Sigrid Undset

Sigrid Undset was born on May 20, 1882 in Kalundborg, Denmark. Her father, Ingvald Martin Undset, was a Norwegian archeologist, who used to travel all over Europe in connection with his work. In course of this travel he went to Rome, where he met Sigrid’s mother Charlotte and got married.

Sigrid was born in her mother’s childhood home in Kalundborg. She was the eldest child among her parents’ three daughter. In 1889, when Sigrid was two years old, the family moved back to Norway due to her father’s illness. There they settled at Kristiania, now known as Oslo.

At Kristiania, Ingvald Martin Undset took up a job at the Museum of Antiquity. He knew that his days were numbered. He was intensely interest in history; his doctoral thesis being ‘The Beginnings of the Iron Age in Northern Europe’. He now tried to instill in little Sigrid his passion for history.

She was at first sent to a school run by one Mrs. Ragna Nielsen. It was a coeducational school and was committed to progressive educational ideas. However, little Sigrid did not like the atmosphere there and mentally resisted every move.

Her father died in 1893. The loss resulted in a financial turmoil for the family. Mrs. Ragna Nielsen offered to educate the three sisters free of cost. But at the age of 14, Sigrid decided to opt out and joined a commercial school.

Although Undset could not fulfill her father’s aspiration due to financial constraints she tried to accomplish it another way. While working at the office she began to study history and wrote a historical novel set up in medieval Denmark. She was 22 years old by the time it was complete; but could not find any publisher for it.

Wiser now, she took up contemporary Kristiania as her next theme. In 1907, she wrote an eighty page novel titled ‘Fru Marta Oulie’. The book is about a middle class woman who had been unfaithful to her husband. The book created a stir and very soon she began to be counted as a promising author.

In 1908, she published another book titled ‘Den Lykkelige Alder’ (The Happy Age). This book was also set in contemporary Kristiania and was well received. It was followed by several others on the same theme. Most of these novels were about working women; about their love life and their family relationship.

In 1909, Sigrid Undset left her office job. She then received a writer’s scholarship and went on a long trip, making short breaks at Denmark and Germany. She ultimately reached Rome in the month of December. It was the same city where her parents had met and she tried to retrace their footsteps.

She stayed at Rome for nine months. There she met many artists and writers of Scandinavian origin. Her would-be husband Anders Castus Svarstad was one of them. ‘Jenny’, which is considered to be her literary breakthrough, was written during that period and was published in 1911.

Sigrid Undset is best remembered for her trilogy ‘Kristin Lavransdatter’. Set in 14th century Norway, the book consists of three individual novels; ‘Kransen’ (The Wreath, 1920), ‘Husfrue’ (The Wife, 1921) and ‘Korset’ (The Cross, 1922).

The main protagonist of these novels is a woman called Kristin Lavransdatter. Undset portrayed the life in the Middle Age Norway through her experiences. The accuracy of her portrayal comes mainly from her study of Norse literature and culture, into which she had been initiated in her childhood by her father.

’Olav Audunssønn’ is another of her well-known work. Published in four volumes from 1925 to 1927, these books were set in Roman Catholic Norway. Very soon, the book was translated into English as ‘The Master of Hestviken’ and the English version was first published from 1928 to 1930.