Kristin Lavransdatter, II: The Wife

Resumen del libro

Kristin Lavransdatter interweaves political, social, and religious history with the daily aspects of family life to create a colorful, richly detailed tapestry of Norway during the fourteenthcentury. The trilogy, however, is more than a journey into the past. Undset's own lifex{0026}mdashher familiarity with Norse sagas and folklore and with a wide range of medieval literature, her experiences as a daughter, wife, and mother, and her deep religious faithx{0026}mdashprofoundly influenced her writing. Her grasp of the connections between past and present and of human nature itself, combined with the extraordinary quality of her writing, sets her works far above the genre of "historical novels." This new translation by Tina Nunnallyx{0026}mdashthe first English version since Charles Archer's translation in the 1920sx{0026}mdashcaptures Undset's strengths as a stylist. Nunnally, an awardwinning translator, retains the natural dialog and lyrical flow of the original Norwegian, with its echoes of Old Norse legends, while deftly avoiding the stilted language and false archaisms of Archer's translation. In addition, she restores key passages left out of that edition.Undset's ability to present a meticulously accurate historical portrait without sacrificing the poetry and narrative drive of masterful storytelling was particularly significant in her homeland. Granted independence in 1905 after five hundred years of foreign domination, Norway was eager to reclaim its national history and culture. Kristin Lavransdatterbecame a touchstone for Undset's contemporaries, and continues to be widely read by Norwegians today. In the more than 75 years since it was first published, it has also become a favorite throughout the world.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the Englishspeaking world. With more than 1,700titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as uptodatetranslations by awardwinning translators.

Biografía del autor

Sigrid Undset, novelista noruega, nació en Oslo en 1882. Hija de un afamado catedrático de arqueología, de quien tomó el amor por la historia, sus obras destacaron pronto por la exactitud en la reconstrucción de la Noruega medieval. Sus primeras novelas, La señora Marta Oulie y La edad dichosa (1907), manifestaron ya su otra gran virtud: el perfecto conocimiento del mundo de la mujer. Ambas fuentes de inspiración confluyeron en su obra maestra, Cristina, hija de Lavrans, publicada en tres volúmenes entre 1920 y 1922. Le fue otorgado el premio Nobel de Literatura en 1928. Poco después de la publicación de Cristina, Sigrid Undset se convirtió al catolicismo atraída sobre todo, como dice Gabetti, por su tono general de humanidad. Fue acogida oficialmente en la Iglesia católica en 1925, en Motecassino, a la que perteneció hasta su muerte, el 10 de junio de 1949.