Novel
The People of Juvik
Juvikfolke
Olav Duun · 1923
Opening lines
Dei skjønna ikkje dette, kvinnfolka: kva det var med kallen i dag?
They could not understand it, the womenfolk: what was the matter with the old man today?
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from nb.no
Synopsis
The Juviks, an old family of peasant landowners in Namdalen, in Trøndelag, have lived on their land for generations. Per Anders, rich and master of his sons, is the last Juvik of the old kind; after him, his son Anders takes over the Haaberg farm, and the line declines and moves on. The last three volumes follow Odin, an illegitimate child of the family, in whom his kin place the hope of recovering its virtues, and who becomes the man who counts in the parish, facing Lauris, his friend turned rival.
Context
The six volumes appeared from 1918 to 1923. Britannica reads in the cycle the symbolic progress of Norwegian society from primitive instincts towards a civilised humanism, and notes that the author's language may have hindered its circulation outside the country. The research database Research Starters compares the family's saga to the old sagas. Arthur G. Chater produced the English translation, published by Knopf from 1930 to 1935.
Who it is for
Six volumes in landsmål, translated into English but never into French, which take time and follow several generations.
Prizes and reception
The masterpiece of its author according to Britannica, which recalls that Sigrid Undset considered Duun the best writer in Norway.
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