SO. I am new to the medieval sagas of Icelanders and Norwegians. I can now, however, officially say that this is in fact a rabbit hole I want to fall down, and look forward to doing so when I can begin recreational reading. Send recommendations!

Una favola di Natale al contrario.
Due persone unite dal destino ma che per un grave fatale errore il destino terrà lontane. E non basta il dolore che entrambi si portano dietro per tutta la vita. L’odio li consuma, li lacera e allo stesso tempo li alimenta di quell’amore che entrambi provano e che è la loro stessa ragione di vita.
Quanto un errore può influire su una vita? Quanto l’onta subita e non perdonata?
Da un’azione nefasta non può venirne mai nulla di buono, a meno che non se ne capisca l’errore e non si sia pronti a rompere la catena dell’odio. Viga-Ljot lo capisce troppo tardi. Vigdis crede invece che perdonare sia un simbolo di debolezza e nonostante l’amore che prova per lui sceglie di continuare ad odiarlo.
La scrittura è apparentemente semplice, scorre velocissima e si legge d’un fiato. Le descrizioni di quella natura bianca e selvaggia sono bellissime, placano l’animo dove i sentimenti dei protagonisti insinuano tempesta.
Un libro che è un monito. Pensare la nostra vita e cercare di essere la cesoia che rompe l’anello, nonostante l’odio sia sempre la scelta più facile.
“ho sofferto per ogni passo che ho fatto e per ogni onda che ho
solcato, perché non mi portavano da te."

Før nobelprisvinner Sigrid Undset slo til med middelalderromaner som "Kristin Lavransdatter" og "Olav Audunssøn i Hestviken", begikk forfatterinnen denne romanen satt til det ellevte århundre på Island og i Norge. Boken omhandler hovedkarakterene Vigdis og Ljots turbulente forhold, samt deres individuelle liv, gjennom nesten to årtier. Selv om boken har blitt stående som en parantes i unikumets forfatterskap, er det en høyst lesverdig og engasjerende bok som takler temaer som voldtekt, hevn, sosiale normer og ekteskap.

Boken består av omtrent halvhundre særs korte kapitler, og språket er preget av knappe og konsise skildringer. Dette gir romanen et fordums og eiendommelig anstrøk.

Jeg ble overrasket over hvor mye jeg brydde meg om de forskjellige karakterene, og særlig kvinnen med bein i nesa, Vigdis. Hennes strabasiøse liv ble skildret med nådeløs penn av Undset, og jeg utviklet etterhvert en forkjærlighet for henne.

Unbelievably beautiful and shocking, this is a story told in the breathless, sweeping way of the old epics. A must-read for Undset fans, and for anyone interested in pre-Christian/early Christian Norway.

This was Undset’s third novel, published in 1909, when she was twenty-seven. It was a precursor of sorts to the ‘Sigrid Lavransdatter’ trilogy (1920) and the four volume ‘The Master of Hestviken’ (1925), all set in medieval Norway. ‘Gunnar’s Daughter’ is historically set in Norway and Iceland at the turn of the millennium, 1000 AD. It is written to mimic the descriptive narrative style of the Viking sagas. The phrasing is succinct and the words chosen in this translation are lyrically expressive. The Introduction and Explanatory Notes in this Penguin edition provide the reader with accurate historical background.

Viking women were known for their self-reliant confidence. Vigdis, the heroine of the story, is one such woman. Although the northern culture was patriarchal, women were generally allowed a great deal more authority and respect than in other parts of Europe. The time period Unset selected for the novel is one in which the impact of Christianity was having an increasing influence on the pagan beliefs and traditions. But most disputes continued to be resolved by violence. The cost of dishonoring someone’s pride or besmirching their reputation was often maiming or death. Scores are settled by vengeance, even from one generation to the next.

An Icelandic trader, Ljot, visiting Norway, is smitten by Vigdis’ beauty, intelligence and confidence. But she is reluctant to accept his proposal although she has become enamoured of him. He seals his own fate when he forces himself on her. To avoid the vengeance he knows will come his way he returns to Iceland in ignorance of the fact that his rape has conceived a child. Year after year he languishes. He cannot forget Vigdis. He worships the memory of her like an icon. Even though he marries a dutiful wife and has children he is never happy. Meanwhile Vigdis harbors no forgiveness and she lives in fear for Ljot’s return to Norway. Their son Ulvar has grown up to be a proud warrior. To him she expresses the desire to one day possess his father’s decapitated head.

Undset does not gloss over the brutal ways of the medieval Norse culture. But she skillfully weaves the tale with loving relationships, fateful coincidences and tragic occurrences that emotionally and suspensefully involve the reader in the eventful lives of Vigdis and Ljot.

#mulheresnobel

Um romance de final de ciclo. Marcado por um estilo simples este livro mostra uma narrativa histórica cheia de tensão mas que facilmente se intui.

A personagem Vigdis é marcada por uma tensão libertadora que vai encantando o leitor.

O texto não tem particular rasgo.

La saga di Vigdis racconta la storia di una donna che, dopo aver subito un'orribile violenza, raccoglie i brandelli della giovane innocente che era e li trasforma, muta sé stessa e volge il suo sguardo - per sempre cambiato - verso un unico obiettivo: la vendetta.

Forte della consapevolezza che la spinge, non si piega mai al volere degli uomini che le stanno intorno.
Vigdis è guerriera furiosa, bruciante di rabbia e, nonostante tutto, non si lascia guidare dal solo sentire: nella sua attesa straziante non perde mai di vista l'obiettivo.
Vive la sua vita con serenità, ma utilizzando il ricordo del torto subito come fucina incandescente in cui plasmare il suo futuro e quello del figlio.

Ljot invece, contraltare della vicenda, romanticizza l'accaduto e trascorre la sua intera esistenza a crogiolarsi nel ricordo di Vigdis.
Si scusa, la sogna, la vuole e, alla fine, diviene l'inconsapevole artefice del suo stesso destino.

Vigdis non si piega e, solo alla fine del racconto, perde il controllo, lasciando spazio non solo alla donna forte e vendicativa che abbiamo già conosciuto. Mostra anche l'altra dimensione che la compone: Vigdis ha sofferto più di chiunque altro, è andata avanti, ma rimane comunque bestia ferita e sanguinante.
Scoppia, e non ho difficoltà a immaginarmela mentre urla, gli occhi fiammeggianti, le parole senza freno.
Senza controllo e senza più paura.

Vigdis ha sofferto, ha avuto paura degli uomini.
Si libera.
E libera tutte le donne.

Un libro assolutamente consigliato.

Mal à la gorge à force de me retenir de pleurer...

This novel left me speechless and full of mixed feelings, and by the end I knew that Sigrid Undset had become one of my favorite authors. When I read Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy earlier this year I felt like I discovered a hidden gem, although it was translated to Arabic but only few Arab readers heard of it, and I wondered why Kristin Lavransdatter was never mentioned along with the famous literature heroines? Why it wasn’t portrayed several times in movies or TV shows like Anna Karnina or Madam Bovary or Jane Austin’s novels? Undest’s heroines were ahead of their time (and Undest’s time) and they represent the strong, determined, passionate yet realistic woman who face the conflict between her own feelings, her family and her society.

I read Gunnar’s Daughter because I wanted to see how Undset wrote before writing Kristin Lavransdatter, and thought it would be less profound, or immature since its one of her early work and compared to her famous novel, but it surprised me on all levels. In Gunnar’s Daughter, we are swept away to Norway and Iceland in the eleventh century, right in the middle of the transition period from paganism to Christianity. Undset wrote her story in a Saga form, and she made sure to stay true to the age traditions and soul through the matters presented and the language she used for her characters.

I loved both Viga-Ljot and Vigdis, and my feelings were swaying between anger and compassion with their acts and motives. Viga-Ljot is not the typical knight nor the typical villain, he’s just a human, a human who made a terrible mistake and suffered from the sequences, a human who mature with years and try to become a better man. Vigdis as well is not the typical princess nor the typical victim, although she suffered most from Ljot’s action but she refused to be treated as a powerless woman, instead she reshaped her life and defended herself and her family honour totally by her own. The ending was shocking, and I kept hoping for another ending while reading the last chapters. But that ending is more real and true to the time, and although it broke my heart I totally admired Undset’s courage in giving such brutal end to her carefully crafted Saga.

I’m fond of “Vikings” and “The Last Kingdom” tv shows, so I was picturing the novel setup and characters in my head easily. I imagined Viga-Ljot to look like Uhtred (The Last Kingdom) and Vigdis to look like Gunnhild (Vikings), and every other character I link it in my imagination to one of these shows characters. I truly enjoyed reading this novel though it left me with a broken heart, but it was such a smooth and profound read. I wish to see an Arabic translation of this novel and other Undest’s work, and to be adopted on screen!

This is a beautiful story and so well written. It will be a favorite for a long time.

I didn't realize I was picking up a historical fiction and... wow... that was a seriously brutal time and place. It made me appreciate how much Christianity did for the world in introducing social order (or, more properly, a social order that didn't involve vengeance killings, piracy, blood feuds, etc.). Kind of a haunting story.

Sigrid Undset's best known for her giant trilogy about {Kristin Lavransdatter}. She earned the 1928 Nobel for that sprawling epic set circa the year 1000, when what we call Norway succumbed to, or embraced, Christianity. In this slender, lesser-known 1909 predecessor, Undset crafts another convincingly assertive, yet threatened and outwitted, young woman. Vigdis Gunnarsdatter proves headstrong, flawed and formidable, standing up to, and for, her raw, male-dominated, unstable, clannish society honed by stoic, blunt Norse codes of honor.

Undset's debut novel channels the terse style of her ancestors' sagas into an alternately fast-paced and slow-burning story of Vigdis' revenge and her struggle to overcome both wintry perils and gender barriers. Raped by the man she had hoped to love, Vigdis comes of age as forced to endure a harsher fate than for which her privileged upbringing had prepared her.

The plight of a violated girl turned mother of a child conceived in violence drives this concentrated narrative into twin pressure-points. Vigdis must survive the unforgiving environment, beyond her father's protection. She must execute the demands of her people that compel her revenge for damage perpetrated upon body and spirit. Shorn of romantic conventions, stripped of the tropes of many woman-centered historical fictions then or now. {Gunnar's Daughter} dramatizes issues of abuse, hatred and tradition she's bound to follow.

Undset delivers a memorable version of how a modern writer traces the Scandinavian tale-telling template over a millennium old. I wish she and her peers in those stern lands had penned more with such laconic, lean and mean scenes. I read this in two sittings. Evoking nature's harshness, danger and long-simmering payback, it succeeds powerfully.