I'm reading this, in the old Archer translation. Has anyone else read it? Random thoughts follow.
I must say I find it a bit difficult to understand what Kristin sees in Erlend at their first meeting. Ok, he's a handsome lad with a nice smile, but he can hardly be the only such at the dance; it seems he just snaps his fingers at her and she's overcome with passion. Possibly an artifact of the slightly bowdlerised translation?
Fascinating picture of medieval society; less fascinating picture of Kristin meditating on her own sinfulness. Yes, yes, you think dirty evil thoughts all the time and you snap at your husband. Go confess and have done with it.
Nobel Prize? Really? The committee at the time was probably rather skewed towards Scandinavian languages, but even under that constraint, when you consider that the poetry of Nordahl Grieg was being published in the same decade, really now!
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
I loved these books! For me it was really fascinating to see how things were then, and the fact that it's so utterly real makes them that much better. I gathered that she just fell for Erlend. It seems to me that such things happen all the time. Don't they?
Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
I also loved these books. Yes, a lot of eventually tiresome self-flagellation. And as far as what she saw in him, isn't it the stuff of what all kinds of songs and stories have been made of over the years? Teenage infatuation meets the hard cold realities of life. I also enjoyed the depiction of a way of life quite far removed from mine.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tatiana: I loved these books! For me it was really fascinating to see how things were then, and the fact that it's so utterly real makes them that much better. I gathered that she just fell for Erlend. It seems to me that such things happen all the time. Don't they?
Really? Two hours of dancing, and she's infatuated beyond all reason, to the point of breaking the strongest possible taboo with a man ten years older? Certainly one may read about this sort of thing happening. I don't think it's actually that common.