ABOUT

Sigrid Undset should be better known beyond the literary critics and scholars of Nobel prizes. She should be known for her works beyond the great Kristen Lavransdatter trilogy. She should be known not just for her fiction, but for her essays and social commentary. In part, this is the purpose of this blog: to introduce the reader to the extensive body of work of this great Norwegian.

 

This blog was initiated as a consequence of doctoral studies that explore Undset's works in order to plumb the depths of her psyche, at once  profoundly human, realist, and eventually Catholic. It was this last characteristic that informed the second half of her life and works and impelled her into a literary apostolate that was entirely dedicated to "the Catholic thing". Was she a saint in the popular understanding of the term? Undset would have laughed at the very idea of it, but it was her adopted Catholic Faith that informed her thought and life. Perhaps she was not far from sainthood after all. In fact, on July 8, 2026, Bishop Fredrik Hansen of Oslo announced his intention to open her cause of canonisation!

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Posts on this blog might consist of insightful quotes by Undset on some topic or other; of observations about her from other writers or those who knew her; of links to articles concerning her or the ensuing cause of her canonisation. I hope that they will bring about a greater awareness of her thought and her profound Catholic spirit, exhibited both in her prose and in her life.  For now, however...

 

Få en kopp te og gjør deg komfortabel!

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Fr Brendan Arthur

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