Social evolutionary optimism and scepticism
An excerpt from Undset's 1941 article "Kristen Kultur". We know that states built on democratic foundations are far from perfect – they...
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Forskeren
Apr 231 min read
Uncatagorisable
"Positioning Undset has been a difficult task for researchers, because her Catholicism and realism fall outside the liberal-national,...
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Forskeren
Dec 15, 20236 min read
Sigrid Undset on St Sunniva
From the earliest times of Christianity, the Catholic Church has raised women to the highest honours by their veneration as saints....
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Forskeren
May 3, 202312 min read
The Sacrifice of Abraham
Undset compares this biblical episode with paganism contemporary with and after Abraham. She derides the already fashionable idea of...
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Forskeren
Apr 14, 202310 min read
A Book that Changed her Life
Here Sigrid writes of the book which had the greatest influence on her in childhood, and in fact helped shape her epic writing in the...
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Forskeren
Jan 10, 20233 min read
Visit to Norway
It's been almost a month since I returned from a recent four weeks' stay in Norway. The purpose of the visit was to improve my fluency in...
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Forskeren
Sep 21, 20224 min read
Paul Selmer's introduction to Catholics
From Sigrid Undset's The Wild Orchid. While studying geology at university, Paul decides to move into the city from his mother Julie's...
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Forskeren
Sep 14, 202218 min read
Synopsis: The Burning Bush
Synopsis of the sequel to The Wild Orchid. In this second part of the Paul Selmer duology, Paul finally becomes a Catholic, he and Bjørg...
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Forskeren
Sep 2, 202213 min read
Synopsis: The Wild Orchid
Here is my synopsis of the first part of Undset's tale of Paul Selmer, a young man in early twentieth century Christiania [Oslo] who is...
262 views2 comments
Forskeren
Jul 16, 202213 min read
Synopsis: The Cross (Kristin Lavransdatter)
Another spoiler alert! Here is my synopsis of the third book of the great trilogy, for those who haven't the time to read it, or for...
760 views2 comments
Forskeren
Jun 1, 20221 min read
The Unreasonableness of Catholicism
Is it strange that we think that beneath the perspective of other Christians and non-Christians with their seeming reasonableness and...
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Forskeren
May 24, 202210 min read
Synopsis: The Wife (Kristin Lavransdatter)
Another spoiler alert! Here is my synopsis of the second book of the great trilogy, for those who haven't the time to read it, or for...
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Forskeren
May 24, 20226 min read
Synopsis: The Wreath (Kristin Lavransdatter)
Another spoiler alert! Here is my synopsis of the first book of the great trilogy, for those who haven't the time to read it, or for...
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Forskeren
Apr 4, 20221 min read
Andrew Lytle's Kristin
Having re-read Kransen / The Wreath, the first of the Lavransdatter trilogy, I took to reading Kristin: A Reading by Andrew Lytle....
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Forskeren
Mar 29, 20222 min read
Medieval Religious Ribaldry
Here is an amusing tale from Kristin Lavransdatter (The Wreath), which has undertones of the Canterbury Tales. Medieval man might have...
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Forskeren
Mar 23, 20224 min read
Kristin's First Encounter with Brother Edvin
I'm rereading Kristin Lavransdatter, since the first time I didn't take any notes. I am kicking myself, but at the time, I didn't quite...
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Forskeren
Feb 24, 20221 min read
Sigrid Undset — A Catholic Woman for Our Time
Another article here, this time by Donald DeMarco at National Catholic Register.
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Forskeren
Feb 8, 20221 min read
Kristin's Courage in the Plague
Here you will find an interesting article about Kristin Lavransdatter's attitude to the pandemic of her own time: the Black Death. It...
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Forskeren
Jan 25, 20224 min read
Thoughts on Catherine of Siena
A friend who runs a book club is looking at adding Sigrid Undset's Catherine of Siena to their list and asked me for my thoughts on the...
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Forskeren
Jan 25, 20221 min read
It's been a long time between aquavits!
One would think that through all this time of the corona-era, one would have plenty of time to write some posts here. However, it's been...
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