Novel
Hellemyrsfolket
Not translated into English
Amalie Skram · 1898
Opening lines
I Hellen en halv Mil nordenfor Bergen, regnet efter gammeldags Længdemaal, levede for omtrent 60 Aar siden en Bondemand ved Navn Sjur Gabriel. Gaarden han ejed var saa ussel at se til, at den mest ligned en Udmark, og Huset han bodde i ikke større end en Pladshytte.
At Hellen, half a Norwegian mile north of Bergen, reckoned by the old measure of length, there lived some 60 years ago a farmer by the name of Sjur Gabriel. The farm he owned was so wretched to look at that it was more like rough outlying land, and the house he lived in was no bigger than a cottar's hut.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from nb.no
Synopsis
Near Bergen, Sjur Gabriel and Oline live wretchedly on the Hellemyren farm with their children: she drinks, he beats her, and the district takes them for drunkards. The name Hellemyr becomes a shame that later generations carry with them. Their grandson Sivert, who blushes at the sight of his grandmother staggering through the streets of Bergen, goes to sea to escape her, then becomes a clerk with a merchant and seeks to rise in the world. His children, Severin and Fie, in turn grow up in the shadow of this origin.
Context
The cycle comprises four novels, published from 1887 to 1898: Sjur Gabriel, To venner, S. G. Myre and Afkom, the last of which gives the line its year. It follows a poor family from the Bergen region over four generations, from the countryside to the city, and Forfatterweb reads in it the pessimism of naturalism: one becomes what one was born to be. Gunnar Staalesen made an eight-hour stage adaptation of it in 1992. Luce Hinsch gave the French translation, from Gaïa, in 2003 and 2004.
Who it is for
Nearly a thousand pages in French, divided into three volumes, in which poverty and alcohol are shown without softening.
Prizes and reception
Its author's major work, whose adaptation by Gunnar Staalesen in 1992 confirmed its standing in Norway.
Sources for this page 4
The pages consulted to check this page.