Rosapenna is a novel published in 1983 by the Norwegian

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

 writer Ola Bauer

Ola Bauer

Ola Bauer was a Norwegian novelist and playwright. He made his literary debut with the novel Graffiti in 1976, under the pseudonym Jo Vendt. Among his best known books are Humlehjertene , Rosapenna , and Metoden . Bauer was awarded Gyldendal's Endowment in 1982, and the Dobloug Prize in 1998...

. The book introduced Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 and Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 into Norwegian literature.

Context

The novel is the fourth in a series about the character "Jo Vendt". The first book, Bauer's debut novel Graffiti published in 1976 under the pseudonym Jo Vendt, describes the principal character's tough childhood as a dropout sent to schools for misfit children. The next novel, Bulk (1978), describes "Jo"
as a sailor with a background from a debauched life in Oslo. Humlehjertene

Humlehjertene

Humlehjertene is a novel published in 1980 by the Norwegian writer Ola Bauer. The narrator travels to Paris, falls in love with the Finnish girl "Marja", and ends up on the barricades with paving stones in his hands. As a former journalist Bauer had been in Paris during the May 1968 events...

from 1980 is about the anarchist "Jo Vendt" who travels to Paris in 1968, falls in love with a Finnish girl, and ends up on the barricades with paving stones in his hands.

Plot

The focus in Rosapenna is the conflict in Northern Ireland, which "Jo Vendt" is covering as a journalist. Other central characters in the novel are the English soldier "Sammy Jenkins", who has a background as a poor boy from Whitechapel

Whitechapel

Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...

, and the poor IRA girl "Brigid Doherty". The novel is set in 1973. "Vendt" has been instructed to cover the conflict from a pro British point of view, and is prepared to satisfy the editor in this respect, and to write about James Joyce

James Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...

 and Brendan Behan

Brendan Behan

Brendan Francis Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. He was also an Irish republican and a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army.-Early life:...

 from the cultural side. He eventually gets in contact with IRA

Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

 people in Ardoyne

Ardoyne

Ardoyne is an Irish nationalist, working class and mainly Catholic district in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. It gained notoriety due to the large number of incidents during "The Troubles". It is home to approximately 20,000 inhabitants...

, an Irish Nationalist district of North Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

, and move in with a family in the ghetto The Bone. From then on he is on a collision course with his newspaper editor. He becomes disgusted with the misrepresented reports delivered by the journalist corps, and tries to understand the underlying reasons for the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Play version

An episode from Rosapenna was adapted into the audio play Vesper, produced for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation theatre Radioteatret

Radioteatret

Radioteatret is a department of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation which produces audio plays for radio broadcasting. It was established in 1927.-Directors:...

and printed in 1987.