Novel
Stigeren
Not translated into English
Kristofer Uppdal · 1919
Synopsis
Arnfinn Landsem is a stiger, a team leader underground, in a mountain mine that is being brought back into operation; the book's subtitle makes him the father of Tørber Landsem, who will be followed by other volumes of the cycle. The fictional Lifjell mine, in Trøndelag, has to be drained of its water, and Arnfinn forms a team of farm boys around an old miner. He faces an unhappy marriage and the revolt of his men, whom his son Tørber at first incites against him.
Context
The book appeared in 1919, the first published when the author resumed, after a five-year break, a cycle of ten volumes issued from 1911 to 1924; in the order fixed by the author in the last volume, however, it comes first. The cycle tells of the birth of the Norwegian working class, which came out of the peasantry to the building sites. Leif Mæhle sees in it one of the author's most intense books. The author had a maternal uncle named Arnfinn Landsem and in his youth worked draining a zinc mine.
Who it is for
In landsmål tinged with the speech of Trøndelag, never translated; the volume can be read on its own, as the author intended for each reader.
Prizes and reception
This volume opens the chronology of a cycle regarded as its author's principal work.