BUSLETT'S EDITORSHIP OF "NORMANNEN" FROM 1894 TO 1896

Abstract

BUSLETT'S EDITORSHIP OF NORMANNEN FROM 1894 TO 1896 BY EVELYN NILSEN Ole Amundsen Buslett, who was born in Gausdal, Norway, in 1855 and died in Northland, Wisconsin, in 1924, has often been called the father of Norwegian-American literature. Certainly he was one of the first writers who, as Simon Johnson has said, "felt intensely that he belonged to the Norwegian- American folk group in contrast to other groups, that this group had something to do besides merely earning money, organizing congregations, and playing politics, and that this Norwegian-American group should be enticed and disciplined to raise itself as a cultural group." 1 For over forty -five years Buslett interpreted and criticized the Norwegian Americans, in lyrics, " heaven-storming poetic dramas," and Bj^rnsonian tales, appealing to and expressing the Norwegian-American immigrant's longing for his homeland and his attempts to build a bridge of understanding between the Old and the New World. Buslett's later allegorical tales, like Glans-om-sol og hans folks historie (Splendor-about-the-Sun and His People's Story) and Veien til Golden Gate (The Way to the Golden Gate), are penetrating criticisms of the social order and of the immigrant mind. His later realistic novels, like Fra min ungdoms nabolag (From My Boyhood Home), are attempts to portray the lives of the immigrants, especially of those in the fields and the lumber camps of northern Wisconsin, where he was on most familiar ground. Buslett was also interested in the preservation of historical records of the Norwegian Americans and has written a history of the Fifteenth Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, based on interviews with members of the regiment and other first-hand material. For 1 Decorah-posten , March 8, 1939. 128 BUSLETT AND NORMANNEN 129 over thirty years, too, poems and newspaper articles appeared from his prolific pen in most of the Norwegian-American newspapers. Buslett was versatile not only in his literary production but also in his practical career, by which he earned his daily bread. For, as he said, "It never entered my mind that anyone in our Norwegian America could earn food and clothes with the pen. There were only two ways open to a writer of earning a living, pietistic writing or sensational journalism , but neither of these appealed to me." 2 He was at various times farmer, merchant, postmaster, justice of the peace, member of the Wisconsin state legislature, and editor of three Norwegian- American newspapers. Although Buslett did not become editor of Normannen , a Norwegian-American newspaper published at Stoughton, Wisconsin, until August 3, 1894, he had had earlier connections with the paper. Eight of his poems appeared in the paper in 1892, as well as the first part of the novel Rolf Hägen . From March 16 until May 4, 1892, a notice appeared , usually on the front page, that O. A. Buslett was agent for Normannen and hence qualified to receive subscriptions . With this notice went another one, that " as long as the issues last, new subscribers will receive one of Busletťs well-known original works, either De to veivisere (The Two Guides) or 0istein og Nora " Two of his poems appeared in the paper in 1893, as well as the continuation of the first part of Rolf Hägen. Buslett was known to the readers of Normannen , then, as a Norwegian- American poet, novelist, and playwright, and had had practical experience in selling the paper before he took over its editorship. He had had experience as a newspaper editor, as well, for during the previous year he had edited two Norwegian- American newspapers, V arden and Folkevennen , published at La Crosse, Wisconsin. 2 Busletťs, 1:3 (January, 1922). This is a periodical which Buslett published privately, wherein he hoped to collect his writings. Only four of the contemplated thirty volumes appeared. 130 STUDIES AND RECORDS On August 3, 1894, there was a statement in Normannen , which was signed by Buslett, that he was taking over the editorship of the paper. His greeting was brief, but it inspired confidence: Any long epistle on this occasion is not to my taste; if I win friends, I shall have written one by...