Kristin Lavransdatter: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
by Sigrid Undset
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Book Summary Information
Author: Sigrid UndsetBrand: Penguin Group USA
Editor: Tiina Nunnally
Translator: Tiina Nunnally
Introduction: Brad Leithauser
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-09-27
ISBN: 0143039164
Number of pages: 1168
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780143039167
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Kristin Lavransdatter: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Book Review: Marvellous Medieval Epic - Unforgettable
Summary: 5 Stars
"Kristin Lavrandatter", Sigrid Undset's Nobel-prize winning trilogy from the 1920s, doesn't appear on any college reading list that I have ever seen, despite its beauty, depth of observations about love, marriage, and family psychology, tour de force representation of life in medieval Norway, and the critical praise heaped upon it. It's length (1,000 pages plus in most translations) is probably one factor, and, some might say, another factor was the "medievalist" style of archaic English used in the Charles Archer translation that until recently was the one available. A very recent translation by Tina Nunnally is done in more modern, colloquial English. I should state here that I am probably in a minority in adoring the Archer translation - I did not, as others report below, find the language a chore at all: on the contrary, I found it enhanced the feel of having stepped into the past. I found the newer translation to be less satisfying, stylistically. Unless one speaks fluent Norwegian and can read the original without the veil of translation between reader and author, the matter is somewhat moot. So far as I could tell, Nunnally did not offer anything in her modernist translation that was substantially different from the story and characters presented in the Archer translation.
This great epic of Undset's is divided into three books: The Wreath, The Mistress of Husaby, and The Cross. Set in the 1300s, in feudal Norway, the novel's central character is Kristin Lavransdatter (literally, "daughter of Lavrans"), the eldest child of well-to-do, upright, respected, landowners. Pretty, intelligent, sheltered yet strong-willed, and the light of her deeply religious father's life, the novel opens during Kristin's childhood and ends with her death in old age. In the many pages between, Undset observes a life teeming with conflict, religious struggle, sexual awakening, marriage, and motherhood. And, through these stages of Kristin's life, Undset opens a window onto life in medieval Norway, of the powerful role of the church in everyday life, the restricted roles of women, the custom of arranged marriages, child-rearing, farming, and politics (Norway's monarchy had passed to Sweden at the time).
Undset's achievement at weaving together this enormous tapestry, of presenting so many characters, in addition to Kristin, with all their varied human foibles, is monumental. You will feel as if you have stepped into an alternative, yet quite real universe. Whether you read and prefer the newer translation or (as this reviewer does) the older translation, Undset's knowledge of the poignant, and apparently eternal, realities of relationship and family life should be equally rewarding. Undset had a strong interest in family psychology, women's issues, and was a convert to Catholicism - these interests, together with the painstaking research she undertook, combine to give us this living, breathing picture of life in the Middle Ages.
Book I, The Wreath (the title refers to the golden wreath of maidenhood worn by young girls before marriage) covers Kristin's life from childhood to her wedding; Book II, The Mistress of Husaby, covers Kristin's life from her marriage to her widowhood; Book III, The Cross, covers her life from the death of her husband through her death.
The central conflict of the novel is Kristin's marriage to Erlend Nikulauson. Erlend, although of a noble family and even more well-born than Kristin, has lived in adultery with another man's wife and has two children with her. After Kristin falls in love with Erlend and refuses to marry Simon Darre, the good man that her father has selected for her husband, and who has fallen deeply in love with her despite the arranged character of the marriage, the relationship between Kristin and her father undergoes tremendous strain. A series of tragic circumstances weakens Lavrans's resolve never to wed his daughter to an adulterer, and at last Kristin and Erlend are married, concluding the first book.
Husaby is Erlend's great estate, thus, Book II, The Mistress of Husaby, takes us through Kristin's married life, the complexities of her relationship with her husband, and years of childbearing. Erlend, at heart an adventurer who prefers the open sea to caring for his lands, flocks, and household, chafes under married life and exhibits an undisciplined, weak character except in matters of warfare. Kristin finds she must provide the strengths that he lacks at home and resents Erlend for it. Simon, meanwhile, eventually marries Kristin's youngest sister, although he never ceases to love Kristin, which opens up a breach between the two sisters.
Erlend also becomes embroiled in a failed political coup that eventually deprives him of his lands, forcing him and Kristin and their sons to return to Jorundgaard, Kristin's childhood estate, which is now hers by right after her father's death. Thus, the last book, The Cross, takes us through the hardest years of Kristin's life, with an embittered husband who is killed in a dispute not long after the return to Jorundgaard. Kristin's years as a widow, providing hard-won wisdom and comfort to her brood of headstrong sons, and the spiritual peace she finds at last after her tumultuous life, make up the final section of the book.
Throughout all three books, the role of Catholicism plays a very strong role not only in daily life, but in the psyches particularly of Kristin and her father and mother. The struggle to accommodate the high standards of Christian practice and goodness that conflict with human feelings and weaknesses is a connecting theme in the work, as is the immutable nature of character. One cannot help wondering as one reads what would have happened had Kristin done her father's bidding and married Simon, much the stronger and more sensible man, and one who loves Kristin in his way as much as Erlend does. And yet, Undset makes it clear that the love between Kristin and Erlend, despite all the trials it endures, is one that neither could have lived without.
I cannot recommend this unique and brilliant work highly enough. It will stay with you for the rest of your life.
Summary of Kristin Lavransdatter: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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.
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