Inside the Gate: Sigrid Undset's Life at Bjerkebæk PDF
Preview Inside the Gate: Sigrid Undset's Life at Bjerkebæk
Inside the Gate This page intentionally left blank Inside the Gate sigrid undset’s life at bjerkebæk � Nan Bentzen Skille Translated by Tiina Nunnally University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis London Published in Norwegian as Innenfor gjerdet. Hos Sigrid Undset på Bjerkebæk; copyright 2003 by H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard). Originally published in English by H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard) AS; copyright 2009 by H. Aschehoug & Co. First University of Minnesota Press edition, 2018. Published in agreement with Oslo Literary Agency. English translation copyright 2009 Tiina Nunnally All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published by the University of Minnesota Press 111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290 Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520 http://www.upress.umn.edu Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer. 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Skille, Nan Bentzen, author. | Nunnally, Tiina, translator. Inside the gate : Sigrid Undset’s life at Bjerkebæk / Nan Bentzen Skille ; translated by Tiina Nunnally. First University of Minnesota Press edition. | Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: LCCN 2017054254 | ISBN 978-1-5179-0496-8 (pb) Subjects: LCSH: Undset, Sigrid, 1882-1949. | Authors, Norwegian–20th century–Biography. | Bjerkebæk (Lillehammer, Norway). | BISAC: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary. | BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women. Classification: LCC PT8950.U5 S6513 2018 | DDC 839.823/72–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017054254 Contents Introduction 6 Lillehammer Station—Disembark on the right 9 Sigrid Undset makes herself a home 23 With an office in “Norway’s most beautiful home” 47 The “guesthouse” that became the “priest’s house” 67 The garden—“the third loveliest” in the world 79 The children at Bjerkebæk 101 Mathea Mortenstuen 135 Miniature theaters and other sorts of drama 161 The Nobel Prize comes to Lillehammer 173 The difficult thirties 191 “Fight for all that you hold dear” 213 The curtain falls 239 Epilogue 268 Notes 274 Chronology 283 Photo credits 288 foreword Introduction One day in 1979, when I was working at the University Library in Bergen, my My thanks to Maihaugen, the Sandvig Collections, and the friends of Maihau- colleague Maya thee showed me something she had found in one of the old gen, who awarded me the anders Sandvig Museum Stipend in 2000, and to boxes stored on the fifth floor. It was a yellowed issue of The New York Times eckbos Legater for additional financial support. thank you to all who have Book Review from 1943 which contained an article by Sigrid Undset entitled contributed to this book by providing access to Undset materials that have not “the Books that Last forever.” She had written the essay at the Hotel Mar- been previously known. Some of the new source material came from Susanna garet in Brooklyn while her thoughts were on occupied Norway and her home Bøe and her sons allan and karsten, who have preserved the letters and photo- Bjerkebæk, which at the time had been taken over by the Gestapo. for me, the graphs left by Bjerkebæk’s housekeeper, Mathea Mortenstuen Bøe. they also discovery of “the Books that Last forever” was the start of a long and pas- allowed me to examine her large collection of books from Bjerkebæk. research sionate interest in Undset’s writing, her life story, and eventually also her home. librarian tone Modalsli at the Norwegian National Library has kept me I thought it was only natural to view these three facets together – rather like a informed about acquisitions to the Manuscript Collection during the past few handshake, a hand, and a glove, to use one of Undset’s own images. years. especially intriguing were the letters that Sigrid Undset wrote to Mar- this book has two goals. first, I want to present some of the source materi- jorie kinnan rawlings in the years after the war. jarle Bragelien had the pre- als that I’ve gathered over the past years, both through my work with the sence of mind to bring home to Norway copies of a collection of letters that Sigrid Undset Society, which I headed for five years after its founding in 1997, Sigrid Undset wrote to Magny Landstad-jensen in the United States. a special and through my work documenting the Bjerkebæk site history from 1998 until thank you to Harald Bentzen and tore Skille for their patient assistance, useful 2003. for this reason, I have largely made use of letters and photographs that comments, and steadfast support. have not been used in earlier Undset biographies. Second, I want to offer a portrait of Undset in stereo. My work with the physical estate and the bio- Nan Bentzen Skille graphical materials has been very enriching for me, as I have attempted to “read” the values and attitudes expressed in the artist’s home along with the story of her life. 6 ) inside the gate foreword One day in 1979, when I was working at the University Library in Bergen, my My thanks to Maihaugen, the Sandvig Collections, and the friends of Maihau- colleague Maya thee showed me something she had found in one of the old gen, who awarded me the anders Sandvig Museum Stipend in 2000, and to boxes stored on the fifth floor. It was a yellowed issue of The New York Times eckbos Legater for additional financial support. thank you to all who have Book Review from 1943 which contained an article by Sigrid Undset entitled contributed to this book by providing access to Undset materials that have not “the Books that Last forever.” She had written the essay at the Hotel Mar- been previously known. Some of the new source material came from Susanna garet in Brooklyn while her thoughts were on occupied Norway and her home Bøe and her sons allan and karsten, who have preserved the letters and photo- Bjerkebæk, which at the time had been taken over by the Gestapo. for me, the graphs left by Bjerkebæk’s housekeeper, Mathea Mortenstuen Bøe. they also discovery of “the Books that Last forever” was the start of a long and pas- allowed me to examine her large collection of books from Bjerkebæk. research sionate interest in Undset’s writing, her life story, and eventually also her home. librarian tone Modalsli at the Norwegian National Library has kept me I thought it was only natural to view these three facets together – rather like a informed about acquisitions to the Manuscript Collection during the past few handshake, a hand, and a glove, to use one of Undset’s own images. years. especially intriguing were the letters that Sigrid Undset wrote to Mar- this book has two goals. first, I want to present some of the source materi- jorie kinnan rawlings in the years after the war. jarle Bragelien had the pre- als that I’ve gathered over the past years, both through my work with the sence of mind to bring home to Norway copies of a collection of letters that Sigrid Undset Society, which I headed for five years after its founding in 1997, Sigrid Undset wrote to Magny Landstad-jensen in the United States. a special and through my work documenting the Bjerkebæk site history from 1998 until thank you to Harald Bentzen and tore Skille for their patient assistance, useful 2003. for this reason, I have largely made use of letters and photographs that comments, and steadfast support. have not been used in earlier Undset biographies. Second, I want to offer a portrait of Undset in stereo. My work with the physical estate and the bio- Nan Bentzen Skille graphical materials has been very enriching for me, as I have attempted to “read” the values and attitudes expressed in the artist’s home along with the story of her life. 6 ) inside the gate Lillehammer Station – disembark on the right The train from Kristiania arrives daily in Lillehammer at 4:42 p.m. and 8:05 p.m. this small announcement was regularly printed in Lillehammer’s local news- paper during the summer of 1919. at the main train station in kristiania (now Oslo), the northbound passengers prepared for departure. the locomotive spouted a few tentative clouds of white steam and slowly but surely began moving away from the platform. It chugged along, one kilometer after another, past apartment blocks and wooden houses with gingerbread trim, sawmills and iron foundries, stands of Norway pine and fields of grain, medieval churches and small farms. the train passed the paddle steamer on Lake Mjøsa, and after 180 kilometers it finally slowed and then came to rest at the small town of Lillehammer. each day livery drivers and local residents came to the station to pick up goods and guests, because during this particular summer the traffic to the val- ley town was busier than it had been in a long time. after four terrible years of war in europe and everything the fighting had entailed – including high prices, shortages, reckless speculation in stocks, and bitter financial losses – life had finally settled into a regular routine again. But as the world war came to an end, the Spanish flu epidemic struck, and tuberculosis was still raging without mercy. It was tempting for many Norwegians to turn their backs on the capital, with Lillehammer Station. lillehammer station C 9 Lillehammer Station – disembark on the right The train from Kristiania arrives daily in Lillehammer at 4:42 p.m. and 8:05 p.m. this small announcement was regularly printed in Lillehammer’s local news- paper during the summer of 1919. at the main train station in kristiania (now Oslo), the northbound passengers prepared for departure. the locomotive spouted a few tentative clouds of white steam and slowly but surely began moving away from the platform. It chugged along, one kilometer after another, past apartment blocks and wooden houses with gingerbread trim, sawmills and iron foundries, stands of Norway pine and fields of grain, medieval churches and small farms. the train passed the paddle steamer on Lake Mjøsa, and after 180 kilometers it finally slowed and then came to rest at the small town of Lillehammer. each day livery drivers and local residents came to the station to pick up goods and guests, because during this particular summer the traffic to the val- ley town was busier than it had been in a long time. after four terrible years of war in europe and everything the fighting had entailed – including high prices, shortages, reckless speculation in stocks, and bitter financial losses – life had finally settled into a regular routine again. But as the world war came to an end, the Spanish flu epidemic struck, and tuberculosis was still raging without mercy. It was tempting for many Norwegians to turn their backs on the capital, with Lillehammer Station. lillehammer station C 9
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