THE MAIN FACTORS IN R�LVAAG'S AUTHORSHIP

Abstract

THE MAIN FACTORS IN RÖLVAAG'S AUTHORSHIP BY THEODORE JORGENSON When Ole Edvart Rölvaag left his native island, D0nna, in northern Norway toward the end of July, 1896, he carried in his pocket a little diary which, during subsequent years, became a mute friend in whose presence he might think aloud. By good fortune the book has been preserved. It is now one of our main sources for the author's early years, and it may also be regarded as his first literary work of any consequence, for it contains very little of factual information but all the more of moods and aspirations and personal problems . He was twenty years and three months old when he emigrated . By stature he was rather smaller than the average Scandinavian. His shoulders were the most highly developed part of his frame, yet his hands were small and sensitive like the hands of an artist. In the rather full face a stubby nose was lifted up in defiance and pride. But the sensitive and ardent mouth gave him a boyish charm. His eyes were wide in surprise and wonder. Upon the high brow fell shocks of unruly but soft and silky hair. It was a face strongly animated and deeply aglow with spirit. Psychology will tell us that a young man of twenty years has already passed through the most important formative stages in his life. It was extremely significant to Rölvaag's later development that he had reached maturity before he departed from Nordland. Even at ten the unconscious and semiconscious factors are important; at fifteen the social and environmental elements have begun to integrate; at twenty the personality is growing firm. It has related itself 135 136 STUDIES ÄND RECORDS to home, to community, and to the sky and the soil of the region in which it has lived. It has formed attachments that will retain a firm grip upon the heart. Rölvaag's parents were humble and modest but interesting people. Per, the father, was a great reader and not without skill both as a thinker and in the expression of his thoughts. He was, however, narrowly engrossed in the Bible and in a dogmatic religion. He assisted in the work of a local church, being known there for his piety. In the home he was somewhat stubborn, arbitrary, and inflexible. He made his influence felt, yet the people around him thought his hand a little heavy upon them. The children did not always find the understanding they looked for unless they went to their mother. She was a simple woman, without learning and logic, but strong in the emotions of a warm heart; infinitely patient in her work, possessed of great charm, and completely devoted to her children. One of the first lines in Rölvaag's diary reads, "If I had known how hard it would be to leave Mother, I probably should not have taken this step." Some of us have read a book entitled A Genius in the Family. There was a budding genius in the Rölvaag home, but his name was not Ole. The elder brother, John, had read as much literature and understood as fully the principles of literary technique as many professionals. He dreamed of becoming a poet. He possessed the pride and the confidence of an artist, but poverty and tuberculosis forced him into an unequal battle in which they struck him down in early years. The younger brother who emigrated had a profound respect for this genius, and John in turn exercised no small influence upon Ole Edvart's literary aspirations. It is not possible to find any very marked psychological complexes in Rölvaag's early life. He was a bit wild, reckless , and unmanageable from school days onward, but the attachments he formed left no decisive marks upon him rölvaag's authorship 187 either of found or of lost hope. He recovered quickly from disappointments, yet it cannot be said that he lacked seriousness . The young man we find in the diary is extremely sensitive, given to brooding uncertainty about himself and his final destiny, restless, and somewhat unpoised, but also in possession of...