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Lykkelige Dage
"Happy Times""in Norway" is a moving and delicately humorous picture of Undset's own blissful home life before her nation fell to the Nazi occupation. Captured here is the excitement of a Norwegian Christmas, the Seventeenth of May, and summer in the idyllic mountains, as well as the chaotic adventure of raising two energetic boys. With vivid detail and illuminating descriptions of the landscape, "Happy Times in Norway" is infused with the wish that those cherished days could come again.
159 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1908
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About the author
Sigrid Undset
275 books883 followersSigrid Undset was a Norwegian novelist whose powerful, psychologically rich works made her one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century. Best known for her medieval sagas Kristin Lavransdatter and The Master of Hestviken, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1928 for her vivid portrayals of life in the Middle Ages, written with remarkable historical detail and emotional depth.
Born in Denmark to Norwegian parents, Undset spent most of her life in Norway. After her father's early death, she had to forgo formal education and worked as a secretary while writing in her spare time. Her debut novel Fru Marta Oulie (1907) shocked readers with its opening confession of adultery and established her bold, realist style. In early works like ,i>Jenny (1911), she explored modern women's struggles with love, freedom, and morality, often critiquing romantic idealism and social expectations.
Though she gained recognition for her contemporary novels, Undset felt increasingly drawn to historical fiction. This shift led to her masterwork Kristin Lavransdatter, a trilogy published from 1920 to 1922, which follows the life of a woman in 14th-century Norway as she navigates love, faith, motherhood, and spiritual growth. With its intricate character development and deep moral themes, the trilogy brought her international acclaim and remains a cornerstone of Scandinavian literature.
In 1924, Undset converted to Roman Catholicism, a profound personal decision that shaped her later writing. Her tetralogy,i>The Master of Hestviken (1925–1927) centers on a man burdened by unconfessed guilt, offering a deeply spiritual and psychological portrait of sin and redemption. Her Catholic faith and concern with ethical questions became central to her work and public life.
A vocal critic of both communism and fascism, Undset fled Norway after the Nazi invasion in 1940. Her books were banned by the occupying regime, and she lived in exile in the United States during the war, advocating for Norway and the Allied cause. The loss of her son in the war deeply affected her, and although she returned home after the war, she published little in her final years.
Undset’s legacy rests not only on her historical novels but also on her fearless exploration of conscience, duty, and the human condition. Her characters—especially her women—are fully realized, flawed, and emotionally complex. Her writing combines psychological insight with stylistic clarity and spiritual depth, making her work enduringly relevant and widely read.
Born in Denmark to Norwegian parents, Undset spent most of her life in Norway. After her father's early death, she had to forgo formal education and worked as a secretary while writing in her spare time. Her debut novel Fru Marta Oulie (1907) shocked readers with its opening confession of adultery and established her bold, realist style. In early works like ,i>Jenny (1911), she explored modern women's struggles with love, freedom, and morality, often critiquing romantic idealism and social expectations.
Though she gained recognition for her contemporary novels, Undset felt increasingly drawn to historical fiction. This shift led to her masterwork Kristin Lavransdatter, a trilogy published from 1920 to 1922, which follows the life of a woman in 14th-century Norway as she navigates love, faith, motherhood, and spiritual growth. With its intricate character development and deep moral themes, the trilogy brought her international acclaim and remains a cornerstone of Scandinavian literature.
In 1924, Undset converted to Roman Catholicism, a profound personal decision that shaped her later writing. Her tetralogy,i>The Master of Hestviken (1925–1927) centers on a man burdened by unconfessed guilt, offering a deeply spiritual and psychological portrait of sin and redemption. Her Catholic faith and concern with ethical questions became central to her work and public life.
A vocal critic of both communism and fascism, Undset fled Norway after the Nazi invasion in 1940. Her books were banned by the occupying regime, and she lived in exile in the United States during the war, advocating for Norway and the Allied cause. The loss of her son in the war deeply affected her, and although she returned home after the war, she published little in her final years.
Undset’s legacy rests not only on her historical novels but also on her fearless exploration of conscience, duty, and the human condition. Her characters—especially her women—are fully realized, flawed, and emotionally complex. Her writing combines psychological insight with stylistic clarity and spiritual depth, making her work enduringly relevant and widely read.
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August 29, 2024
DI CUI, MA NON PER CUI, SI RIESCE A VIVERE
Kristiania-Christiania, diventata Oslo dal 1924, e la sua baia nel 1905.
L’età felice è quella dove di felicità si ragiona: la si pensa, insegue, attende, la si crede possibile.
Questo avviene nei cosiddetti anni verdi, quelli della giovinezza: quella parte di vita appena fuori dall’adolescenza, prima della maturità. Quando si crede che la vita sia tutta davanti a sé con la sua variegata tavolozza di colori.
Se essere così schematici aiuta.
Le notti bianche del Nord.
Man mano che il tempo passa si diventa esigenti, non è vero? Si creano aspettative nei propri sogni, si accumulano una sull’altra. E alla fine, tutto quello che la vita può offrire è troppo poco. Procediamo soli, non facciamo che guardare in noi stessi, spiamo, esploriamo, poetiamo e sogniamo.
Questa piccola gemma della norvegese premio Nobel (1928) Sigrid Undset è una novella che procede con lunghi scambi di dialogo emozionante, indifferente a indicazioni temporali, ambientata nella capitale norvegese, che all’epoca si chiamava Cristiania.
1908-10: gruppo di famiglia norvegese in un esterno.
Pubblicato nel 1908, con deliziose protagoniste moderne, su tutte forse Charlotte, personaggio abbozzato più che raccontato, ma con segni vivi e incisivi. Giovani donne indipendenti dalla famiglia che libere e irrequiete si dividono tra lavoro d’ufficio o creativo (la protagonista diventa attrice), amore e figli, presente e futuro, perseguimento e attesa.
E come appare ironico il titolo alla luce di un racconto che parla di vita, e quindi di dolore e infelicità, alternati a qualche momento di felicità e molti slanci di ricerca della stessa. Le aspirazioni, i sogni, le vocazioni, e quanto sembra sempre più limitata la realtà. Nostalgia di altro che non sarà mai soddisfatta. Il senso di estraneità che è alla base dell’essere.
Edvard Munch: Inger sulla spiaggia (1889).
Le notti bianche… si vorrebbe viverle tutte, perché arriva presto la mezz’estate, e altrettanto presto poi tutto si spegne. Le foglie ingialliscono per qualche giorno, poi la pioggia le spazza via, e siamo di nuovo a Natale. E subito dopo, da una domenica all’altra ci si accorge, dalla luce, dallo stato delle strade, che la primavera è alle porte. Tornano le nuove foglie, le sere chiare… solo che noi abbiamo un anno in più. E il tempo scorre sopra di noi, e noi rimaniamo lì come cadaveri sott’acqua… non viviamo…
Edvard Munch: La danza della vita (1900).
Kristiania-Christiania, diventata Oslo dal 1924, e la sua baia nel 1905.
L’età felice è quella dove di felicità si ragiona: la si pensa, insegue, attende, la si crede possibile.
Questo avviene nei cosiddetti anni verdi, quelli della giovinezza: quella parte di vita appena fuori dall’adolescenza, prima della maturità. Quando si crede che la vita sia tutta davanti a sé con la sua variegata tavolozza di colori.
Se essere così schematici aiuta.
Le notti bianche del Nord.
Man mano che il tempo passa si diventa esigenti, non è vero? Si creano aspettative nei propri sogni, si accumulano una sull’altra. E alla fine, tutto quello che la vita può offrire è troppo poco. Procediamo soli, non facciamo che guardare in noi stessi, spiamo, esploriamo, poetiamo e sogniamo.
Questa piccola gemma della norvegese premio Nobel (1928) Sigrid Undset è una novella che procede con lunghi scambi di dialogo emozionante, indifferente a indicazioni temporali, ambientata nella capitale norvegese, che all’epoca si chiamava Cristiania.
1908-10: gruppo di famiglia norvegese in un esterno.
Pubblicato nel 1908, con deliziose protagoniste moderne, su tutte forse Charlotte, personaggio abbozzato più che raccontato, ma con segni vivi e incisivi. Giovani donne indipendenti dalla famiglia che libere e irrequiete si dividono tra lavoro d’ufficio o creativo (la protagonista diventa attrice), amore e figli, presente e futuro, perseguimento e attesa.
E come appare ironico il titolo alla luce di un racconto che parla di vita, e quindi di dolore e infelicità, alternati a qualche momento di felicità e molti slanci di ricerca della stessa. Le aspirazioni, i sogni, le vocazioni, e quanto sembra sempre più limitata la realtà. Nostalgia di altro che non sarà mai soddisfatta. Il senso di estraneità che è alla base dell’essere.
Edvard Munch: Inger sulla spiaggia (1889).
Le notti bianche… si vorrebbe viverle tutte, perché arriva presto la mezz’estate, e altrettanto presto poi tutto si spegne. Le foglie ingialliscono per qualche giorno, poi la pioggia le spazza via, e siamo di nuovo a Natale. E subito dopo, da una domenica all’altra ci si accorge, dalla luce, dallo stato delle strade, che la primavera è alle porte. Tornano le nuove foglie, le sere chiare… solo che noi abbiamo un anno in più. E il tempo scorre sopra di noi, e noi rimaniamo lì come cadaveri sott’acqua… non viviamo…
Edvard Munch: La danza della vita (1900).
June 8, 2021
This is a beautiful book, elegantly written yet easy to read; unassuming and simple, yet deeply moving in its nostalgic remembrance of times past and unrecoverable. From the United States Undset writes in exile her memories of happy times in Norway before the German occupation, before the death of her eldest son Anders in defense of his country, before the death of her little daughter Tulla.
Dialogue is woven into the narrative seemlessly, placing the reader into the scene to witness the innocence and tenderness of childhood in those days before the war. The country having been lost to the Germans, the narrative is an answer to the question of what is 'country'. The year, its seasons and its holidays, helps to define the life of men, and gives a structure to the work. Norwegian life, customs, and character emerge from a glimpse at Christmas, the 17th of May, and Summer Vacation in the mountains. There are flashbacks––if we may call them so––to medieval legends and customs and to viking-age Norway that form the backdrop to current Norwegian traditions and character; these are gems woven into the fabric of the text. The landscape is beautifully described; the narrative abounds with illustrations of nature that can be heard, smelled, tasted, felt. For some readers these details are what will make the book most enjoyable, but throughout the memories are made more beautiful by knowledge that they are memories of times past and gone.
This is my first book by Sigrid Undset. I loved it and hope to read those others that take place in medieval times. I hear that those are the ones for which she won the Nobel Prize, and that they are very good. For those already acquainted with Sigrid Undset who want a deeper connection to the writer, this book is a must-have, but I would recommend this book as well to every nostalgic Norwegian, and to all nostalgic souls in general. The awareness that good things are passing, the lament that modernization, though it bring many improvements, has caused many better things to be forgotten is strongly present in Undset's remembrance, and cannot fail also to be present in the reader's understanding of his own days.
While we read the memories of others we ask ourselves what we remember of our past, and what will be remembered of us? Let us use our time to create good and lasting memories.
See also: my review of Gunnar's Daughter, by Sigrid Undset.
Dialogue is woven into the narrative seemlessly, placing the reader into the scene to witness the innocence and tenderness of childhood in those days before the war. The country having been lost to the Germans, the narrative is an answer to the question of what is 'country'. The year, its seasons and its holidays, helps to define the life of men, and gives a structure to the work. Norwegian life, customs, and character emerge from a glimpse at Christmas, the 17th of May, and Summer Vacation in the mountains. There are flashbacks––if we may call them so––to medieval legends and customs and to viking-age Norway that form the backdrop to current Norwegian traditions and character; these are gems woven into the fabric of the text. The landscape is beautifully described; the narrative abounds with illustrations of nature that can be heard, smelled, tasted, felt. For some readers these details are what will make the book most enjoyable, but throughout the memories are made more beautiful by knowledge that they are memories of times past and gone.
This is my first book by Sigrid Undset. I loved it and hope to read those others that take place in medieval times. I hear that those are the ones for which she won the Nobel Prize, and that they are very good. For those already acquainted with Sigrid Undset who want a deeper connection to the writer, this book is a must-have, but I would recommend this book as well to every nostalgic Norwegian, and to all nostalgic souls in general. The awareness that good things are passing, the lament that modernization, though it bring many improvements, has caused many better things to be forgotten is strongly present in Undset's remembrance, and cannot fail also to be present in the reader's understanding of his own days.
While we read the memories of others we ask ourselves what we remember of our past, and what will be remembered of us? Let us use our time to create good and lasting memories.
See also: my review of Gunnar's Daughter, by Sigrid Undset.
January 7, 2023
I started 2022 reading memoirs of one Scandinavian author, Selma Lägerlöf, so it seems poetic that I finished the year reading memoirs of another Scandinavian author, Sigrid Undset. Of course this parallel makes it hard not to compare the two books!
They are both picturesque chronicles of country life in fairly unmodernized, pre-WW2 Sweden and Norway -- accounts so beautiful it makes your heart ache. The narratives progress through the calendar year with its cycles of work and festivity, with descriptions of the natural world and corresponding domestic and agrarian order. The memoirs are a veritable bouquet of customs, people, and landscapes. They offer two of the most delightful windows I've ever encountered into different worlds.
Both books are narrated in the third person, but while Lägerlöf writes about her childhood in Mårbacka (taking place in the late 19th century), Undset is the "Mother" of Happy Times in Norway (set in the 1930s). Probably because of this, Mårbacka is the more nostalgic and lyrical of the two, as we see everything through the enchanted eyes of a young child. Happy Times in Norway, written during the German occupation of Norway in WW2, looks not with rosy glasses but with honest grief at the loss of both the happy times and of Norway itself. The story gives more of a glimpse into the adult world through Undset's adult eyes -- although paradoxically its focus on her three children makes it read like juvenile literature (the edition I borrowed from the library is from the series "Burzoi Books for Young People"). I would read Happy Times in Norway aloud to my children in a few years, but I probably wouldn't do this with Mårbacka, which ends up being a more mature, complicated book and better, I think, read individually at a later age.
(Sidenote: neither book has a cover photo on Goodreads. This annoys me but furnishes yet another parallel between them.)
Enough of the comparisons! Now I'll wrap up with a few highlights from Happy Times in Norway. Sigrid Undset's relationships with her three children -- two of whom had died by the time she wrote it -- are one of the most delightful things about this book. It belongs alongside Maria Von Trapp's memoir for its portrayal of sympathetic motherhood and admirable, good-humored mother-child rapport. We get to glimpse Undset not only as a mother (and a single mother at that) who provides for and cherishes her children but also, often behind the scenes, as hostess, author, and member of her village community who acts in a local play and puts on old clothes to milk cows when the occasion demands. The family's love and care for Tulla, the mentally disabled middle child, is another beautiful thread that runs through the story.
Undset's love for her homeland and its rich history and culture is infectious; her writing doesn't feel manipulative, but I don't think you can read her poignant descriptions without falling head over heels for Norway. I finished the book conceding that I like Norway *almost* as much as Sweden...which is exactly what happened last time I read a book by this author.
They are both picturesque chronicles of country life in fairly unmodernized, pre-WW2 Sweden and Norway -- accounts so beautiful it makes your heart ache. The narratives progress through the calendar year with its cycles of work and festivity, with descriptions of the natural world and corresponding domestic and agrarian order. The memoirs are a veritable bouquet of customs, people, and landscapes. They offer two of the most delightful windows I've ever encountered into different worlds.
Both books are narrated in the third person, but while Lägerlöf writes about her childhood in Mårbacka (taking place in the late 19th century), Undset is the "Mother" of Happy Times in Norway (set in the 1930s). Probably because of this, Mårbacka is the more nostalgic and lyrical of the two, as we see everything through the enchanted eyes of a young child. Happy Times in Norway, written during the German occupation of Norway in WW2, looks not with rosy glasses but with honest grief at the loss of both the happy times and of Norway itself. The story gives more of a glimpse into the adult world through Undset's adult eyes -- although paradoxically its focus on her three children makes it read like juvenile literature (the edition I borrowed from the library is from the series "Burzoi Books for Young People"). I would read Happy Times in Norway aloud to my children in a few years, but I probably wouldn't do this with Mårbacka, which ends up being a more mature, complicated book and better, I think, read individually at a later age.
(Sidenote: neither book has a cover photo on Goodreads. This annoys me but furnishes yet another parallel between them.)
Enough of the comparisons! Now I'll wrap up with a few highlights from Happy Times in Norway. Sigrid Undset's relationships with her three children -- two of whom had died by the time she wrote it -- are one of the most delightful things about this book. It belongs alongside Maria Von Trapp's memoir for its portrayal of sympathetic motherhood and admirable, good-humored mother-child rapport. We get to glimpse Undset not only as a mother (and a single mother at that) who provides for and cherishes her children but also, often behind the scenes, as hostess, author, and member of her village community who acts in a local play and puts on old clothes to milk cows when the occasion demands. The family's love and care for Tulla, the mentally disabled middle child, is another beautiful thread that runs through the story.
Undset's love for her homeland and its rich history and culture is infectious; her writing doesn't feel manipulative, but I don't think you can read her poignant descriptions without falling head over heels for Norway. I finished the book conceding that I like Norway *almost* as much as Sweden...which is exactly what happened last time I read a book by this author.
August 21, 2020
La protagonista di questo breve scritto è la giovanissima Uni, orfana di genitori, che sogna di diventare attrice e allontanarsi dal misero ambiente in cui è costretta a vivere.
Uni fa un lavoro noioso d'ufficio, dal quale ricava una modesta somma; non può, quindi, permettersi di usare il denaro per capricci, scarpe e vestiti eleganti.
Poi l'amore la coglie impreparata, ma Kristian ha idee arretrate rispetto a quelle progressiste di Uni e il fidanzamento naufraga ben presto.
Intanto Uni, al contrario delle altre amiche, riesce a diventare un'attrice, a calcare il palcoscenico e a farsi applaudire dal pubblico, ricevendo anche qualche critica favorevole, ma interiormente non sa se la si possa definire una brava attrice e se quella sia la sua strada.
Un nuovo incontro con Kristina rimette in discussione tutto...
Rispetto alle due saghe medioevali che ho già letto di Sigrid Undset, questo libro mi è piaciuto meno: nonostante una trama accattivante in cui emerga la visione in evoluzione sul ruolo delle donne nella società del primo Novecento, lo trovo frammentario nella narrazione e poco coinvolgente.
Nessuno dei personaggi ha, secondo me, le caratteristiche per restare impresso nella memoria. Li trovo tutti un po' apatici e rassegnati, rispetto alla tematica oggetto della trattazione del romanzo.
Uni fa un lavoro noioso d'ufficio, dal quale ricava una modesta somma; non può, quindi, permettersi di usare il denaro per capricci, scarpe e vestiti eleganti.
Poi l'amore la coglie impreparata, ma Kristian ha idee arretrate rispetto a quelle progressiste di Uni e il fidanzamento naufraga ben presto.
Intanto Uni, al contrario delle altre amiche, riesce a diventare un'attrice, a calcare il palcoscenico e a farsi applaudire dal pubblico, ricevendo anche qualche critica favorevole, ma interiormente non sa se la si possa definire una brava attrice e se quella sia la sua strada.
Un nuovo incontro con Kristina rimette in discussione tutto...
Rispetto alle due saghe medioevali che ho già letto di Sigrid Undset, questo libro mi è piaciuto meno: nonostante una trama accattivante in cui emerga la visione in evoluzione sul ruolo delle donne nella società del primo Novecento, lo trovo frammentario nella narrazione e poco coinvolgente.
Nessuno dei personaggi ha, secondo me, le caratteristiche per restare impresso nella memoria. Li trovo tutti un po' apatici e rassegnati, rispetto alla tematica oggetto della trattazione del romanzo.
October 4, 2015
Denne boka ble skrevet av Undset da hun var i USA under andre verdenskrig. Hun skrev den for å gi amerikanere (og særlig barn) et inntrykk av livet i Norge. I boka skriver hun om episoder i hennes egne barns liv på 1920-tallet, og klarer å gjøre det på en måte som gjør det naturlig å beskrive 17. mai, julefeiring, norske folkeeventyr, forhold mellom byen og landet, skikulturen og andre sider av Norge. Boka er lettlest og informativ, og er dermed bra tilpasset sin målgruppe (amerikanere som er nysgjerrige på Norge). Den gir også et innblikk i Undset som mor.
Boka blir et hakk tristere om man vet at guttungene som hun vier en del tid til er i krig mens hun skriver boka, og en av dem har alt dødd. Dermed er det ikke bare en beretning om norske barn, men en mors kjære minner om hennes avdøde sønn.
Det er en fin liten bok, men neppe noe som er relevant for de fleste (nordmenn) i dag. Er du særlig interessert i Sigrid Undset, eller om livet for barn i 1920-tallet, burde du lese den. Om ikke går du ikke glipp av stort om du hopper over den.
Boka blir et hakk tristere om man vet at guttungene som hun vier en del tid til er i krig mens hun skriver boka, og en av dem har alt dødd. Dermed er det ikke bare en beretning om norske barn, men en mors kjære minner om hennes avdøde sønn.
Det er en fin liten bok, men neppe noe som er relevant for de fleste (nordmenn) i dag. Er du særlig interessert i Sigrid Undset, eller om livet for barn i 1920-tallet, burde du lese den. Om ikke går du ikke glipp av stort om du hopper over den.
May 25, 2013
racconto lungo sulla giovinezza e sulle aspirazioni della giovane uni, impiegata con velleità artistiche che si ritroverà a coronare il proprio sogno di diventare attrice senza però trovare la sperata felicità. delicatamente moderno.
"man mano che il tempo passa si diventa esigenti, non è vero uni? si creano aspettative nei propri sogni, si accumulano l'una sull'altra.
e alla fine, tutto quello che la vita può offrire è troppo poco.
procediamo soli, non facciamo che guardare in noi stessi, spiamo, esploriamo, poetiamo e sogniamo"
"man mano che il tempo passa si diventa esigenti, non è vero uni? si creano aspettative nei propri sogni, si accumulano l'una sull'altra.
e alla fine, tutto quello che la vita può offrire è troppo poco.
procediamo soli, non facciamo che guardare in noi stessi, spiamo, esploriamo, poetiamo e sogniamo"
June 26, 2025
È di una lucidità e di una modernità sconvolgenti. L'autrice, futura vincitrice del premio Nobel, aveva solo 26 anni quando lo pubblicò, nel 1908. E non penso mi abbia fatto così effetto solo perché mi trovo in quella fascia d'età io stessa. Sono curiosa di leggere altro di suo: credo debba essere stata una grande scrittrice.
August 2, 2020
Una giovane donna cerca di farsi strada nel mondo seguendo le sue passioni. Siamo nell'età felice, quella della giovinezza che inizia a costruire il proprio futuro. Siamo nel tempo dei sogni, dell'inseguimento di un ideale di vita che rispecchi a pieno le proprie aspirazioni; quando sentiamo di avere tutta la vita davanti e tempo ed energia per realizzare ciò che vogliamo. C'è Uni che forte e testarda cerca di affermare la propria felicità. A lei si contrappone Charlotte che sente tutto il disagio della vita e si perde in malinconiche riflessioni. In questo libro tutto al femminile, la protagonista cerca faticosamente una via per non perdere sé stessa e sfuggire a una gabbia che la società le impone in quanto donna. Scritto nel 1908, per essere attuale in Italia bisognerebbe aspettare gli anni '60? O meglio i '70? O forse ancora oggi, dove la felicità della donne e la loro realizzazione personale è spesso subordinata al ruolo di madre e moglie. Non c'è niente da fare, su questi temi i paesi nordici sono sempre avanti.
July 2, 2022
Such a good book. This is Sigrid Undset’s memoir of raising her children in a Norwegian village in the 1920s. It’s one of her few books written in English, (and it’s beautifully written) published for an American audience while she was living in New York during WWII. It’s especially poignant because two of her three children had died shortly before she left Norway for the US, and the third had just left New York to go fight in the war.
August 24, 2023
Happy Times in Norway is a memoir published in 1942 and written by Undset while she was an expatriate in New York during the Nazi occupation of Norway. She intended it as a message of hope to her fellow Norwegians, that the charming stories of this book would someday be their life again. Undset wrote this memoir in a style suitable for young readers, presumably so it could be read by a wider audience and also to help accentuate the charm of the memories. The memoir consists of three stories, or vignettes.
Although a memoir of events in Undset’s own family, she writes the vignettes as if they were short stories and in the third person. Her character is referred to as Mother, which is what she is called by her three children during the stories.. The stories also have appearances by Undset family cousins and other locals, especially in the third vignette which involves a different setting than the Undset home.
The first vignette, "Merry Christmas" came through as an authentic and winsome depiction of how a Norwegian family would spend the Christmas holidays. As in many places, it's a multi-day celebration that ends with the Epiphany on Twelfth Night. This one worked well as I enjoyed the family interactions, the lost skier drama and the tone of the story.
The second vignette is “The Seventeenth of May. This is a day of celebration similar to America’s 4th of July and celebrates the date the Constitution was signed in 1833, meant to ensure Norway’s independence. One concern in the story is the preparations for the local version of the “children’s parade” held in many places to celebrate the day.
The third vignette, “Summer Vacation” covers about half the book and goes over several events in the Undset family during the summer holiday in the rural mountainous area.
Undset's descriptive prose does fit with the simpler style she uses in this young person's story. However, in writing so young readers could enjoy it, Undset tells the stories through dialogue accompanied by descriptive narrative, all written simply and clearly and unadorned by any of the psychological insight and commentary she uses in her adult novels to make such characters as Kristin Lavransdatter and Olav Audunssøn come alive. Thus, for me, the vignettes were engaging and pleasant to read but lacked in emotional impact. Presumably, they were more impactful to their intended audience, Norwegians reading them during the Nazi occupation. They also felt more like stories than memoirs.
This is an enjoyable and simple book that had clear, fluid writing. I rate it as 3 stars
Although a memoir of events in Undset’s own family, she writes the vignettes as if they were short stories and in the third person. Her character is referred to as Mother, which is what she is called by her three children during the stories.. The stories also have appearances by Undset family cousins and other locals, especially in the third vignette which involves a different setting than the Undset home.
The first vignette, "Merry Christmas" came through as an authentic and winsome depiction of how a Norwegian family would spend the Christmas holidays. As in many places, it's a multi-day celebration that ends with the Epiphany on Twelfth Night. This one worked well as I enjoyed the family interactions, the lost skier drama and the tone of the story.
The second vignette is “The Seventeenth of May. This is a day of celebration similar to America’s 4th of July and celebrates the date the Constitution was signed in 1833, meant to ensure Norway’s independence. One concern in the story is the preparations for the local version of the “children’s parade” held in many places to celebrate the day.
The third vignette, “Summer Vacation” covers about half the book and goes over several events in the Undset family during the summer holiday in the rural mountainous area.
Undset's descriptive prose does fit with the simpler style she uses in this young person's story. However, in writing so young readers could enjoy it, Undset tells the stories through dialogue accompanied by descriptive narrative, all written simply and clearly and unadorned by any of the psychological insight and commentary she uses in her adult novels to make such characters as Kristin Lavransdatter and Olav Audunssøn come alive. Thus, for me, the vignettes were engaging and pleasant to read but lacked in emotional impact. Presumably, they were more impactful to their intended audience, Norwegians reading them during the Nazi occupation. They also felt more like stories than memoirs.
This is an enjoyable and simple book that had clear, fluid writing. I rate it as 3 stars
May 29, 2025
petite aparté qui a codé ce site de mort ?? aidez vous de chatgpt nan jsais pas ? c'est nul ??
Mise à part ça j'ai adoré ces deux nouvelles, très simple mais on est dedans car l'histoire et les personnages nous parlent. En termes d'écriture j'ai un peu retrouvé Elsa Triolet ! et vous savez (enfin pauline sait) à quel point je l'ai adoré
Mise à part ça j'ai adoré ces deux nouvelles, très simple mais on est dedans car l'histoire et les personnages nous parlent. En termes d'écriture j'ai un peu retrouvé Elsa Triolet ! et vous savez (enfin pauline sait) à quel point je l'ai adoré
October 30, 2023
Le fantastique classique d'octobre dont je parle ici : https://www.maghily.be/?p=6231
Read
November 15, 20243.5 :)
October 20, 2023
Un breve romanzo che ho apprezzato, ma la cui lettura mi ha lasciata tiepida. Non sono riuscita a entrare in sintonia con i giovani protagonisti, ventenni perennemente insoddisfatti e infelici.
Al contrario di altri romanzi brevi che ho letto, qui il numero risicato di pagine mi ha lasciato insoddisfatta, avrei preferito che a trama e personaggi fosse lasciato più spazio. Mi ha lasciato con una sensazione di incompiutezza, quasi avessi letto la bozza di un romanzo ancora da scrivere.
Al contrario di altri romanzi brevi che ho letto, qui il numero risicato di pagine mi ha lasciato insoddisfatta, avrei preferito che a trama e personaggi fosse lasciato più spazio. Mi ha lasciato con una sensazione di incompiutezza, quasi avessi letto la bozza di un romanzo ancora da scrivere.
February 5, 2016
This is a dramatic departure from Undset's usual material. The Nobel prize winning Norwegian authoress is known for her psychologically rich, historically detailed evocations of Norway, namely in the medieval era. This book, her memoir, is set in the early twentieth century, and is written in a simpler, almost childlike style. Undset herself is only barely alluded to, as this book is less a memoir of her own life as it is a memoir of Norway as she remembers it. From the introduction, it appears as if this book was written during her time of exile in America, when the Nazis were occupying her country. Because of this, Undset wanted to preserve the memory of Norway's happy traditions as she remembered them. Sigrid Undset in this book is actually "Mother," who plays only a background role to her children, Hans, Anders and Tulla. The book is divided into three sections, each focused on one of the seasonal or holiday times of the year: Christmas, the 17th of May (Norway's Independence Day), and the summertime trips to the seter, the upland pasture where livestock is taken and cared for during the summer months. This last section is probably the most interesting, and provides the most insight into Undset's own life, though not very much insight. It's interesting to know that these seters were the site of some of Undset's own writing; it's tempting to think that the work which she is depicted as doing in the Gudbrandsdal uplands was Kristin Lavransdatter, itself, the work which earned her the Nobel prize, itself set mostly in Gudbrandsdal. All in all, this is not really a great piece of writing, and will ultimately only end up pleasing those who are very interested in Sigrid Undset and her writing, as I myself am. For any others, one of her medieval sagas are a far better choice, especially if one has never read any of Undset before.
August 6, 2016
This is so unlike Undset's other works that at first I wasn't sure I liked it. I had to let go of my idea of what a Sigrid Undset book should be, and take this little work on its own terms. And once I did that, I liked the book very much. Not much happens in the book; these are merely Undset's memories of life in Norway when her children were young. But how poignant those memories are! When she wrote the book, Norway had been overrun by Nazi Germany. Undset herself had been condemned by the Nazis and faced arrest. She barely escaped, through Norway, Sweden, Russia, Japan, and on into exile in the United States. Her beloved daughter died a year before the Nazi invasion; her older son died fighting for Norway; her younger escaped with her to the U.S. but then returned to Norway to fight. A simple book, but worth reading.
December 26, 2025
Undset captures the lovely family village life in Norway in the 1930s. She is telling of her own life with her children, 2 boys and 1 girl. The book focuses on holidays through the year, beginning with Christmas, then May 17th, Norwegian Independence day, and the summer holidays spent in the mountains. Wonderful descriptions of food and customs, intermingled with folktales to explain the meaning behind some customs. In her afterward, she explains that she wanted to write this book so that this way of life would be remembered; she wrote the book in 1942 in the US where she was exiled after the Nazis took over Norway.
September 8, 2015
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this little glimpse into simple, happy times in Norway. I finished the Christmas and 17th of May sections before I visited Norway. I loved the small villages in Norway, the red, white and blue houses, and the beautiful vast nature. But, I had a harder picking up the book to finish the last section after I got home. Now, as I sit here on a slightly chilly late summer morning having just read about Han's sadness of summer ending, I, too, am a little sad to see another summer gone. And I realize how much I truly enjoyed this little book.
January 31, 2016
I received this book as a gift from my brother since we are ethnically half Norwegian and I've visited Norway. It's an enjoyable portrait of life in Norway prior to the Second World War, although there is no real conflict or cohesive story. Rather, Undset captures her and her family's daily life with a focus on capturing a year in their lives. Undset is a talented Nobel Prize-winning author, and that comes through in this delightful volume.
September 21, 2015
Happy, easy read. Written while Sigrid Undset was in NY during WWII and based on memories of times in Norway before the Nazi invasion.
January 13, 2016
Thoroughly enjoyable! Sigrid Undset is reall shaping up to be one of my favorite authors. I have always enjoyed reading a well-written children's book as an adult.
January 20, 2018
Brava Sigrid!
Peccato che siamo stati insieme a questo mondo solo per un giorno (sei morta il giorno dopo la mia nascita).
Peccato che siamo stati insieme a questo mondo solo per un giorno (sei morta il giorno dopo la mia nascita).
May 29, 2025
Et halvt dusin lommetørklær
Veldig søt novelle<3 🥺 bitter og barnlig undertone
Gjenkjennelig og nostalgisk på en smertelig sår måte, men understreker likevel en slags melankoli man søker å bevare for hvor naiv man var som liten jente, og bekymret seg over ting som ikke var stort i det hele tatt (hvordan man trodde ting var så viktig, første møte med skuffelse og voksenlivets realiteter)
En meget god aperitiff for resten av boken! 💋🤌🏼
En fremmed
Viser hvordan vennskap kan utvikle seg til kjærlighet
Litt vel mye skildringer av natur, men herlighet så vakkert skrevet - hun maler med ord!!
Feministisk - Per Dryssen er iht min tolkning en svært feministisk og reflektert mann for sin tid 🧐
Veldig voldsom, må tolke litt mer (eks selvmordsforsøket, ble litt dramatisk)
Liker hvordan det gir innblikk i hverdagsliv fra Oslo på den tiden!
Drøm
Igjen; imponerende gode, poetiske skildringer, selvom hele teksten nesten er en eneste beskrivelse av ulike omgivelser i drømmer. Maler med ord, svært livaktige bilder, spesielt dette marerittet som beskrives - gjør veldig inntrykk. Minner meg om "spirited away" (Ghibli), veldig like stemninger beskrives 😰
Klarte ikke tolke noe spesielt ut av den annet enn måten man underbevisst og ufrivillig merkes av egen fantasi, at man kan gi seg selv inntrykk innenfra som former en mer enn de faktiske ytre inntrykkene som gav dem opphav. Men ga meg ikke noe nytt, litt upåvirket.
5/10
Den lykkelige alder
Skildringene fortsetter å imponere 😮💨 som å se en film!
Liker kompleksiteten man får fragmenterte, men dype innblikk i hos bipersoner også, eks at Charlotte dør kort tid etter samtalen de har om livet, hvor Charlotte er ganske pessimistisk/mørk/dyster (liker også måten man får vite det på, at historien hopper i tid så drastisk fordi man heller kan tenke seg til hendelsene som må ha funnet sted i mellomtiden)
Igjen; spennede å høre om Oslo på den tiden, kan se for meg alt veldig tydelig og hvor ulike hendelser er tiltenkt (eks turen langs Akerselven med fabrikkbyggene i murstein, ved fossen og det lille huset i skrenten som jo må referere til området ved Wallmans) 🤓
Overbevist om at dette er en tiltenkt kjærlighetshistorie om foreldrene til Nora i Et dukkehjem - og det gjorde hele verket for meg!! Må lese det på nytt, jeg elsket den siste setningen (intertekstualitet på sitt beste 😩)
(må skrive mer utfyllende etter jeg har lest den på nytt, kunne skrevet en hel mastergradsavhandling om denne!!)
10/10
Veldig søt novelle<3 🥺 bitter og barnlig undertone
Gjenkjennelig og nostalgisk på en smertelig sår måte, men understreker likevel en slags melankoli man søker å bevare for hvor naiv man var som liten jente, og bekymret seg over ting som ikke var stort i det hele tatt (hvordan man trodde ting var så viktig, første møte med skuffelse og voksenlivets realiteter)
En meget god aperitiff for resten av boken! 💋🤌🏼
En fremmed
Viser hvordan vennskap kan utvikle seg til kjærlighet
Litt vel mye skildringer av natur, men herlighet så vakkert skrevet - hun maler med ord!!
Feministisk - Per Dryssen er iht min tolkning en svært feministisk og reflektert mann for sin tid 🧐
Veldig voldsom, må tolke litt mer (eks selvmordsforsøket, ble litt dramatisk)
Liker hvordan det gir innblikk i hverdagsliv fra Oslo på den tiden!
Drøm
Igjen; imponerende gode, poetiske skildringer, selvom hele teksten nesten er en eneste beskrivelse av ulike omgivelser i drømmer. Maler med ord, svært livaktige bilder, spesielt dette marerittet som beskrives - gjør veldig inntrykk. Minner meg om "spirited away" (Ghibli), veldig like stemninger beskrives 😰
Klarte ikke tolke noe spesielt ut av den annet enn måten man underbevisst og ufrivillig merkes av egen fantasi, at man kan gi seg selv inntrykk innenfra som former en mer enn de faktiske ytre inntrykkene som gav dem opphav. Men ga meg ikke noe nytt, litt upåvirket.
5/10
Den lykkelige alder
Skildringene fortsetter å imponere 😮💨 som å se en film!
Liker kompleksiteten man får fragmenterte, men dype innblikk i hos bipersoner også, eks at Charlotte dør kort tid etter samtalen de har om livet, hvor Charlotte er ganske pessimistisk/mørk/dyster (liker også måten man får vite det på, at historien hopper i tid så drastisk fordi man heller kan tenke seg til hendelsene som må ha funnet sted i mellomtiden)
Igjen; spennede å høre om Oslo på den tiden, kan se for meg alt veldig tydelig og hvor ulike hendelser er tiltenkt (eks turen langs Akerselven med fabrikkbyggene i murstein, ved fossen og det lille huset i skrenten som jo må referere til området ved Wallmans) 🤓
Overbevist om at dette er en tiltenkt kjærlighetshistorie om foreldrene til Nora i Et dukkehjem - og det gjorde hele verket for meg!! Må lese det på nytt, jeg elsket den siste setningen (intertekstualitet på sitt beste 😩)
(må skrive mer utfyllende etter jeg har lest den på nytt, kunne skrevet en hel mastergradsavhandling om denne!!)
10/10
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2021
This was an incredibly interesting book to read, partly because of Morten Strøksnes' fascinating essay at the end but also because of the book's own merit. The journey Undset undertook to escape from the war includes almost all of my dream destinations; Northern Norway, Moscow, The Trans Siberian Railway, Japan, California, travelling by train across the US and living in NYC. This in itself made the book riveting for me. In addition this this, her descriptions of the outbreak of WWII in Norway was fascinating and something I actually don't know that much about.
I also have to admit that I have a slight obsession with books that are ideologically a little problematic. Undset was a famous for her commitment against Nazi Germany and their race ideology (which is why she had to escape), yet her approach to culture in this book is extremely essentialist. Norwegians are brave and democratic, Germans are bow-legged psychopaths, Russians are monotone and dirty (even their cows lack individualism), the Japanese are cultivated and clean (and cannot be blamed for the war mongering of their superiors) etc. In other words, this is not a neutral book. This makes it more entertaining, but makes the cultural analyses in it quite outdated. Nevertheless, this is a very stimulating book that deserves to be read and to be acknowledged as the important historical document that it is.
I also have to admit that I have a slight obsession with books that are ideologically a little problematic. Undset was a famous for her commitment against Nazi Germany and their race ideology (which is why she had to escape), yet her approach to culture in this book is extremely essentialist. Norwegians are brave and democratic, Germans are bow-legged psychopaths, Russians are monotone and dirty (even their cows lack individualism), the Japanese are cultivated and clean (and cannot be blamed for the war mongering of their superiors) etc. In other words, this is not a neutral book. This makes it more entertaining, but makes the cultural analyses in it quite outdated. Nevertheless, this is a very stimulating book that deserves to be read and to be acknowledged as the important historical document that it is.
March 8, 2025
A lovely book that is a fairly quick read. Instills a strong sense of longing and nostalgia. This is a short autobiography of a time in the author’s life with her young children in Norway before WWII. You read about the fall photo harvest and Christmas festivities, the 17th of May which is Norway’s Independence Day, and summer in the mountains. It’s almost an overview of a year in Norway. The author calls herself Mother throughout the novel. I also loved the stories of Sigrid’s handicapped daughter Tulla, and the love shown to her by the whole family. I can’t imagine the heartbreak Sigrid felt with losing Tulla and then Anders in the war, plus being displaced from her homeland. This really is a lovely story that I could envision reading again when I want a comfort read.
April 16, 2025
Sigrid Undset captures the sheer delights and nostalgic joys of her homeland, whether preparing for the Seventeenth of May celebrations or skiing through the mountains preparing for a Norwegian Christmas or the idyllic simplicity of summer in a mountain cottage.
Undset writes simply and is able, through the eyes of Hans and Anders, the two young boys who seek joy and laughter through the seasons, reveal the traditional way in which the year goes round.
The descriptions of the landscape are wonderful and capture the beauty of the Norwegian countryside but what is most beautiful throughout Undset’s narrative is the pure distillation of her memories of her homeland before she fled into exile during the Nazi occupation.
Undset writes simply and is able, through the eyes of Hans and Anders, the two young boys who seek joy and laughter through the seasons, reveal the traditional way in which the year goes round.
The descriptions of the landscape are wonderful and capture the beauty of the Norwegian countryside but what is most beautiful throughout Undset’s narrative is the pure distillation of her memories of her homeland before she fled into exile during the Nazi occupation.
April 5, 2025
A wonderfully written, cozy, heartwarming book. It's full of beautiful descriptions of nature, food and celebrations. It evokes a warm, snug feeling deep inside while reading and you become very attached to Sigrid Undset's entire family throughout the story. This copy contains the original preface to the 1942 edition at the end, which definitely should be read after you finish the book. It is very moving. I actively cried while reading those pages.
October 30, 2021
De Sigrid Undset, j'avais gardé un bon souvenir de la lecture de Christine Lavransdatter, dans ma jeunesse.. La 4 eme de couverture de L'âge heureux était prometteuse : « À travers le personnage d'Uni, ce sont tous les préjugés, toutes les interdictions à surmonter par les femmes que dénonce Sigrid Undset. »
Paru en 1925, le roman décrit en effet la condition souvent difficile des femmes dans ces années d'avant guerre et l'avenir assez limité qui s'offre aux jeunes filles, surtout quand elles sont , comme Uri, orpheline coincée entre ses deux tantes un brin rigides, obligée de faire la gouvernante pour gagner quelque argent. Ça ne l'empêche pas de rêver à une carrière d'artiste et elle ira au bout de son rêve malgré tout.
Peut être le livre a-t-il un peu vieilli et sans doute ai-je lu des textes plus « mordants » sur le sujet ? Je suis restée un peu sur ma faim...Ça se lit bien mais il ne m'en restera pas grand souvenir sans doute.
J'ai presque préféré la 2 eme histoire, celle de Simonsen, ce bonhomme vieillissant, incapable de garder un emploi, vivant un peu aux crochets de son Olga mais tellement touchant dans son amour absolu pour sa petite fille de 5 ans. La vie ne l'a pas gâté mais, comme il le dit pour se consoler : « Il devait y avoir quelqu'un de plus grand qui décidait de ces choses. Oui, il fallait bien se consoler avec cette pensée qu'il devait y avoir quelqu'un de plus grand qui en décidait... »
January 1, 2023
Sigrid Undset wrote three books for children while living in New York City during World War 2. This, her first, is her memories of the "Happy Times In Norway" from before the war and is written with the hope that those happy times will come again. "...we shall have our country back again, free and swept clean of the forces of evil." (from the preface to the 1942 edition).
I enjoyed reading about the history and customs of Norway in this book. My favorite quote: "If you can learn that back of all the fun that is truly fun, and back of all carefree joy, there lies always a deep and deadly seriousness. It is only those things in life which we gave bought dearly that become do precious to us and the source of all our joys, our light hearts, and our hearty laughter."..."...I would be happy if you could come into possession of the true lightness of heart that men and women achieve when they have had to try their strength and come to know themselves--know they can take the hard way, and can bear the heaviest burdents..."
I enjoyed reading about the history and customs of Norway in this book. My favorite quote: "If you can learn that back of all the fun that is truly fun, and back of all carefree joy, there lies always a deep and deadly seriousness. It is only those things in life which we gave bought dearly that become do precious to us and the source of all our joys, our light hearts, and our hearty laughter."..."...I would be happy if you could come into possession of the true lightness of heart that men and women achieve when they have had to try their strength and come to know themselves--know they can take the hard way, and can bear the heaviest burdents..."
July 19, 2021
Avevo aspettative alte, dopo la lettura di Kristin figlia di Lavrans, che tuttavia ero già sicuro sarebbero state disattese visto che questo è uno dei primi romanzi di Sigrid Undset.
Non pensavo però che sarei rimasto così deluso: la storia è troppo sfilacciata, i personaggi piatti e - nonostante un tentativo di realizzare una specie di dramma psicologico - a me lettore non riesce di entrare in empatia con loro.
Forse anche in virtù del fatto che i personaggi sono ventenni a Cristiania (Svezia) nel 1908, cioè in un mondo troppo distante dal mio.
Per il resto non posso che confermare l'abilità dell'autrice nel descrivere i panorami svedesi in un modo così appassionato da far sembrare di essere lì. Ma è davvero un po' troppo poco per farmi apprezzare il romanzo, che peraltro è ambientato quasi totalmente in città.
Non pensavo però che sarei rimasto così deluso: la storia è troppo sfilacciata, i personaggi piatti e - nonostante un tentativo di realizzare una specie di dramma psicologico - a me lettore non riesce di entrare in empatia con loro.
Forse anche in virtù del fatto che i personaggi sono ventenni a Cristiania (Svezia) nel 1908, cioè in un mondo troppo distante dal mio.
Per il resto non posso che confermare l'abilità dell'autrice nel descrivere i panorami svedesi in un modo così appassionato da far sembrare di essere lì. Ma è davvero un po' troppo poco per farmi apprezzare il romanzo, che peraltro è ambientato quasi totalmente in città.
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