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9 & 13 December 2007
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31 October 2007
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Sigrid Undset - The Wreath
The first book of Undset's triology about Kristin Lavrandsatter, 'The Wreath' is about Kristin's
childhood and youth. Kristin in brought up in a respected and loving family, but she soon
develops a wilful charatcer and comes to defy her family in several ways, primarily through
rejecting her arranged marriage with Simon Darre as she falls in love with Erlend Nikulaussøn, a
banned knight. Erlend is charismatic and elegant, but has mismanaged his life to such an extent
that he has lost both his honor and most of his posessions and initally the two have to seek the
help of Åshild, an outcast reputed witch.
Undset's work is much admired for its historical and ethnological accuracy - indeed, her father
was an archaeologist and she learned about Norse sagas and Scandinavian folk songs from him. He
died, however, at the age of fourty, when Undset was eleven, and she grew up largely with a single
mother in poverty. Later, life would continue to be hard on Undset and by 1920 she was herself a
single mother in Lillehammer, Norway. When she set her works about Kristin to the Fourteenth Century,
however, that was not a means of escaping the harsh realities of her own time: the conflicts in
'The Wreath' are quite modern, mostly relating to sex and gender. Indeed, Unsdet's first book was
initially rejected and she was told rather to write contemporary novels.
Female sexuality is explored in particular depth and related to issues such as the Catholic faith:
the wreath referred to in the title, for example, is probably that which Kristin wears in her
wedding - a gold wreath a was privilege reserved for virgin brides but Kristin was already pregnant.
Through the novel, Kristin encounters a great many morally ambiguous situations, of which this is
one, and it is revealed that also the other characters have had their problems: Kristin's mother
was pregnant before her marrige with Kristin's father and Kristin's friend Brother Edvin has nearly
beaten a man to death, to mention two examples.
There is also another wreath, one which Kristin gets as a young girl: while she is playing in the
woods alone some troll places a golden wreath on her head. The two wreaths - one in the very beginning
of the novel, the other in the end - gives the story a quite cyclical feeling; the feeling that the
same conflicts and issues will arise again and again. Indeed, by credibly describing her contemporary
conflicts in a novel set six centuries in the past, Undset has already proven such a thesis.
In many ways the works on Kristin Lavransdatter could also be read as feminist works - Undset, as a
quite poor single mother, certainly lived a hard life (stories of how she was a mother at day and an
author at night tend to be popular among Norwegian teachers). At times, Kristin is revealed as a
strong, quite modern woman and she tells her childhood friend Arne that "I'd rather not have any man -
not yet". Kristin's friendship with Åshild seems to suggest that women share some binding common
experience because little could be more different than the young daugther of an affluent man and an
old outcast.
Whatever the idea or reason, 'The Wreath' remains a book about women by a woman. Through the book,
Undset utilizes her expert knowledge of medieval Norway and a great variety of literary devices and
symbols to create a trustworty account of the lives of women then and now. Such a brief review as
this can merely scratch the surface of relevant themes and techniques, but hopefully still convey
the idea that the book is among the greater literary works in the Norwegian canon.
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The first book of Undset's triology about Kristin Lavrandsatter, 'The Wreath' is about Kristin's
childhood and youth. Kristin in brought up in a respected and loving family, but she soon
develops a wilful charatcer and comes to defy her family in several ways, primarily through
rejecting her arranged marriage with Simon Darre as she falls in love with Erlend Nikulaussøn, a
banned knight. Erlend is charismatic and elegant, but has mismanaged his life to such an extent
that he has lost both his honor and most of his posessions and initally the two have to seek the
help of Åshild, an outcast reputed witch.
Undset's work is much admired for its historical and ethnological accuracy - indeed, her father
was an archaeologist and she learned about Norse sagas and Scandinavian folk songs from him. He
died, however, at the age of fourty, when Undset was eleven, and she grew up largely with a single
mother in poverty. Later, life would continue to be hard on Undset and by 1920 she was herself a
single mother in Lillehammer, Norway. When she set her works about Kristin to the Fourteenth Century,
however, that was not a means of escaping the harsh realities of her own time: the conflicts in
'The Wreath' are quite modern, mostly relating to sex and gender. Indeed, Unsdet's first book was
initially rejected and she was told rather to write contemporary novels.
Female sexuality is explored in particular depth and related to issues such as the Catholic faith:
the wreath referred to in the title, for example, is probably that which Kristin wears in her
wedding - a gold wreath a was privilege reserved for virgin brides but Kristin was already pregnant.
Through the novel, Kristin encounters a great many morally ambiguous situations, of which this is
one, and it is revealed that also the other characters have had their problems: Kristin's mother
was pregnant before her marrige with Kristin's father and Kristin's friend Brother Edvin has nearly
beaten a man to death, to mention two examples.
There is also another wreath, one which Kristin gets as a young girl: while she is playing in the
woods alone some troll places a golden wreath on her head. The two wreaths - one in the very beginning
of the novel, the other in the end - gives the story a quite cyclical feeling; the feeling that the
same conflicts and issues will arise again and again. Indeed, by credibly describing her contemporary
conflicts in a novel set six centuries in the past, Undset has already proven such a thesis.
In many ways the works on Kristin Lavransdatter could also be read as feminist works - Undset, as a
quite poor single mother, certainly lived a hard life (stories of how she was a mother at day and an
author at night tend to be popular among Norwegian teachers). At times, Kristin is revealed as a
strong, quite modern woman and she tells her childhood friend Arne that "I'd rather not have any man -
not yet". Kristin's friendship with Åshild seems to suggest that women share some binding common
experience because little could be more different than the young daugther of an affluent man and an
old outcast.
Whatever the idea or reason, 'The Wreath' remains a book about women by a woman. Through the book,
Undset utilizes her expert knowledge of medieval Norway and a great variety of literary devices and
symbols to create a trustworty account of the lives of women then and now. Such a brief review as
this can merely scratch the surface of relevant themes and techniques, but hopefully still convey
the idea that the book is among the greater literary works in the Norwegian canon.
