Kristin Lavransdatter, I: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset

Kristin Lavransdatter, I: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset

" Sigrid Undset should be the next Elena Ferrante." -Slate

A Penguin Classic

Kristin Lavransdatter interweaves political, social, and religious history with the daily aspects of family life to create a colorful, richly detailed tapestry of Norway during the fourteenth-century. The trilogy, however, is more than a journey into the past. Undset's own life-her familiarity with Norse sagas and folklore and with a wide range of medieval literature, her experiences as a daughter, wife, and mother, and her deep religious faith-profoundly influenced her writing. Her grasp of the connections between past and present and of human nature itself, combined with the extraordinary quality of her writing, sets her works far above the genre of "historical novels." This new translation by Tina Nunnally-the first English version since Charles Archer's translation in the 1920s-captures Undset's strengths as a stylist. Nunnally, an award-winning translator, retains the natural dialog and lyrical flow of the original Norwegian, with its echoes of Old Norse legends, while deftly avoiding the stilted language and false archaisms of Archer's translation. In addition, she restores key passages left out of that edition.

Undset's ability to present a meticulously accurate historical portrait without sacrificing the poetry and narrative drive of masterful storytelling was particularly significant in her homeland. Granted independence in 1905 after five hundred years of foreign domination, Norway was eager to reclaim its national history and culture. Kristin Lavransdatter became a touchstone for Undset's contemporaries, and continues to be widely read by Norwegians today. In the more than 75 years since it was first published, it has also become a favorite throughout the world.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Sigrid Undset (1882-1949), the eldest daughter of a Norwegian father and a Danish mother, was born in Denmark. Her family relocated to Oslo two years after her birth, where her father, a renowned archaeologist, lectured at the university. Undset was greatly influenced by her father's interest in the past. She was particularly enthralled by the dramatic Old Norse sagas she read as a kid, later remarking that her first encounter with them was the most significant turning point in my life. Mrs. Undset was Undset's first published piece.

Marta Oulie (1907) and The Good Era (1908), a collection of short stories set in modern circumstances, were critical and popular successes. Undset had the opportunity to explore the culture that had initially piqued her interest as a writer, and in Gunnar's Daughter (1909), she drew on her knowledge of Norwegian history and mythology, especially the Icelandic Sagas, to reconstruct medieval life with captivating immediacy. Undset married the painter Anders Castus Svarstad in 1912 and faced the difficult task of parenting three stepchildren and her own three children with no financial or emotional support from her husband over the next ten years. Her marriage was ended in 1924 after Undset converted to Catholicism, and she and her children eventually moved from Oslo to Lillehammer.

Undset's passion with the Middle Ages never waned, and she released The Wreath, the first volume of her most renowned work, Kristin Lavransdatter, in 1920, despite writing more modern novels, a collection of feminism essays, as well as numerous book reviews and newspaper articles. The Wife was published in 1921, while The Cross was published in 1922. Undset's first great medieval epic, the four-volume The Master of Hestviken (1925-1927), garnered her international renown, and her second great medieval epic, The Master of Hestviken (1925-1927), cemented her reputation as one of the twentieth century's best writers. She was only the third woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, at the age of 46, in 1928.

During the 1930s, Undset published numerous books, notably the autobiographical The Longest Years, as well as various collections of essays. Undset, an outspoken Nazi critic, fled Norway in 1940 as the Germans moved through the country, eventually settling in Brooklyn, New York. She returned to Norway in 1945 and received Norway's highest medal two years later for her exceptional literary achievement and dedication to the country. But, her years of exile had taken their toll, and she died of a stroke on June 10, 1949.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780141180410
ISBN 10	0141180412
Title	Kristin Lavransdatter, I: The Wreath
Author	Sigrid Undset
Series	The Kristin Lavransdatter Trilogy
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published	1997-12-01
Number of pages	336
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.