(publ. William Morrow, 1969)
Cover art by Lydia Rosier
The Birds, original Nynorsk title Fuglane, is a novel by Norwegian author Tarjei Vesaas. It was first released in 1957, and has been translated into several languages, including English. [1]
The Birds, original Nynorsk title Fuglane, is a novel by Norwegian author Tarjei Vesaas. It was first released in 1957, and has been translated into several languages, including English. [1]
The story revolves around the inner world of Mattis, who is mentally challenged and lives with his sister Hege. [2] [3] [4] Since it is challenging for Mattis to communicate his ideas in context and in an organized fashion, many people call him "Simple Simon" and look down on him. He faces many challenges in life, for instance, a bird which filled him with awe and hope died, and he failed to find a suitable job in the farm. However, everything changed when he rowed and his boat got beached on a rocky island. Two girls, Anna and Inger, were on vacation and found him, helping him return home. Many people saw his arrival, and Mattis became more confident. Stemming on this event, his sister Hege encourages him to become a ferryman, and Mattis ferries his only passenger Jorgen to across the lake. Jorgen stays at Hege's house, and Hege and Jorgen soon become lovers. This intimidates Mattis, as he believes that Jorgen will replace him, and Hege will leave him. Mattis, overwhelmed, escape both of them and then dies from drowning.
Being regarded as one of Vesaas' most important novels, it was included in the major Norwegian publisher Gyldendal Norsk Forlag's 30 picks for Norway's national literature both in 1967 and 1996. In 2007, the Norwegian Festival of Literature included it in a best-of list of 25 Norwegian literary works, picked by a jury of ten.
The 1968 Polish motion picture Matthew's Days by Witold Leszczyński was based on the novel. [5]
The 2019 Norwegian film The Birds (Fuglane) directed by Anders T. Andersen was based on the novel. [6]
Norwegian literature is literature composed in Norway or by Norwegian people. The history of Norwegian literature starts with the pagan Eddaic poems and skaldic verse of the 9th and 10th centuries with poets such as Bragi Boddason and Eyvindr Skáldaspillir. The arrival of Christianity around the year 1000 brought Norway into contact with European medieval learning, hagiography and history writing. Merged with native oral tradition and Icelandic influence, this was to flower into an active period of literature production in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Major works of that period include Historia Norwegie, Thidreks saga and Konungs skuggsjá.
Lars Saabye Christensen is a Norwegian/Danish author.
Roy Jacobsen is a Norwegian novelist and short-story writer. Born in Oslo, he made his publishing début in 1982 with the short-story collection Fangeliv, which won Tarjei Vesaas' debutantpris. He is the winner of The Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature and two of his novels have been nominated for The Nordic Council's Literature Prize: Seierherrene in 1991 and Frost in 2004. The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles was published in Britain in 2008. Jacobsen lives in Oslo.
Tarjei Vesaas was a Norwegian poet and novelist. Vesaas is widely considered to be one of Norway's greatest writers of the twentieth century and perhaps its most important since World War II.
Hans Herbjørnsrud was a Norwegian author of short stories. His works frequently play with the differences between Norwegian languages Bokmål and Nynorsk and the various Norwegian dialects. His stories' characters sometimes playfully mix and invent languages, sometimes become caught up in their linguistic games and start losing their identity.
Thure Erik Lund is a Norwegian author and cabinet maker. He debuted in 1992 with the novel Tanger, for which he won Tarjei Vesaas' debutantpris.
Rolf Sagen was a Norwegian author. He was curator and daily leader of the Bergen Academy of Writing.
The Ice Palace is a novel by the Norwegian author Tarjei Vesaas, first published in 1963. An English translation was published by Peter Owen Publishers, London. It and was scheduled for reissue with them in Christmas of 2017 was part of their Cased Classics series. Vesaas received The Nordic Council's Literature Prize for the novel in 1964.
Tore Renberg is a Norwegian writer. He is the author of many books within many genres, including novels, short-stories and children's books, as well as writing for film and stage. His work has been translated into many languages. He has two children named Petra and Allan.
Carl Frode Tiller is a Norwegian author, historian and musician. His works are in Nynorsk, one of the two official Norwegian standard languages.
Guri Vesaas is a Norwegian writer and translator of children's books, and former editor at the publishing house Samlaget.
Trude Marstein is a Norwegian author. She attended Telemark University College and studied Creative Writing Studies. At the University of Oslo, she studied pedagogy, psychology, and the history of literature. She debuted in 1998 with a collection of prose, titled Sterk sult, plutselig kvalme, for which she received Tarjei Vesaas' debutantpris.
Morten Harry Olsen is a Norwegian author. Olsen made his literary debut in 1985 with the short story collection For alt hva vi er verdt, which won Tarjei Vesaas' debutantpris. Many of his books have been hits with critics.
Tarjei Vesaas's debutantpris is a prize awarded annually for the best first literary work in Norwegian. It is awarded by the Norwegian Authors' Union, and the organisation's 9-member Literary Caucus constitutes the jury for the prize. They choose the winner based on a free and independent evaluation on aesthetic criteria.
Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold is a Norwegian author who made her literary debut in 2009 with the novel Jo fortere jeg går, jo mindre er jeg. The book won the Tarjei Vesaas' Debutant Prize, and it was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award 2013. Skomsvold has dramatized the novel and the play premieres at the National Theatre (Oslo) in 2014.
Spring Night is a 1954 novel by the Norwegian writer Tarjei Vesaas. It tells the story of two siblings who for the first time spend a night without their parents, and are visited by strangers who ask for room for the night. An English translation by Kenneth G. Chapman was published in 1964, in a shared volume with Vesaas' novel The Seed.
The Boat in the Evening is a 1968 novel by the Norwegian writer Tarjei Vesaas. It has a fragmentary and meditative narrative which centres on a child who observes a crane colony perform its breeding ritual. It was the author's final book. It was published in English in 1971, translated by Elizabeth Rokkan.
The Seed is a 1940 novel by the Norwegian writer Tarjei Vesaas. The narrative is set on a small island where a stranger settles. This is soon followed by a mysterious murder case, which creates widespread distrust in the community. The novel was the author's first departure from literary realism into a more allegorical mode of storytelling. An English translation by Kenneth G. Chapman was published in 1964, in a shared volume with Vesaas' novel Spring Night.
Olav Vesaas is a Norwegian journalist, biographer and publisher.
The 1951 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded the Swedish author Pär Lagerkvist "for the artistic vigour and true independence of mind with which he endeavours in his poetry to find answers to the eternal questions confronting mankind." Lagerkvist is the fourth Swedish recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature after Lagerlöf in 1909, Von Heidenstam in 1916, and Karlfeldt in 1931.
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