Sigrid Undset, Life and Works
Norgwegian Novelist, 1928 Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature
Biography of Sigrid Undset, one of the greatest Norwegian writers of the 20th century.
Sigrid Undset is regarded as one of the greatest Norwegian novelists of the twentieth century. In 1928, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in recognition of her contribution to literature. She is best known for Kristin Lavransdatter, a trilogy about Scandinavian life during the Middle Ages. .
Early Life
Sigrid Undset was born on May 20, 1882, in Kalundborg, Denmark, the daughter of Ingvald Martin Undset and Charlotte Gyth. Her father was a Norwegian archeologist from whom she derived a keen interest in historical Norway and the country's legends and folklore. The family moved to Norway when she was only two years old.
When she was 11, her father died. Undset eventually got a secretarial job in an office when she was 16 years old, work she did for 10 years. During this time Undset became seriously concerned about the status of women in society and she decided to write about it. Her work experiences proved valuable, providing her excellent material.
The Writing Years
At the age of 25 she published her first novel, Mrs. Marta Oulie. Fours years later she published her third novel, Jenny, about the story of a promising young artist who commits suicide. This book created a storm at the time. About this time, she was 30 and got married to an Norwegian artist, Anders Castus Svarstad, and they had three children. The marriage was not a happy one, and they eventually divorced after seven years, in 1919.
The novels that followed included a trilogy, three-volume historical stories of Medieval Norway during the Middle Ages. The first of which, Kristin Lavransdatter, is a dramatic story of love and religion in 14th-century Norway. This is usually considered her masterpiece. Later she became a Roman Catholic and turned to writing books in a realistic contemporary setting that reflect her new attitudes to life and deepening interest in religion.
Last Years: Exile to US, and Return to Norway
During World War II Unset, who was an outspoken critic of the Nazis, had to flee from Nazi-occupied Norway to the US in 1940. While in America she lectured and wrote in support of her much-abused country and its exiled government. She returned to Norway at the end of World War II in 1945. She died a few years later, in June 10, 1949.
Major Works by Sigrid Undset
- Mrs. Marla Oulie, 1907
- Gunnar's Daughter, 1909
- Jenny, 1911
- Kristin Lavransdatter, 1920-1927
- The Master of Hestviken, 1925-1927
- The Wild Orchid, 1929
- The Burnihg Bush, 1930
- The Longest Years, 1934
- The Faithful Wife, 1936
- Madame Dorthea, 1939
Sources:
Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring (1994)
Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers, 2002
