The People of Juvik
Encyclopedia
The People of Juvik is a series of six
historical novel
s by Norwegian
author
Olav Duun
. The books chronicle the lives of the Juvikings, an old Norwegian landowning
peasant
family living in the Namdal
valley. The series covers six or seven generations of Juvikings, starting with Per Anders Juvika, the last of the old style Juvikings, and ending with Per and Anders, the sons of Odin Setran, Per Anders' great-great-great grandfather. The first novel, The Trough of the Wave (Juvikingar in Norwegian), starts out at Juvik, a fictional farm in the Namdal, but moves to Haaberg when Per Anders' son Per leaves his ancestral lands and buys his sister's late husband's farm. The first three books follow the Juvikings from the 18th century to the late 19th; the final three follow the childhood, life and eventually death of Odin.
The six novels were originally published in Norway between 1918 and 1923. They were later translated by Arthur G. Chater into English, and published by Alfred Knopf
in America between 1930 and 1935.
, an amalgam of peasant dialects that developed into Nynorsk
, one of the official languages of Norway
. Many of his books incorporate the dialects of his subjects: peasants, fishermen and farmers. His novels analyze the psychological and spiritual characteristics of rural, peasant life. The dialogue of Duun's characters is often very light and earthy, and often a single paragraph will contain the speech of multiple characters, separated by a dash. In contrast, Duun's descriptions of nature and of landscapes are lyrical and beautiful, often including personifications of places or natural forces.
winning author Sigrid Undset
, who considered Duun to be Norway's greatest writer. However, his unique usage of landsmål
has perhaps limited his influence outside of Norway.
, where he buys the farm of Haaberg from a widowed sister. As Jens prefers the roving life the old farm of Juvik goes to a younger sister, who has married beneath her. Henceforward the home of the Juvikings is Haaberg. Per dies before he has got the farm into shape, leaving two sons, Anders and Petter.
blood and a former sweetheart of Petter. To marry a Lapp is a disgrace in itself, but worse than this is to come. Misfortunes fall on Engdal and on others in the parish, while Haaberg is suspiciously lucky. The neighbors put this down to Lapp sorcery, and Anders has sufficient belief in this to turn Solvi out of his house and pack her and their child off to her father’s cabin. Petter starts a rock-slide which falls on Solvi’s boat, drowning her and the child. Anders does not know how to take this: he wished the rocks to fall and has a certain sense of guilt. But he succeeds in putting it out of his mind; the farm prospers; after Engdal’s early death Anders marries Massi and they have a large family. In middle age Anders’s sight begins to fail; he tries a remedy of his own — hot tar — and becomes totally blind. Per, the hope of the family, dies young; Jens, the second son, shows the roving tendency of his namesake of two generations back and goes to America. The youngest, Ola, is something of a scholar and of little use in practical life; he becomes parish clerk. One daughter, Gjartru, marries an ex-sergeant named Arnesen and they keep a store at Segelsund, down on the fjord. The other daughter, Aasel, marries a man from the South, and it is left for her to carry on the family and the farm of Haaberg.
very soon after taking over Haaberg; he leaves a daughter, Astri.
by trade, who emigrates
to America before the boy is born. In Odin in Fairyland we have the story of his childhood. When he is seven years old his mother marries a farmer named Iver Vennestad, and Odin is put out to serve as herd-boy on a small holding called Kjelvik. The people there, Bendek and Gurianna, are kind to him, and he has many adventures as he discovers the world around him. His father returns from America and asks if Odin would like to go and live with him, but the boy prefers to stay at Kjelvik. Now there are certain secrets in Bendek’s life which are best let alone, and when Odin stumbles upon one of these the old man flies into a rage and turns him out of the house on a stormy Christmas night. Odin reaches Vennestad more dead than alive, and his mother and stepfather keep him there. Till one day Gurianna comes over with the news that Bendek is ill and wishes to see Odin. The lad at once goes back to Kjelvik and stays there till Bendek dies. It is here that we first meet with Lauris, who is destined to play an all-important part in the books which follow. He is a lad four years older than Odin, and a relative of Bendek; a wily rascal who is not above petty thieving. Odin with his generous nature is no unfriendly to Lauris, though he feels from the first that some day he will have to come to grips with him. Otte Setran, who has been carrying on his trade in the neighborhood, is suspected of having set fire to his cottage for the insurance money, whereupon Odin, whose instinct always prompts him to take the loser’s part, volunteers to go and live with him. In the last scene of this book Odin is overtaken by a storm while rowing a girl called Ingri Arnesen across the fjord. The boat capsizes and they are rescued with difficulty.
producing herring
oil, which is owned in shares by several men in the parish. Facing things like labor strikes
, dissatisfied shareholders, and the ambition of men like Lauris and Engelbert Olsen, Odin works to keep the factory on an even keel. At a meeting of the shareholders, Odin loses his place as the man in charge, replaced by Lauris. Lauris, however soon takes ill and Odin is forced to perform his old job anyway. Meanwhile, Bonsach Arnesen, Ingri's father, is given a management position at the factory, which he soon resigns due to fear that his past (he had served time in jail for a minor crime) would cause Ingri and Odin suffering. Meanwhile, Lauris and Engelbert work at a plot to discredit Odin in the eyes of the parish. Engelbert attempts to spread gossip about Ingri and her father, which ends in an encounter between he and Odin, in which Odin drives him into the sea. Engelbert washes up on shore the next day, where Lauris persuades him to flee the parish secretly, so that Lauris can charge Odin with murder. Meanwhile, a letter found by Mina of Segelsund upon the suicide
of old Ola Haaberg reveals a minor crime of Lauris', which Mina eventually takes to the sheriff. Because of this, Astri is caught between her feelings of duty and love for Lauris, and her conscious which will not allow her to tell a lie. Astri ultimately decides to tell the truth, and because of this they are spared public embarrassment. In reaction to Lauris' rumors, Odin is determined to kill Lauris, and bides his time. Eventually Astri falls ill, and Odin asks Lauris to go across the fjord to get the doctor. Because of the violent storm, Lauris tries to get out of it, but Odin is insistent. The doctor declines due to the weather, and on the way back to Haaberg the boat is overturned. Odin and Lauris realize that the boat will now only hold one of them, and they fight for survival. Odin wins, and Lauris floats helplessly in the sea. But Odin changes his mind, telling himself that he will not be a murderer. He lets Lauris have the goat, and drifts away supported by the oars. Eventually Odin washes up on shore, having drowned in the storm. At the funeral ale, his friends and family draw two conclusions: firstly, that by giving up his life to save his enemy, Odin had won a victory over Lauris; and secondly, that Lauris had become a different person after the ordeal. The series ends when Anders, Odin's eldest son, takes his mother home after the funeral ale.
Hexalogy
A hexalogy is a compound literary or narrative work that is made up of six distinct works, just as a trilogy is made up of three works, and a tetralogy of four. The word apparently first appeared in English as a borrowing from German, in discussions of August Bungert's Wagnerian opera cycle...
historical novel
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
s by 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...
author
Norwegian literature
Norwegian literature is literature composed in Norway or by Norwegian people. The history of Norwegian literature starts with the pagan Eddaic poems and skaldic verse of the 9th and 10th centuries with poets such as Bragi Boddason and Eyvindr Skáldaspillir...
Olav Duun
Olav Duun
Olav Duun was a noteworthy author of Norwegian fiction. He is generally recognized to be one of the more outstanding writers in Norwegian literature. He once lacked only one vote to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature...
. The books chronicle the lives of the Juvikings, an old Norwegian landowning
Ancient Norwegian property laws
Two Norwegian property laws, which are so ancient that the time of their enactment is lost, govern Norwegian property. These are the Åsetesrett , and the Odelsrett ....
peasant
Norwegian farm culture
The Norwegian farm culture was a rural movement unique in values and practices which assumed a form in Viking Age Norway, and continued with little change into the age of firearms - and in many respects even to the early 20th century...
family living in the Namdal
Namdalen
Namdalen is a traditional district in the central part of Norway, consisting of the municipalities Namsos, Grong, Overhalla, Røyrvik, Fosnes, Nærøy, Høylandet, Namdalseid, Flatanger, Lierne, Leka, Namsskogan, and Vikna, all in Nord-Trøndelag county. The district has two towns: Kolvereid and Namsos...
valley. The series covers six or seven generations of Juvikings, starting with Per Anders Juvika, the last of the old style Juvikings, and ending with Per and Anders, the sons of Odin Setran, Per Anders' great-great-great grandfather. The first novel, The Trough of the Wave (Juvikingar in Norwegian), starts out at Juvik, a fictional farm in the Namdal, but moves to Haaberg when Per Anders' son Per leaves his ancestral lands and buys his sister's late husband's farm. The first three books follow the Juvikings from the 18th century to the late 19th; the final three follow the childhood, life and eventually death of Odin.
The six novels were originally published in Norway between 1918 and 1923. They were later translated by Arthur G. Chater into English, and published by Alfred Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House. The publishing house is known for its borzoi trademark , which was designed by co-founder...
in America between 1930 and 1935.
Style
Duun was known as one of the outstanding writers of 20th-century Norwegian fiction. He stands as a remarkable synthesis of the Norwegian folk spirit and the European cultural form. Duun wrote in LandsmålLandsmål
Landsmål, meaning "language of the land/country", was the name Ivar Aasen gave the Norwegian orthography he created in the 19th century. In 1885 it was adopted as an official language in Norway alongside Danish. In 1929, Landsmål was renamed Nynorsk...
, an amalgam of peasant dialects that developed into Nynorsk
Nynorsk
Nynorsk or New Norwegian is one of two official written standards for the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. The standard language was created by Ivar Aasen during the mid-19th century, to provide a Norwegian alternative to the Danish language which was commonly written in Norway at the...
, one of the official languages of Norway
Languages of Norway
There are a large number of languages spoken in Norway. Of these, the Norwegian language is the most widely spoken and the main official language of the country.-Norwegian:...
. Many of his books incorporate the dialects of his subjects: peasants, fishermen and farmers. His novels analyze the psychological and spiritual characteristics of rural, peasant life. The dialogue of Duun's characters is often very light and earthy, and often a single paragraph will contain the speech of multiple characters, separated by a dash. In contrast, Duun's descriptions of nature and of landscapes are lyrical and beautiful, often including personifications of places or natural forces.
Influence
Olav Duun is thought to be one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Among those influenced by his work was Nobel PrizeNobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winning author Sigrid Undset
Sigrid Undset
Sigrid Undset was a Norwegian novelist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928.-Biography:Undset was born in Kalundborg, Denmark, but her family moved to Norway when she was two years old. In 1924, she converted to Catholicism and became a lay Dominican...
, who considered Duun to be Norway's greatest writer. However, his unique usage of landsmål
Landsmål
Landsmål, meaning "language of the land/country", was the name Ivar Aasen gave the Norwegian orthography he created in the 19th century. In 1885 it was adopted as an official language in Norway alongside Danish. In 1929, Landsmål was renamed Nynorsk...
has perhaps limited his influence outside of Norway.
The Trough of the Wave
The Trough of the Wave (Juvikingar), originally published in Norway in 1918, was translated and published in America in 1930. The story opens in the first years of the nineteenth century with Per Anders, the last of the old-timers, one who fears neither man nor devil and laughs at the superstitions of his womenfolk. He is disappointed in his sons; Jens, the elder, has all the ruthlessness of his race, but none of their steadying qualities. Per is steady enough, but weak and troubled with an uneasy conscience. He and his brother have chased a thief into the sea, and the thought of this ugly deed pursues Per as long as he lives. On the death of the old man the family breaks up. Per moves to the other side of the fjordFjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...
, where he buys the farm of Haaberg from a widowed sister. As Jens prefers the roving life the old farm of Juvik goes to a younger sister, who has married beneath her. Henceforward the home of the Juvikings is Haaberg. Per dies before he has got the farm into shape, leaving two sons, Anders and Petter.
The Blind Man
The Blind Man (I blinda), published in Norway in 1919 and in America in 1931, deals with Anders. In each generation there is a capable man and a ne’er-do-well. Anders has many of the Juvikings’ best qualities, together with a strong dose of obstinacy. Petter is a spiteful sneak, with just too little backbone to be a thoroughly bad man. He tries his elder brother sorely, and Anders is very patient with him. Anders is in love with Massi Liness, but when she marries his friend Ola Engdal, he takes as his wife, Solvi, a girl of LappSami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
blood and a former sweetheart of Petter. To marry a Lapp is a disgrace in itself, but worse than this is to come. Misfortunes fall on Engdal and on others in the parish, while Haaberg is suspiciously lucky. The neighbors put this down to Lapp sorcery, and Anders has sufficient belief in this to turn Solvi out of his house and pack her and their child off to her father’s cabin. Petter starts a rock-slide which falls on Solvi’s boat, drowning her and the child. Anders does not know how to take this: he wished the rocks to fall and has a certain sense of guilt. But he succeeds in putting it out of his mind; the farm prospers; after Engdal’s early death Anders marries Massi and they have a large family. In middle age Anders’s sight begins to fail; he tries a remedy of his own — hot tar — and becomes totally blind. Per, the hope of the family, dies young; Jens, the second son, shows the roving tendency of his namesake of two generations back and goes to America. The youngest, Ola, is something of a scholar and of little use in practical life; he becomes parish clerk. One daughter, Gjartru, marries an ex-sergeant named Arnesen and they keep a store at Segelsund, down on the fjord. The other daughter, Aasel, marries a man from the South, and it is left for her to carry on the family and the farm of Haaberg.
The Big Wedding
The date of The Big Wedding (Storbybryllope, published in Norway in 1920 and in America in 1931) is about 1880. Blind Anders is still alive, well over seventy. The Arnesens have a daughter, Mina, who is engaged to Arthur Ween, son of the local vet. Aasel’s son, Peder, is to take over Haaberg on finding a suitable wife. One of his cousins at Juvik is with child by him, but his mother does not think her good enough and gets the girl to relinquish her claim. Ola has been courting Andrea Ween, Arthur’s sister, in a half-hearted way; piqued by his backwardness she throws him over and accepts his nephew Peder. The double wedding, Mina’s and Peder’s, is celebrated at Haaberg. Uncle Jens arrives on a visit from America, where he has made money. In the middle of the festivities Petter plays a last prank on his blind brother and it results in the death of Anders. Arnesen, who has been speculating in herrings, learns that he is ruined. He and Gjartru go to America with Jens. Peder dies of consumptionTuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
very soon after taking over Haaberg; he leaves a daughter, Astri.
Odin in Fairyland
Originally released in Norway as I eventyre (literally, "in a fairytale") in 1921, and in America in 1933, the fourth book begins the story of Odin Setran which occupies the remaining three books. Ola Haaberg, the parish clerk, had always been looking for “him who should come,” a scion of the race who should inherit the virtues of the old Juvikings and as it were justify the whole family. Odin is the one who fulfills this hope. He is the illegitimate son of Aasel’s daughter Elen, by one Otte Setran, a joinerJoiner
A joiner differs from a carpenter in that joiners cut and fit joints in wood that do not use nails. Joiners usually work in a workshop since the formation of various joints generally requires non-portable machinery. A carpenter normally works on site...
by trade, who emigrates
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
to America before the boy is born. In Odin in Fairyland we have the story of his childhood. When he is seven years old his mother marries a farmer named Iver Vennestad, and Odin is put out to serve as herd-boy on a small holding called Kjelvik. The people there, Bendek and Gurianna, are kind to him, and he has many adventures as he discovers the world around him. His father returns from America and asks if Odin would like to go and live with him, but the boy prefers to stay at Kjelvik. Now there are certain secrets in Bendek’s life which are best let alone, and when Odin stumbles upon one of these the old man flies into a rage and turns him out of the house on a stormy Christmas night. Odin reaches Vennestad more dead than alive, and his mother and stepfather keep him there. Till one day Gurianna comes over with the news that Bendek is ill and wishes to see Odin. The lad at once goes back to Kjelvik and stays there till Bendek dies. It is here that we first meet with Lauris, who is destined to play an all-important part in the books which follow. He is a lad four years older than Odin, and a relative of Bendek; a wily rascal who is not above petty thieving. Odin with his generous nature is no unfriendly to Lauris, though he feels from the first that some day he will have to come to grips with him. Otte Setran, who has been carrying on his trade in the neighborhood, is suspected of having set fire to his cottage for the insurance money, whereupon Odin, whose instinct always prompts him to take the loser’s part, volunteers to go and live with him. In the last scene of this book Odin is overtaken by a storm while rowing a girl called Ingri Arnesen across the fjord. The boat capsizes and they are rescued with difficulty.
Odin Grows Up
Published in Norway as I ungdommen (literally, "in youth") in 1922, Odin Grows Up was released in America in 1934. This penultimate book in the saga of the Juvikings finds Odin a little grown up, out of his "fairyland", but still in the midst of youth and innocence. He falls in love with his cousin, Astri, but their respective parents fall in love with each other and ruin their prospects as a couple. Odin at first wants to fight for their happiness, but Astri gives up on their chances and actually encourages the older couple to marry. In the face of this devastating turn of events, Odin leaves the farm at Haaberg and joins his old sometimes friend, sometimes enemy, Lauris, at sea. The two sail the Northern seas for a while, fishing for and selling herring, but business is little to Odin's taste. Odin becomes exposed to Lauris' womanizing, and feels even less inclined to it. After a long time, he returns to Haaberg, only to find his father and Astri's mother ready to marry. Odin, however does not fight for her now, even though Astri now hopes that he will. Faced with this mutual disappointment, the couple drift apart, each going their separate ways in life. Astri somehow becomes romantically involved with Lauris, and the two marry, despite his proven unfaithfulness in the past. Meanwhile, Aasel, the eldest living Juviking, wonders what to do with Haaberg since none of her grandchildren show promise of producing a satisfying heir. She decides to divine the farm into three portions, selling one to Odin, one to Astri and the other to a stranger who is actually working for Lauris. Astri and Lauris, as well as old Ola, are against dividing the farm, though Odin finally supports it as it is Aasel's wish. Aasel soon passes away, and at her funeral ale Odin decides to establish a poorhouse, which he believes to have been Aasel's will, and attempts to convince his friends and neighbors to help him in this endeavour, though he is opposed again by Ola Haaberg and Astri. Finally, Odin reunites with a girl he has met once before—at the end of Odin in Fairyland -- Ingri Arnesen, who he recognizes as the girl of his childhood dreams. The book ends with Odin and Ingri together, having decided to face the world together.The Storm
The Storm (I stormen), published in Norway in 1923 and in America in 1935, covers the later life, and eventually death, of Odin Setran. Odin and Ingri have been married for about twenty years now, and have had two sons, Anders and Per. Lauris and Astri, too, have two children: Arne and Peder. The two couples both live on Haaberg, which has been separated into thirds; Odin owns a third, and Lauris the other two-thirds, which he obtained through trickery. In the interval years between Odin Grows Up and this novel, Odin has started up a factoryFactory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
producing herring
Herring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
oil, which is owned in shares by several men in the parish. Facing things like labor strikes
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
, dissatisfied shareholders, and the ambition of men like Lauris and Engelbert Olsen, Odin works to keep the factory on an even keel. At a meeting of the shareholders, Odin loses his place as the man in charge, replaced by Lauris. Lauris, however soon takes ill and Odin is forced to perform his old job anyway. Meanwhile, Bonsach Arnesen, Ingri's father, is given a management position at the factory, which he soon resigns due to fear that his past (he had served time in jail for a minor crime) would cause Ingri and Odin suffering. Meanwhile, Lauris and Engelbert work at a plot to discredit Odin in the eyes of the parish. Engelbert attempts to spread gossip about Ingri and her father, which ends in an encounter between he and Odin, in which Odin drives him into the sea. Engelbert washes up on shore the next day, where Lauris persuades him to flee the parish secretly, so that Lauris can charge Odin with murder. Meanwhile, a letter found by Mina of Segelsund upon the suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
of old Ola Haaberg reveals a minor crime of Lauris', which Mina eventually takes to the sheriff. Because of this, Astri is caught between her feelings of duty and love for Lauris, and her conscious which will not allow her to tell a lie. Astri ultimately decides to tell the truth, and because of this they are spared public embarrassment. In reaction to Lauris' rumors, Odin is determined to kill Lauris, and bides his time. Eventually Astri falls ill, and Odin asks Lauris to go across the fjord to get the doctor. Because of the violent storm, Lauris tries to get out of it, but Odin is insistent. The doctor declines due to the weather, and on the way back to Haaberg the boat is overturned. Odin and Lauris realize that the boat will now only hold one of them, and they fight for survival. Odin wins, and Lauris floats helplessly in the sea. But Odin changes his mind, telling himself that he will not be a murderer. He lets Lauris have the goat, and drifts away supported by the oars. Eventually Odin washes up on shore, having drowned in the storm. At the funeral ale, his friends and family draw two conclusions: firstly, that by giving up his life to save his enemy, Odin had won a victory over Lauris; and secondly, that Lauris had become a different person after the ordeal. The series ends when Anders, Odin's eldest son, takes his mother home after the funeral ale.