pivotal moment in the plot, when just the right measure is needed.Readers of Archer's translation have to wonder why, in the next chapter, Kristin keeps feeling her belly and thinking she must be carrying Erlend's child, until they go back to the ellipses and realize what the translator must have omitted.This is the only clear example of Archer's censoring I've come across, but I am told there are plenty more.

A splendid novel finally gets a splendid translation
I first discovered Kristin when I was fifteen, in Charles Archer's gummy, faux-Howard Pyle translation (it's also Bowdlerized) While I loved the story, I knew that this couldn't be the way Sigrid Undset wrote it. She was a scholar of the sagas, and their language is plain and direct, not lifted from some Errol Flynn movie.

Thank you, Tiina Nunnally, for giving us the real deal. The stark, direct translation suits the story. This is not a romance novel. This is a story about real people, real passion, and real disappointment and heartache. Even though Kristin gets the guy, she's going to find that 'having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting'.It's been a long wait, but Kristin and her life story finally have their real voice in English.



... Read more

Book Description
In the finale of this great and popular work, Kristin rearranges her life after the Black Death has devastated her world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross (Penguin Classics)
I recommend this book to anyone who loves to read good literature.

no title
After having read all three books - Wow!She deserved the Nobel Prize.This last book is a great read - much exciting stuff.And how she understood what a mother feels about her sons - and their leaving her.

Kristin Lavransdatter, The Wreath, The Wife, The Cross
Sigrid Undset is a master at character and place.She seamlessly draws you into medieval Norway while captivating you with the depth and humanity of her characters.I read them breathlessly captivated.No wonder Ms. Undset received a Nobel Prize for these historical novels--among the best I've ever read.Bravo, Sigrid Undset.

I'm not usually moved by books but....
...this one brought me to tears in more than one place. If you're reading "The Cross," or considering purchasing it, you've probably already read the first two books in the series and are caught up in the story. Is this book worth it? Yes. It's not an uplifting read by any means, but it brings the Kristin story to a logical -- though heartbreaking -- conclusion. I am in awe of Undset for her creation of such believable characters, and grateful to her for this glimpse into medieval life. Nunnally's translation is clear and reads smoothly. This, along with "The Wreath" and "The Wife," is one of those books you hate to see end.

Bringing It All Together
THE CROSS is the final shattering novel in Sigrid Undset's KRISTAN LAVRANSDATTER trilogy.In it, Kristin reaps both the rewards and sorrows of the choices she sowed in the first two volumes.

In the first novel, Kristin's passion for Erlend Nikulausson led her to break her betrothal to Simon Andresson.In the second volume, Kristin sought to atone for her sin (she was already pregnant when she celebrated her wedding with Erlend), but had to struggle to forgive Erlend for leading her astray.In THE CROSS, the consequences of Kristin's choices all come to a head.The first section of the novel focuses on Simon, who has been a faithful friend to Kristin and Erlend, even as he continued to harbor feelings for Kristin.In the mid-section of the novel, Kristin and Erlend strive to find peace with one another.While their passion for one another never died, they were never fully able to overcome the mismatch in their marriage.And in the final section, we follow Kristin as she seeks acceptance from her seven sons, and most importantly from God.

For while KRISTIN LAVRANSDATTER seems to be a novel about love, friendship, and marriage, its deepest message is about the struggle of deeply-flawed humans to reconcile themselves with God.The trilogy is set in medieval Norway and all of the characters order their lives (as best they can) around the Christian moral order.Even as they knowingly fail, the Faith is a part of the very air they breathe.

The miracle of Sigrid Undset's trilogy is the clarity of her perception into the human condition.All of these characters live and breathe, and (more startling) we see clearly how they impact each other through the tangled webs of their lives.But Undset's literary talent is embedded in a sharp religious vision, which points to God's relationship with us as sinners.Undset never denies the good in Kristin's passion for Erlend.Nor does she hide the devastating consequences their passion had on each other and on all of the lives they touched.Often, to sin is not to choose that which is evil, but rather to choose a lesser good.Yet as the saying goes, God can write straight with crooked lines, and at the end of this extraordinary trilogy, Kristin comes to see how God has been with her through all of the light *and* through all of the dark.We walk away from the novel enthralled by the grandeur of the story we live out in this fallen world, and the enormous love God has for us.

Rereading Sigrid Undset's classic trilogy has been one of my most rewarding projects this summer. ... Read more

Book Description
When Jenny was published in 1911, Undset found herself called immoral — “this is a side of the free, artistic life that the vast majority of citizens would rather not know.” The novel tells the story of Jenny Winge, a talented Norwegian painter who goes to Rome to seek artistic inspiration but ultimately betrays her own ambitions and ideals. After falling into an affair with the married father of a would-be suitor, Jenny has a baby out-of- wedlock and decides to raise the child on her own. Undset’s portrayal of a woman struggling toward independence and fulfillment is written with an unflinching, clear-eyed honesty that renders her story as compelling today as it was nearly a century ago.

This new translation by Tiina Nunnally captures the fresh, vivid style of Undset’s writing and restores passages omitted from the only previous edition to appear in English, which was published in 1921. Most famous for her later, historical fiction set in Catholic, medieval Scandinavia, Undset stands revealed with Jenny, her first major novel, as an unsparing, compassionate, magnificent realist, the creator of works that are at once thoroughly modern and of enduring interest.

“[Undset] was an uncommonly fine writer of fiction.”-- The New York Times Book Review

“Jenny is a stunningly atmospheric yet frank and searching drama about a young woman painter struggling to reconcile her need to make art with her longing for and fear of love. This brooding book can stand with the best of the moderns.”-- Booklist ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Early Undset novel
Later, Sigrid Undset would become a peer of Dostoevsky -- see Mitzi Brunsdale's comments on Undset's magnificent quartet, The Master of Hestviken, in her 1988 study.But Undset's early novel Jenny shows the Norwegian Nobel Prize winner as the peer of Turgenev. Jenny is worthy of comparison with something like Turgenev's "First Love" as a tale of the loss of youth and of eros (present or absent), but from the point of view of a woman who is not in love, rather than the point of view of the man who is in love.There is a suggestion, too, of Turgenev's characteristic interest in cultured, somewhat amoral, and vaguely political artist-poet types who have left their northern homelands (for Turgenev, Russia; for Undset, Norway) for southern Europe.

Emphatically Jenny is not to be thought of as a Turgenev imitation, though.For one thing, Undset's novel deals -- in some of its best pages -- with its heroine's maternal yearnings and grief, something one wouldn't look for in Turgenev.The Russian had a somewhat effeminate fondness for poetic melancholy (amusing satirized by Dostoevsky in Demons); in Jenny, "might have been" hurts people more.

There are flat patches of descriptive writing -- here, she is no rival of the Turgenev who wrote the lovely outdoors anecdote "Bezhin Meadow"-- and one must admit that one could become impatient with these rootless would-be artists, as one was meant to, I suppose.In later works, Undset achieved a greater synthesis of romanticism and stern, classical truthfulness. ... Read more

Book Description
Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy is an internationally best-selling classic, but her earlier work has long been out of print. In this new collection, readers finally have a window into Undset's views on women's sexuality, the relationship between motherhood and art, and the complex dynamic between women and men. The book includes two short stories, “Simonsen” and “Tjodolf,” which capture the lives of people living in Christiana (now Oslo) in 1900; a novel, Jenny, which tells the story of a disenchanted painter; and an assortment of letters written between 1900 and 1922. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The feminine yearning for a perfect love
"Jenny" is pre-Christian Undset but it is clear that her conversion was already beginning as she examines issues like integrity, love and suffering in a fated, godless universe. The author creates a deep, introspective feminine character that one suspects is quite a bit like her own. Jenny tries to live her life being true to herself, telling no lies. When she finds that she has sacrificed integrity to chase a counterfeit love, she cannot forgive herself. She suffers the loss of her child but cannot make sense of her grief. She passes a death sentence upon herself. Not long after Undset wrote the story, she found Catholicism and it's world where sin and suffering lead not to death but to the Redeemer.
Thjodolf is another tale in this collection where a woman's perfectionism in love leads to the self-destruction of her spirit. Yet this one ends with a ray of hope.

As fresh and disturbing as today's headlines
Summary: Some early realist works by a Nobel Prize-winning author that read as if they were written today.
Pity the winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature who haven't the good fortune to write in English.If they aren't known in the English-speaking world before they win the international award, their works are quickly translated into English, and then just as quickly forgotten by all except the academics.
And for every exception to the rule, for every Thomas Mann or Alexander Solzhenitzyn, there is a Karl Adolph Gjellerup, a Grazia Deledda, or a Frans Eemil Sillanpaa, all of them once honored with the prestigious prize, all of them likely still read in their native tongues, but none of them still on the English-speaking bestseller lists - or even the remainder piles.
Sigrid Undset's literary fate falls somewhere between that of the Manns on one side and the Gjellerups on the other.The Norwegian author, who wrote during the first half of the 20th century, is today best known for her multi-volume medieval novels, Kristin Lavransdatter and The Master of Hestviken.
But before she wrote those masterpieces - the research for which partially influenced her conversion to the Catholic faith - and before she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928, Undset was known for her realistic novels of modern life.These novels have been favorably compared with those of her contemporary, Theodore Dreiser.
The Unknown Sigrid Undset introduces a new generation of readers to some of these early works.
The bulk of this volume consists of Undset's 1912 novel Jenny, which has been out of print in English since the 1930s.This new translation by Tiina Nunnally - who also translated the recent thriller Smilla's Sense of Snow - restores passages that had been cut in the earlier English version for either unbridled lyricism or supposed salaciousness.
Jenny tells the story of a young Norwegian artist living in bohemian Rome in the early decades of the 20th century.The story seems to be semi-autobiographical.Undset knew the struggles of a working class, female artist: She worked as a secretary to support her widowed mother and younger sister for 10 years before she could afford to move to Italy as a full-time writer.
Jenny, the protagonist of the novel, can't reconcile her artistic need to create with her maternal need to nurture.Undset sees this split as the eternal dilemma of the female artist in a male-dominated world.And although a feminist, Undset ultimately comes down on the side of motherhood.For Undset, biology was destiny, and that assertion was politically incorrect even in 1912.
The book and its author were blasted by ideologues on both ends of the spectrum.Reviewers denounced Jenny for its sexual frankness and overall "sordidness."Feminists decried it as heresy, a betrayal by one of their own.The controversy was not unlike that being played out in literary and feminist circles today.
The other fictional works in The Unknown Sigrid Undset are equally contemporary in their themes.
The short story "Thjodolf" - as fresh and disturbing as today's headlines - is the story of a woman who loves a foster child.The child's birth mother comes back into the picture demanding her maternal rights, and the inevitable tragedy results.
"Simonsen" is a quieter tale of poverty and desperation.The title character is a loser in the eyes of the world - he can't afford to both live with and support the family of his old age.At Christmas time, his adult children agree to help him and his new family, but only if he agrees to leave the mistress and the five-year-old daughter he loves.
In addition to the fiction, this volume includes a collection of the author's letters that have never before been translated into English.The letters - written by Undset to Andrea (Dea) Hedburg Forsberg, her pen pal of more than forty years - cover the period from 1900 to 1913, when Undset was developing as a writer.As such they present a portrait of the artist as a young woman.
Considering the themes and obsessions of Undset's fiction, it is significant that the letters - and the book - end with her announcement of the birth of her first child.The roles of creative artist and nurturing mother were finally reconciled in Undset's life.
The Unknown Sigrid Undset offers today's readers the works of a young writer who portrays the world as it really is, yet is searching for the ultimate truths behind that reality.

Heartbreaking stories, masterpieces of literary fiction
I have recently bought "The Unknown Sigrid Undset: Jenny and Other Works" published by Steerforth Press. This volume is the most carefully edited omnibus I have ever seen. It's clear that book lovers have done their work here, people who put love for books above everything else, including strictly commercial motivations. "Jenny" was out of print for what - 70 years? Perhaps more. The old translation from the 1920s apparently utilized the archaic English language, and thus Undset herself had decided to take it out of the circulation. You can also find an online interview with the translator, Tiina Nunnally, who translated it anew, and learn how difficult it is to bring old Scandinavian novels back to life, so that they are accessible to the XXI century reader, and yet do not lose anything of its original charm and style. It is a noble deed, really, in this day and age - to reprint the pearls of literature and in such careful way at that.

"Jenny" is a story of a young Norwegian lady, a painter and a spinster, who remained in that state despite the fact that she was both physically attractive, and very well liked, a young persona whose companionship was sought by her peers. A small group of artistically gifted young Scandinavian people spends their summers in Rome before World War I, to remain there for a long time, only occasionally coming back to the native soil. Her observations, the observations of a young traveling woman, are full of wisdom, full of realism so much unlike the sentimental, eerie otherworldliness and nonchalance of the contemporary characters, for you have to remember that "Jenny" was written in 1911, when the effects of the decadent new wave in literature and culture were still strong.

At moments I am reminded of the atmosphere in Maugham's "Of Human Bondage", the parts where Philip enters the bohemian world of the painters during his venture as an art student, but it's only a distant recollection, because Undset's novel is infinitely gentler, and the fact is, more fresh than Maugham's - and I find it much more to my personal liking than Maugham anyway. Undset is mercifully brief in her descriptions, which are devoid of ornaments, and I find that I get the picture in a much clearer way, I feel as if I were there, with them, assisting the characters from the position of a crow, sitting on a cold marble stone lion, observing everything in my omni cognitive way of a crow. Maybe it's just because I grew up in Europe, in those mossy old places, where earth gives life to small plants in-between the cracks of old carved stones and buildings, where the early old city morning is incomparable with anything you've seen or felt.

"Jenny" is a grand love story, a tragic story of a young woman who did not seek carnal pleasures, the easy-come-easy-go type of relationship that people her age seemed to enjoy. Attractive and intelligent, she was lonely, very lonely, and when she finally subsided to the impulse, the whole life has changed. With her lover, she entered the morbid world of suppressed unhealthy emotions, which he carried from home like a burden of a graveyard stone on a chest, immovable and paralyzing. The insecure man drowned Jenny in his toxic love, for love is always toxic if the object is not the other person, but he who loves, or rather claims to love. Once the young Norwegians briefly return home, we realize why he behaved as he did, and so the tragic story begins, and for the next two hundred pages a reader will be spellbound by the powerful voice of Sigrid Undset.

"And the worst thing would be to share life with another person but deep inside feel just as lonely as before. Oh, no, no. To belong to a man, with all the subsequent types of intimacy, both physical and spiritual... and then one day to see that she had never known him, and he had never known her, and neither of them had ever understood a word the other person said...(...) So she had to try painting again. Presumably it would be an utter disaster, since she was walking around sick with love. She laughed. That's what was wrong with her. The object of her affection hadn't yet appeared, but the love was there."

This novel is a masterpiece of literature, and it's hard to believe that Undset was very young when she conceived this novel. Only from her letters to her longtime German pen-pal, we learn that she started writing as a very young girl, and that she devoted all her young life to writing, slaving away in an obscure office to be able to support her writing of "Kristin Lavransdatter", a historical trilogy for which much later, in 1928, Undset was awarded a Nobel Prize for literature. Don't be put off just because Undset is Norwegian, and now forgotten. Her writing is wonderful, and I wish people discovered this writer anew, because she deserves recognition, but even more she deserves modern readership. Try it - you won't be disappointed.

Besides "Jenny", the book contains also a novella, "Thjodolf", and a short story, "Simonsen". Both are rather depressing, to tell the truth. The latter is a story of unmet expectations and brutality of life in the turn-of-the-century urban Norway, while the former is a heartbreaking story of a woman and the adopted child. Written when Undset was just sixteen, "Thjodolf" is one of the best novellas I have ever read, and definitely powerful enough to shatter you to pieces. Sigrid Undset was a writer of unmatched class, and it's a pity that her works are not popular nowadays. Let us only hope that the current edition will alter that state.

Undset = Immediacy
After reading the Tiina Nunnally translations of Undset's Gunnar's Daughter, and Kristin Lavransdatter (all 3 vol.), I was more than hooked on Undset, I was obsessed.I ordered Jenny from the library and loved the immediacy and complete contemporariness of the book.I know contemporariness is not a word but heck, I can't think of the correct term.Sigrid Undset is a solid writer-- her characters are complex, intelligent, dynamic and they face interesting ethical and moral quetions.I give Gunnar's Daughter and Krisin Lavransdatter (which is an amazing trilogy) 5 stars.Jenny did not have the hefty power of these two (read the introductions!) but it is a very enjoyable story.

Fascinating early work by a Nobel Prize winner
This volume showcases some great early works by Sigrid Undset that give a foretaste of the Nobel Prize-winning books she would write 10-20 years later.The novel "Jenny," from 1911, tells the fate of a young woman painter during her years in Rome and later back home in Oslo.Undset's descriptions are as vivid as a painting themselves, and the characters of Jenny and her artist friends in Rome will remind you of people you know today.And isn't that one thing that makes great art universal?Undset's letters to her Swedish penpal reveal the desire of a young writer to escape her humdrum office-worker existence -- Undset worked for a German electrical company for 10 years! -- and have the time to do nothing but write; these letters are astoundingly mature for a 21-year-old.If you want to see where the celebrated author of "Kristin Lavransdatter" started out (and read it in the limpid prose of Tiina Nunnally's exquisitely rendered translation), this is the book for you! ... Read more

Product Description
Translated from the Norwegian by Henriette C. K. Naeseth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Emotional follow-up to "The Axe"
At times this story is quite heavy with emotion, however the characters are so well developed, by the end of the book you feel as if they are a part of you. the authors chooses a very interesting time in Noway's history to set her story.Viking traditions now being governed by Christian ethics.Fascinating and very well written with historical accuracy.

The story continues
In the second book of the Master of Hestvicken series Olav & Ingunn are home together at last on Olav's family manor at Hestvicken. Their life together is not a happy one however due to Ingunn's ill health and Olav's heavy sense of guilt.

This is a beautiful Norse saga in spite of the depression of the main characters, the attention to historical detail is wonderful. Readers of "Kristen Lavransdatter" will enjoy the chance encounter in the Snake Pit between Olav and Lavrans Bjorgulfsson and his wife Ragnfrid. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Viking Pagans v. Viking Pagans
This may have been the first authoress to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.It was wriyyen in the 1920's and portrays the entry of Christianity into the Norway of Odin, Freya, Thor and Loki.It is set in the beautiful, unspoiled Gudbrunsdal of Central Norway.It is of interest to anyone interested in Nordic or Christian history.The characters are still vivid and the actual locale still reflects the scene of this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Powerful, Luminous Stuff
I had never read anything by Sigrid Undset until I read this novel, though I had wanted to for a while. Reading Undset sounded like a reading experience that couldn't be replicated, Who else is a female, Nobel-Prize-winning, Norwegian, historic novelist whose work is compared to Tolstoy's. Anyway, after reading The Axe (not even considered her best work), I would say she certainly lived up to my expectations.

The basic plot follows Olav Audunsson and Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter (don't be scared away by the names). They were betrothed as children under rather mysterious circumstances and were then raised together. Eventually, the two fall in love, and want to finally get married, seeing as they were betrothed to one another anyway. Times have changed, though, and the powers that be have decided to marry them off elsewhere. Olav and Ingunn vow to fight for their marriage, and the remainder of the action is this intense struggle.

The novel is superb. The writing at some moments, particularly the early love scenes, is truly sublime, with the lush imagery set up against the unique medieval Norwegian backdrop. I had to read a number of passages over and over just to reexperience their beauty. The moral scope of the novel also strikes me as particularly powerful and certainly invites comparison to Tolstoy. The events of the novel are all marked by a sin early in the novel which sends everyone into a moral tailspin. The characters are trapped in a moral maelstrom of their own making and in their struggle to find some sort of redemption is the ultimate meaning of the novel.

The Axe is one of the best novels I have ever read. Sigrid Undset cannot be forgotten. I can scarcely wait to read the rest of the Hestviken saga.

A guide for the perplexed...
I've read The Axe twice.It is superb.Undset's peers are writers like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.

However, my edition, at least, lacks family tree pages.So here's some help for those who might be confused.

1.OLAV AUDUNSSON'S ANCESTRY

Olav Audunsson is the novel's hero.He was fostered by Steinfinn Toresson, but his parents were Audun and Cecilia.Cecilia was daughter of Bjorn Andersson and Lady Margrete, whose first husband was Erik, their children being Erik and Barnim.Barnim is important to the young Olav Audunsson.

Audun was son of Ingolf and Ragna.Ingolf was one of five children of Olav Olavsson and Astrid Helgesdatter: the others were Helge, Halldis (who married Ivar Staal), Borgny, and Torgils "Foulbeard."Foulbeard, who is still alive when Olav Audunsson is a youth, was foster-brother with Olav Half-Priest.Foulbeard sired a son, Arne, on a woman named Astrid.Astrid's brother was Benedikt Besseson.Arne was the father of Signe, Una, and Torgunn.

Olav Olavsson was son of Olav Torgilsson and Tora Ingolfsdatter.Olav Olavsson's grandfather was Torgils of Dyfrin, a great estate that Olav Audunsson passes in the third novel of the Master of Hestviken quartet.The axe of the novel's title has passed down to Olav from the Dyfrin days.

Astrid Helgesdatter was sister of Ingolf Helgesson.

Olav Ingolfsson is an "old kinsman" of Olav Audunsson's; Ingolfsson's mother was Bergljot of Tveit, and his siblings include Kaare.

Olav Ribbung is a great-grandfather of Olav Audunsson.

2.INGUNN STEINFINNSDATTER'S ANCESTRY

Ingunn and Olav Audunsson become lovers in The Axe, their youthful desires coinciding with an ambiguous betrothal.Ingunn is one of four children, the others being Tora, Hallvard, and Jon, of Steinfinn and Ingebjorg.Tora marries Haakon Gautsson, who at one point might have married Ingunn.Haakon's sister is Helga.

Steinfinn is one of five children of Tore of Hov and Aasa.The others are Ivar, Magnhild, Herdis and Magnus.

Tore of Hov also sired children by his concubine, Borghild: at least two, Ragnhild and Kolbein.Olav Audunsson will kill one of Kolbein's sons, Einar.The other is Haftor.

Aasa, Tore's wife, is daughter of Magnus, and her siblings are Hillebjorg and Finn.Hillebjorg married a man named Finn, and their son was Arnvid, an important person in the lives of Olav and Ingunn.Arnvid was forced to marry Tordis; their children were Magnus, Funn, and Steinar.

If there are any inaccuracies above, I hope they can be set right!But I think the above is correct.

A story of love set in medieval Norway
While this is not in the same class as the Kristen Lavransdatter trilogy which brought Undset the Nobel prize, The Master of Hestvicken series is a beautifully told story of love set in 13th century Norway. Undset's descriptions and attention to historical detail are wonderful as usual, but the love between Olav Audunsson & Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter is ill-fated and heavy. In Book 1, The Axe, Olav & Ingunn are joined together as children and parted by family disputes.

A Memorable Saga
To understand The Axe one has to read the entire tetralogy of the Master of Hestviken.Therefore this review applies to the whole, as well as the part. A memorable saga, not only of a good man gone wrong (not gone bad) inthe incredibly harsh times of medieval Norway, but also of his soul throughthe various stages of Catholic spirituality and redemption.Sigrid Undsetis a master of both historical and spiritual fiction, as well as adeserving Nobel prize winner in literature.A must read for serious soulsearchers, but above all for serious Catholics.I felt I had insights intomy own nature as a person as I read about Olav Audunsson and participatedin his thoughts, troubles and dilemmas.A masterful work of literature.Norway is beautifully described together with its medieval traditions andbeliefs.If you enjoy good and serious historical fiction from a Christianperspective, you must read Sigrid Undset.

A powerful saga of medieval times
Sigrid Undset favored this work over her more popular Kristin Lavransdatter.But I found it more difficult to relate to the lives of Olav Audunsson and his lover Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter, and had to read thebook several times before I remembered it as well as Kristin.There is anoverall atmosphere of hopelessness and depression that makes reading thebook somewhat agonizing.Yet, the characters, plot and setting areconveyed so realistically, that one feels as if one knows the characters. There is no doubt in my mind that this is truly a literary masterwork. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Board a time machine
This book transports one back to Medieval Norway so successfully that it is almost effortless.The tale is an epic but the boundaries are always human and defined within the scope of that enclosed society.Despite the centuries separating the book with the current era, the same problems, relationships, loves, hates, worries, guilt and religious devoltion are present.

Incredible writing and kudos to the translation.

Extraordinary depiction of human guilt and consequences
This book, along with author's Kristin Lavransdatter, I believe to be the two most outstanding novels ever written. Though cast in late medieval Norway, they portray timeless relationships between men and women, guilt and punishment, historical perspective and profound understanding of human nature. Simply the best. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Part 3, the saga continues
This is the most action-packed installment of the "Master of Hestvicken" series. After Ingunn's death Olav leaves for adventures away from the family manor. In the first part of the story he goes on a sea adventure and visits the city of London where he has a religious experience in a church and an encounter with a mysterious woman. Later on in the book, after his return to Norway Olav leads men in defense against the invasion from Sweden.

As usual with all the books of Sigrid Undset, this is a beautifully told saga rich with historical detail.

One of my All Time Favourites
Following "The Axe" and "The Snake Pit", this is the third volume of Sigrid Undset'sgreat novel "The Master of Hestviken". Since the story is so intricate and full of detail, I would strongly advise not to read this book by its own since the reader might become confused and would not truly appreciate this magnificent tale. Although, unfortunately, the story is not available in one volume, all four books are certainly worth the money they cost. Moreover, each volume has a beautiful cover depicting scenes from the novel.

The story takes place in medieval Norway, a land torn by unremitting warfare and not yet fully converted to Christianity. The first two books tell the story of Olav Audunsson, who, after killing a man at a very young age, becomes an outlaw. As a consequence, he has to endure a long and bitter separation from Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter, his childhood sweetheart, before they are finally able to marry. However, their new life is tainted by Olav's past and by the fact that Ingunn has brought shame upon herself.

In this volume, Olav has once again become a man of wealth and stature. He is haunted, however, by his past deeds and he cannot find true happiness. Having lost his wife and being estranged from his son, Olaf leaves Hestviken and embarks on a journey of adventure and remorse which will finally lead him to a bloody reckoning.

The author's prose is so incredibly beautiful and the story is so rich in historical detail that it reminds one of the great Norwegian Sagas. It takes the reader back to a time when violence and bloody vendettas racked a land not yet fully touched by Christianity.The author depicts strong characters driven by passion and a desire for revenge who seldom find true peace and happiness. Written between 1925 and 1927 by a woman, this novel was truly ahead of its time. ... Read more

Book Description
In Kristin Lavransdatter (1920-1922), Sigrid Undset interweavespolitical, social, and religious history with the daily aspects of family life to create acolorful, richly detailed tapestry of Norway during the fourteenth-century. The trilogy,however, is more than a journey into the past. Undset's own life—her familiarity withNorse sagas and folklore and with a wide range of medieval literature, her experiences asa daughter, wife, and mother, and her deep religious faith—profoundly influenced herwriting. Her grasp of the connections between past and present and of human natureitself, combined with the extraordinary quality of her writing, sets her works far abovethe genre of "historical novels." This new translation by Tina Nunnally—the first Englishversion since Charles Archer's translation in the 1920s—captures Undset's strengths as astylist. Nunnally, an award-winning translator, retains the natural dialog and lyrical flowof the original Norwegian, with its echoes of Old Norse legends, while deftly avoidingthe stilted language and false archaisms of Archer's translation. In addition, she restoreskey passages left out of that edition.

Undset's ability to present a meticulously accurate historical portrait without sacrificingthe poetry and narrative drive of masterful storytelling was particularly significant in herhomeland. Granted independence in 1905 after five hundred years of foreign domination,Norway was eager to reclaim its national history and culture. KristinLavransdatter became a touchstone for Undset's contemporaries, and continues tobe widely read by Norwegians today. In the more than 75 years since it was firstpublished, it has also become a favorite throughout the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Kristin Lavransdatter II: The Wife (Penguin Classics)
A great book for those who love to read good literature.

After the Romance
Most romance novels present us with the trials and tribulations of star-crossed lovers, who in the end marry and live happily ever after.The first volume of Sigrid Undset's fine trilogy, THE WREATH, took us through the romance between Kristin Lavransdatter and Erland, concluding in their wedding.Unlike most romance novels, however, that novel foreshadowed the difficulties that the protagonists were likely to encounter in marriage.THE WIFE is the story of that marriage, with all of its strengths and weaknesses.

Once again, Undset succeeds in depicting a wide range of real people, in all their human glory.Kristin begins the novel with a pilgrimage in penance for her sin (she was already pregnant on her wedding day), and while she finds forgiveness, she struggles through the rest of the novel to learn how to forgive her husband.Erland begins the novel as an irresponsible man who seems lucky to have someone like Kristin.By the end of the novel, we see him rising above anything that could have been expected of him as he faces torture and imprisonment with dignity.There are no good guys and bad guys here, just human beings doing their best, yet struggling with their own passions and limitations.Undset's insight into the human condition is remarkable.And while Kristin and Erland do not achieve the illusory, romantic happiness that is celebrated in most romance novels, they find themselves with something much richer: a marriage in which a husband and a wife have learned to love each other in full knowledge of their mutual failings.

Undset was a great student of human nature, and she particularly understood our failings and our need to find redemption.By the end of the novel, Kristin has learned much in life, but her journey is not yet over.And so we move on to the final volume, THE CROSS.

Kristin Lavransdatter II, The Bride
Sigrid Undset was the first woman to win the Nobel prize for literature. Since Kristin Lavransdatter was first published in America in the 1920s, succeeding generations have read it and found Kristin and Erland's storyresonated in their hearts in a way that few books do. Undset has the raregift of understanding the inner feelings of men as well as women.

Thosewho have struggled with the artificially archaic language of CharlesArcher's translation will welcome this new version by Tiina Nunnally.Shehas also restored some parts that Archer eliminated, perhaps because hefound them too sexually explicit for readers of English in the1920s.

But, by all means start with the first volume, which, with volumeIII, is also available in the Nunnally translation.

Edmond Bliven

The Heart of the Medieval Mind
Sigrid Undset perfectly captures one of the essential personal conflicts of the Middle Ages: the strictures of the Church and a patriarchal society on love and marriage.Having followed her heart and her feelings of love,Kristin is unfortunately therefore placed at odds with her family and theChurch.Her search for reconciliation (or at least some accomodation) isfascinating, a marvelous spiritual journey.The typical medieval mindoften had the terror of hellfire hanging over it, and we see this in theearly part of this novel, as Kristin, full of guilt, makes a pilgrimagewith her newborn son to find redemption. The politics of feudalismeventually intrude and complicate her life, as her husband becomes moreinvolved in court intrigues. This translation is most excellent: it beatsthe silly pseudo-Old English one from the 1920's. I hope Tiina Nunnallywill eventually translate all of Undset's works!

What a great read!
This book is simply wonderful!I cannot wait until the third volume of this excellent translation is released.Kristen's life, though lived on a different continent, in a very different culture and society, so many agesago, rings so true to contemporary life.The trials and joys that sheexperiences make this book a wonderful read.And what a romance it is,too!If your looking for a good story by a good storyteller, pick thisup--start with the first book, though! ... Read more

Book Description
1928 Nobel Prize winner Sigrid Undset is the only Norwegian woman to have been awarded the prestigious prize for literature. Her medieval novels, which follow the lives of common people in the Middle ages in Norway, and her later works that deal with contemporary and social issues, were well received in the United States. "Kristin Lavransdatter" became a best seller, earning a position in the Book of the Month Club-a remarkable feat for a work that centers on a small country in the Middle Ages. There is no biography in English on Sigrid Undset, which makes this annotated bibliography so important. In one chapter, Maman has created a guide to the autobiographical information in Undset's own works. Much of the literature which is included in the bibliography has never before been put together in this kind of format. American reviews of the author's books, grouped by style of novel, internet resources, dissertations, as well as recent studies in Norwegian, comprise this comprehensive look at one of Norway's most important authors. Ideal for English-speaking researchers. ... Read more

Book Description
This book takes the most popular paradigmists of our day-St. Benedict, St. John of the Cross and Pere Teilhard de Chardin-and mingles their insights with Sigrid Undset's major novels, all of which are filled with paradoxes. Contents: Kristin Lavransdatter Seen through the Telescope of Teilhard de Chardin; The Master of Hestviken Illuminated by John of the Cross's Three-Fold Path; The Wild Orchid and The Burning Bush Given New Impetus through the Benedictine Rule; The Longest Years: Sigrid Undset's need to Return the Lost Child Within Her; Ida Elizabeth Achieves New Freedom through the Natural World and Motherhood; Madame Dorothea Caught in a Paradox: Shall I Choose Mysticism or Reason?; Return to the Future: A Second Paradox: Freedom in America vs. Constraint in Norway. ... Read more