BASIC THEMES AND MOTIVES IN VESAAS' EARLIEST WRITING

Author(s): Kenneth Chapman

Source: Scandinavian Studies, Vol. 41, No. 2 (MAY 1969), pp. 126-137
Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the Society for the Advancement of
Scandinavian Study
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 BASIC THEMES AND MOTIVES IN
VESAAS' EARLIEST WRITING

Kenneth Chapman
Universityof California,Los Angeles

I den blanke 2O-ârs-alderener det noken kvar som skriv dikt. Dâ har
ein sa merkeleglett for â trive til det. Ein synest at ein ber eit reint blad
i seg, og pâ det skal det skrivast dikt. Der kjem utan vidare dikt pâ det
bladet- av glede, eller av saknad og radl0yse. Og sä er det altfor freistände
â skrive det med blyant pâ papir ogsâ, og I0yne det godt bort. Eller kanskje
la det sjâ dagens ljos i eit snilt lokalblad.1

gentlyself-ironizingwords tell much about the conditions

underwhichTarjei Vesaas startedwriting,and also about his
attitudetowardhis early writing.The local newspaperswere indeed
kindlytowardhim, but he very soon began publishingstoriesand
poemsin nationalmagazinesand newspapersin the largercities. The
generalnatureof his early writingis well, thoughperhapsa bit too
harshly,described,in his own judgmentof his secondpublishednovel,
HuskuldtheHerald {SendemannHuskuld,1924): "sa roman tiskat ho
er uleseleg."2This novel,and most of Vesaas' early writing,is most
certainlyromantic,at timeseven sentimental, but if one firstaccepts
its romanticnature,thereis a great deal of readable materialto be
foundin it.
Nor do we have to searchlong to findthe sourcesof thisromantic
approach. About a volumeof prose poems whichwas perhaps fortu-
natelyrejectedforpublicationin 1922, Vesaas has writtenthat they
were"stutteprosadikt,slik som den storeTagore bortei India gjorde
dei, og med vendingarsom avguden Knut Hamsun brukte,og med
romantikk somhos avgudinnaSelmaLagerlöf."3As it turnedout,other
morelastingand benevolentliteraryinfluences wereat workon Vesaas
duringtheseyears,but sometimehad to pass beforetheheavyoverlay
of romanticismwas wornthinenoughforthemto showthroughclearly

luPoesi - og trongetider. Tarjet Vesaas. Et skriftlagt iram pâ Kulturutval-

gets Tarjei Vesaas aften (Oslo, 1964), p. 51.
2"Om skrivaren." Ei bok om Tarjei Vesaas (Oslo, 1964), p. 22.
3
Ibid., p. 19.
126

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 Vesaas' Earliest Writing 127

and decisively.Tagore'sinfluenceon the buddingwritercan be traced

fromEnglishof severalof Tagore's books made by
to the translations
his teacherat Voss Folk High School,Lars Eskeland. Vesaas writes
of bothEskelandas a teacherand of the Tagore trans-
enthusiastically
lationson whichhe was workingduringVesaas' yearat Voss. A detailed
comparisonof thesetranslations withVesaas' earlyprosepoemswould
make a highlyinteresting, and certainlyproductive,study. He writes
just as enthusiastically about Selma Lagerlöf,especially of Gösta
Berlingssaga, one of the most unabashedlyromanticnovels in Scan-
dinavianliterature.At this stage in Vesaas' developmentit was cer-
tainlyKnut Hamsun's early neo-r ornan tic novels (especiallyPan and
Victoria) whichhad the influence
greatest on his style.
In additionto its heavy overlayof romanticism, Vesaas' earliest
writing is characterizedby frequent, often rapturous and even senti-
of
mental,expressions religious belief reflectingtraditional Christian
attitudes. Typical of these expressionsare such passages as these
from The Farm at Grinde (Grindegard) (1925): "Gud vere med kvar
litemheiminniskogen"(p.7) ; and aog eit madebed urnaa faa sovnei
det dyreKristinavn" (p. 136); fromHuskuld the Herald: Gud vere
med all dyri skogen(p.72); fromChildrenof Man {Menneskebonn,
1923): "den milde Krist,som med blodet sitt kj0pte liv og helse for
alle" (p.23). The titleof the play The DwellingPlaces of God (Guds
bustader,1925) is a quotationfromRevelations21, and the contentis
accordingly religious.
This tendencytoward religioussentimentality in Vesaas' early
writingis closely connected with its overallromanticflavor,and can
undoubtedly be at least partiallyascribedto the same literarysources,
but in additiontherewereprobablysome environmental influencesat
work on Vesaas fromthe stronglypietisticattitudescommonat the
beginningof the twentiethcenturyin Norwegianrural communities,
of whichthe townshipof Vinje is quite typical.4As in the case of ro-
manticinfluences, these influencesfromtraditionalreligiousattitudes
werenot lasting,and the excesseswhichtheyled to soon disappeared
fromhis writing.
Closely related to the romanticand religiousstrandsin Vesaas'
4 Cf.
Ragnvald Skrede, Tarjei Vesaas (Oslo, 1947), p. 18; "Om skrivaren,"
p. 13.

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128 Scandinavian Studies

earlynovels,plays,and poetryis his highlyunrealisticattitudetoward

women. There is an ethereal,madonna-likeglow about mostof these
earlyVesaas women.Liv Myrejardin Childrenof Man is even referred
to as "Madonna" by the two men who love her. Lis in Eveningat
Grinde (Grindekveld)(1926) is time and time again referredto as
Toremun's"good angel" (den gode engelenhans), and the novel is
subtitledThe Good Angel. It is parentheticallyinterestingto note that
she is also twicereferredto as beinghis good fetch,tales of fetches
being widespreadin Norwegianfolkloreand having their originin
Scandinavianmythology, a factwhichonlyservesto add to thereader's
confusionabout the functionof the religiousbeliefsexpressedin these
books. Only Tuve in The DwellingPlaces of God, who bears the child
ofone brotherwhilemarriedto theother,showsany tendencyto behave
in a non-angelicfashion,but even her behaviorand its consequences
serveprimarilyas a vehicleformoralizingon the part of the author.
In this respect,too, Vesaas showedrapid changesin attitude,and in
his later books, althoughwomenare still looked upon as a primary
sourceof all that is good (because of theirclose connectionwith the
creativeprocessesof birthand regeneration), his early uncritical,ro-
manticportraitsof womengiveway to morerounded,realisticones.
The basic themesof theseearliestworksare also derivedfromtra-
ditionalChristianattitudes:the will to sacrificeoneselfforothersand
thewill to do penance. As examplesof theseattitudeswe can take Liv
Myrejardin Childrenof Man and Toremunin The Farm at Grinde
and Eveningat Grinde.Liv is lovedby twomen. One of themis Knut
Heddejor,the novel's main character,whosemotherdied whilegiving
birth to Knut. The circumstancesunder which he was born
hekk yver han som ei I0ynleg skuldbyrd. Det kjendest slik for han aa vera
kj0pt so dyrt. Og han samla liksom upp i seg det fagrehan saag og h0yrde,vov
det saman i rare draumar,laga eit morsminneav det, eit bilaeteso uendeleg fintog
veikt (p. 24).

Knut meetsLiv under dramaticcircumstances:he is lost in the

mountainsat nightin thewintertime and wouldhave died if he had not
comeacrossthe bloodytracksof anotherman in the snow. He follows
the tracksand comes to a house. The otherman, Liv's brother,is
dying,and Liv's beautiful,pale face and large,sad eyes make a deep
impressionon him: "Han saag paa detta d0dsbleikeanlet som paa eit

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 Vesaas' Earliest Writing 129

syn" (p. 55). Knut latertellsLiv how he imagineshis motherto have

been: "Slik som du maa ho ha vore,ja det trureg, det er somho ikkje
hadde slokna. . . Kanskje hev andenhennertekeham i deg, foraa faa
koma attendetil sonensin" (p. 84).
He tells Liv that he could not have survivedthe tribulationsof
lifeifhe had notmether. Liv is fondof Knut,but reallyloves another
man,Torstein,who also lovesher. But Liv feelsshe mustsacrificeher
love forKnut's sake. Torsteinis puzzled by her attitudetowardhim,
but whenhe discoversthe reasonforit, he is happy:
ForlatmegLiv Liv at eg tenktebeiskturndegi dag! Eg vissteikkje- aa Herregud
nei- aa lat hennefaa ei av stj0nnunedine,ei storog stillestj0nnesom kannkoma
inn til henne,og gjeragodttil henneinntilaltingbrest!
For han visstedet: Ho gjerdet foraa bergehan [Knut]! foraa skaffefred
til han! . . . Ingentingvar vondtlenger(pp. 84-85).
Liv's sacrificemakes not only Knut, but also Torstein,happy.
Later,aftershe has died in a blizzard,Knut and Torsteinjoin company
and go to Heddejor,whereKnut had been rearedby his grandfather.
Knut, who is a blacksmith,and Torsteinthen make a large wrought
ironcrossand carryit on theirbacks the manymilesto Myrejard,to
raise it in memoryof Liv- and thus find deliverancefromall their
sorrowsand pain.
In The Farm at GrindeToremun,the centralcharacterof both the
Grindenovels,throwsan innocentlamb ( ! ) into the rushingoutletof
a mountain pond. He does thisin a fitof depression and anxiety,though
imaginingthathe is doingit forthe sake of Brit,a girlhe has grown
up together withand withwhomhe is fallingin love. He is thenover-
whelmedby remorseand longsto makegood his misdeed.He goes into
the mountains, lookingforlost lambs to save, longingto "taka lambet
paa oksliog bera og gjera bot" (p. 155). He spendsthe summerthus.
"Daa han endelegvendeheimyver ... so gjekkhan og var den som hev
funnetr0ystog hjelp,hev vunne,um enn kvidenkann koma attende"
(p. 159). And the "agony" does come back. In the finalsectionof
The Farm at Grinde,Toremunaccidentallykills Brit duringa trip
acrossthe mountainsin a blizzard,and once morehe is obsessedwith
thedesireto do penance,althoughhe is totallyinnocentof any misdeed:
"Aa menlidelide,deter deteg maa heretter . . ." (p. 203).
Eveningat GrindeopenswithToremunin jail, doingpenancefora
crimehe did not commit,and even afterit has becomequite clear to

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130 Scandinavian Studies

the authoritiesthathe is innocent(fromhearinghis feverishbabbling

whenhe lies ill in the prisoninfirmary), he still refusesto admit his
innocenceand leave. The infirmary nurse,Lis, also triesto persuade
himof his innocence,but in vain. She is fallingin love withhim,and
leaves herjob whenshe sees it is possibleto convincehim. The restof
thenoveltellsof Toremun'sdecisionto leave the prisonand returnto
Grinde,and of the strugglein his mindbetweenremainingtrueto the
memoryof Brit and givingin to his awakeninglove forLis, his "good
angel,"whohas devotedherlifeto tryingto win himback to life. The
book ends melodramatically, withToremunbeingkilledwhenhe pro-
tectsLis frominjuryby a blastingcharge,withoutToremun'sconflict
reallybecomingresolved. As in Childrenof Man, the centralthemes
of the Grindenovelsare sacrificeand penance,expressedin traditional
Christianterms.
Anothertheme,relatedto these,is commonin all the earlyVesaas
works: that of a bettertime to come. It is expressedconciselyin a
speechfromtheplay The DwellingPlaces of God:
Men av alt slikt saart kjem lengten,me lengtar og sp0r etter ei betre tid, denne
jordi er liksom lengteheimen,alt som lever synestlengt.
Og vil me denna betre tid, daa Guds bustad er hjaa kvart menneske,so maa
me sjaa dit fram medan me ferdast (p. 69).

These earliestplays and novelscannotbe said to have been success-

ful,despiteoccasionalwell-written naturedescriptions and a fewpassages
here and therewhichreveal true poetic talent. The religiousthemes
whichtheycontain,and the charactersin termsof whichtheyare pre-
sented,are in generaltreatedmuchtoo superficially to be eitherinter-
or
esting enlightening. The characters are for the most part figures
ratherthanlivingpeople,and the religiousand romanticclichéswhich
are frequently used to describetheirsituationsfrustrateany attempton
thepartof thereaderto understand themand theirplight.What makes
thesebooks interesting, and the reasonfordiscussingthemin such de-
tail,is thattheir centralthemes,howeverunconvincingly presentedhere,
serveas a backgroundforan understanding of theresolutionof modern
ethicalconflicts whichVesaas arrivesat in his laterworks.
There are certainaspectsof theseearlyworks,however,whichare
interesting in themselves, and whichalso shedlighton the development
of his later style. One of the most characteristic featuresof Vesaas'
writing is his tendency assign unexpectedqualities to objects and
to

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 Vesaas' Earliest Writing 131

thingsin the world. An exampleof this in his later writingis The

Shriekin theshortstory"ThreeQuietMen" ("Tre stillemenn") ( 1959),
whichhas the qualitiesof both livingthingsand fire. But this repre-
sentsthe end stage of a long development whichappears to have had
its originin somewhatromanticand anthropomorphic descriptionsof
nature,forwhichVesaas' mostimmediatemodelwas probablysimilar
descriptionsin thenovelsof the nineteenth-centurywriterBj0rnstjerne
Bj0rnson. The firstchapterof Bj0rnson'snovel Arne (1859) is the
classic example of this style in Norwegianliterature("Enn om vi
kleddefjellet,sa eneren"). A readingof the firstparagraphof Vesaas'
firstpublishednovel,Childrenof Man, showsthathe has made skillful
use of his model:
Urn ikkje Kjellborgaasen er eit fjell, so er han daa snaud og verhard. Lyngtufsar
og kreklebj0rklever livet sitt der. Eit einsamt liv. Av og til kann ein rjupeflokk
koma slengjande. Kvit og kj0leg urn vinteren, farga og varm um sumaren.
Vitjingier stutt,dei kjem og gjeng,ei skarringog so er det ikkje meir. Kreklebj0rki
stend att, ser langt etterden siglande skare, faertokken av eit liv som er Ijost og
romt,eit varkrareliv, men eit utenkjelegfor den som er k0yrd i myr med lange
r0ter. Og kreklebj0rkikryp saman, slaerseg ut paa breidda, ein og arman busken
t0ygjer seg utyver torva og speglar den krongluttekroppen sin i Kjellborgtj0nn
(p. 5).
Besides the personification of inanimateobjects evident in this
passage,it is interesting
also for the presence,in embryonicform,of
anotherimportantfeatureof style characteristic of Vesaas' writing:
short,ellipticalsentencesalternatingwith clustersof sentencesstrung
togetherwithouta break.
The personification of inanimateobjects can serve otherpurposes
than that of meredescriptionin Vesaas' early writing.Anotherpas-
sage in Childrenof Man illustratesthis:
So still som skogen kann stände etter sn0fall. Kvart tre og buske ber si kvite
byrd, ja dei minste buskane, dei veikaste greinene,alle hev dei sin part aa bera,
og dei stend so stille so stille,liksom raeddefor aa misse det minsteav det dei er
sette til aa ta vare paa (p. 101).
This passage appears at the beginningof the chapterin which
Knut and Torsteinleave forHeddejor afterthe death of Liv in the
blizzard. The descriptionof the snow as a burdeneach branchmust
bear servesin its contextto symbolizethe burdenKnut and Torstein
mustbear because of Liv's death,and whichis furthersymbolizedby
the iron cross whichtheylater bear on theirbacks. Vesaas' use of

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132 Scandinavian Studies

objectsin natureas symbolsin his earlyworksis also illustrated

by the
imageof the mountainin Childrenof Man. It occursfirstwhenKnut
has leftHeddejoraftersavingthelifeof a girlwhomhe loved,but who
lovedanother.He feelshe mustleave thevillage,and sets out: "Fjellet
stod bakum,det var h0gtog kvittog kaldt,men tindetoppen bora seg
inn i skyine,og vartburteder" (p. 38).
AfterTorsteinhas foundout that Liv Myrejardwishesto remain
faithfulto Knut he leaves Myrejard,wherehe has been workingas a
hiredhand,and movesto his old home,a littlefarmbeneaththemoun-
tain peak. This chapter is entitled"Beneath the Peak" ("Under
tinden") and opens:
Tinden er det som rekk yver alt og alt. Han er det fyrstesoli gyller,og det siste
ho fargarnaa ho gjeng kveldraud ned. Han stangar himlenmed sin stolte nakke,
og han kl0yvernordljosetnaar det kjem sigande med uversbod (p. 87).

to Liv pure falters,

WhenKnut's resolutionto keep his relationship
he seeksinspiration
in thesightof themountainpeak:
Men daa var det liksom tinden vaks framforauga hans, h0g og skarpt skoren,
skirareenn noken annen ting.
Og framfordenna stolte spir totte han at han, som var eit menneske,ikkje
vilde vera den mindre mann, han slengde det mot tinden som i härme:- Aldri
aldri skal du sjaa meg gjeva etterder! (pp. 90-91).

The mountainpeak is used in boththesecases to represent thestrict

ethicaldemandsthatKnut and Torsteinmake on themselves once they
have decidedto sacrificetheirown interests.The imagereturnsin the
final sentenceof the book, as Knut and Torsteincarry their cross
across the last stretchof heath to Myrejard: "Ute i synsrandisteig
framein tinde,h0g og skarptskoren." Both Knut and Torsteinhave
been able to live up to the ethicaldemandstheyhave made on them-
selves. The use of the mountainpeak in this way is a bit romantic
withinthe contextof the book as a whole,but it is effective.Harald
Naess,thinking of how Vesaas has frequently
titledlaternovelson the
basis of theircentralsymbol,has suggestedthat the novel could very
well have been titledThe Peak (Tinden),5and he is certainlyrightin
this. The mountainpeak in Childrenof Man is not as successfula
centralimageas thosein Vesaas' laternovels,but it is an earlyexample

5 Harald
Naess, Et forspkover Vesaas1 prosastil. Edda (1962), p. 160.

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 Vesaas' Earliest Writing 133

of a techniquethat was to play an increasingly importantrole in his

writing.
Vesaas frequently describesthe contactthatcan existbetweenman
and animals. For him the animalstandingin the closestpositiverela-
tionshipto man is the horse,and thismotiveappears frequently in his
books. It appearsfirst,as do so manyof his basic motives,in Children
ofMan. WhenLiv's brotherliesdying,he imaginesthatdeathis waiting
forhim in the darknessoutside. Knut feelscalled on to go out in his
stead. His will to sacrificehimselfin thisway is, however,frustrated
when he steps outside and allows himselfto be panicked by the
screeching of an owl. He fleesinto the barn,and findshimselfin the
stable:
Han triviaframforseg medkaldedirrande hendar,derst0yttehan motnoko,
detvarei varmfasthestelend.
Og detstr0ymde medeittsomein tungtryggleikpaa han,han la baae hendane
burtpaa,det var ei saele. Hestenkom med snuten,forundra.Knut Heddejor
kraup lengerinn i benken,naerareog tettareinn til denna varme levande
skapningen.
Dynnistod uppe,eit op ut mot nattiog det som ventader,jaha, men her
var han trygg.Hestentok til aa ruskei krubba,fannvel nokrestraa,han togg
dei medgod trygge knurp.KnutHeddejortottedet stodsom eit gjerdeimotalt
faeltog vondt(pp. S7-58).

In Vesaas7secondnovel,Huskuld the Herald, Huskuld standsin a

close relationship
to the birdslivingin the woods whichsurroundhis
tinyfarm. He has no companyexceptthe birdshe keeps alive in the
wintertime withthe grainhe growson his tinyplot of land:
Spurven og meisen ha honom mykje kjaer. Dessa saele ting! Dei kunde svive som
dei vilde millomhimmelog jord, trongikkje saa og hauste, det sytte den gode far
for: Huskuld i Faltinbu, det var hans lut i livet (p. 7).

As can be seen fromthis quotation,both the sentimental and reli-

gious strainsin Vesaas' early writingare prominentin Huskuld the
Herald. But thereis also muchmorethere;in manyways it is one of
the best books he has written,and by far the best of his earlyworks.
Huskuld's lonelylife is brokenwhen a gypsywoman and her little
son, Ingebj0nn,come to Faltinbu,hungryand cold. He feeds them
and letsthemstaythenight.In thenightthemotherrunsaway,leaving
herchildwithHuskuld. They growveryfondof each other,and when

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134 Scandinavian Studies

the motherreturnsforher childin the spring,Huskuldis heartbroken.

He sets out to findanotherchildto care for,but it mustbe one which
wouldhave nothingto lose by comingto live withhim. He meetsmany
people and sees manychildren,but none who would not be betteroff
as theyare. Discouraged,he is about to returnhome,whenhe findsout
whereIngebj0nnis. But duringhis travelshe has also met a couple
who have lost theironlyson. He realizesIngebj0nnwill be betteroff
withthem,and allows themto take him into theirhome. He returns
home alone. Shortlyafterwards, an unexpectedand prematurefrost
comes. In orderto protectthe grainforhis belovedbirdshe coversit
withall his blanketsand even the clothesoffhis body. He saves much
of thegrain,but becomesill and dies.
This is the firstof severalnovelscenteringaroundjourneyswhich
Vesaas has written.The travellersin these novels receivemany im-
pressionsof life duringtheirjourneys,and the effectof theseimpres-
sions on themrevealsitselfin strangevisionsand dreamswhichthey
have. Soon afterHuskuldhas comehomehe wandersaimlesslythrough
theforestaftera rainstorm.He comesto a rockyknollprojectingabove
the forest,and climbsit:
Og daa han kom upp, kva var det daa? var det at all heimen hadde skylt seg i
lyn og regn,eller kva var det for ein merkelegklaare!
Var det Huskuld, at han ikkje var den same? men det var liksom klaarberg
sj0lv han stod paa. Dessa fjelli som jamt raama bilaetetso rundeleg inn- idag
flaut dei ut og var til aa sjaa igjenom, laag berre som eit lett him so alt der bak
var berrt,det var ein klaare so underleg etter som hindune for augo hans fall
(p. 218).
What Huskuld sees is that thereis a bettertime comingfor the
people of the earth,and that theymustkeep faithand look forward
to it,passingthe faithon fromgeneration to generation.He hopesthat
thismeansthatperhaps"Ingebj0nnkomtilaa bli medi noko,nokohan
ikkje kunde vita, men berre hadde kjent der paa klaarbergidag"
(p. 221).
That samenightHuskuldsleepsand dreamsthatall humantroubles
"are smokeand shallbe no more." (. . . er r0ykog skal ikkjevera til.)
This seemsto be anotherreference to Revelations21, fromwhichalso
thetitleof theplay The DwellingPlaces of God is taken. When,at the
veryend of the novelone of Huskuld'sneighbors, who has heard that
Huskuld has found out somethingimportantabout life during his

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 Vesaas' Earliest Writing 135

travels,comes to him and pleads,withhim to tell him why life is so

Huskuldrepeatsthesewordsin his delirium:
difficult,
Det er r0yk,sa han, og skal ikkje vera til.
(Naboen) kasta seg framstupesyver lega og skulde vel liksom hindreHuskuld
i aa reisefraa. Lat det vera, kringHuskuld vart alt so uendeleglett,og noko kalla
paa han og han gjekk burtyverog kom til ein heim som han kjende fraa fyrr. Ei
kvinnekom ut der, han kjende henne,aa ja, ho var ljos og h0g som alt paa denna
staden,og ho let upp d0reneog bad han tr0 fyreinn (p. 252).
That the endingof thisnovel is reminiscent of the endingof Peer
Gynt is not surprising.Ibsen's plays, and Peer Gyntin particular,have
a
always occupied special place in Vesaas' attention,6 and this is only
one of manyplaces in Vesaas' writingwhereechoes of Ibsen's works
can be detected.At thispointin his careerVesaas was mostinfluenced
by theromanticaspectsof Ibsen's writing, but Ibsen's influencewas to
appear at deeper levels in later Vesaas books.7 Romantic as it is,
Huskuld the Herald has one thingin its favorthat liftsit above his
othernovelsfromthe192O's:thefigureofHuskuldhimself.As unrealis-
ticallyas he and his environment are portrayedat times,he is com-
pletely believable as a human being,and the readercan hardlyhelp
but be charmedby his naiveteand sincerity.
Despite the overallweaknessesof theseearlyworks,and the basic
similarity of theirreligiousthemesand romanticstyles,some develop-
mentcan be seen in them. A good exampleof thisis the development
whichstartsto take place in descriptions dealingwith the clearingof
land. When this motivefirstappears in Vesaas' writing,it does so in
a highlysentimental form.In his earlyprize-winning prosepoem,"To
My Sun-Maiden"(1921) (Til mi Solm0y)8he givesventto a seriesof
rapturousfeelingswhiledescribinghis visionof life withan imagined
sweetheart:
Gard vil eg rydja, i mold vil eg grava- me er i pakt med jordi, ho er vaar mor, ho
signar sine s0ner. . . . Sjaa aakeren,- sjaa no er han mögen, no er körnet gult!
Aa mögen aaker! Aa gult körn! Det er underet lat vaar kjaerleikfestna til
eit tuntreemed r0terdjupt i heim og gard (p. 57).

In a prosepoeticsketchentitled"Flowersof the Earth" ("Blomar

6 Cf. "Om
skrivaren,"p. 15-17.
7 Cf.
Naess, loc. cit., pp. 167-168.
8Joleh0gtid(Oslo, 1921), pp. 11-12.

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136 Scandinavian Studies

yverland") publishedthefollowing som

yearhe talksabout "nybrotet,
rann upp daa vilje m0ttekjaerleik - det er vel blomenmillomblomar
yverland."9 And in thissketch,too, he talks about the youngcouple
plantinga tree in the yard (eit tuntre). This shortsketchreappears
two yearslater in a slightlyalteredformin Huskuld the Herald, but
one whichleaves the romanticattitudetowardthe clearingof land in-
tact. In The Farm at Grinde,however,publishedthe followingyear,
a newand deeperperspective is added. Grindeis a desertedfarmwhen
Toremun'sparentscome to workit, and theymustfirstclear a field.
In the beginningeverything is stillidyllic:
Han stod der b0ygdmotjordi og grovog brautog veltesamansteinr0ysar,
han
sveitta,menhan var so ungog han kündeständesmilemedryggenverkteog soli
steikteog steinanevar fortunge
(p. 9).
Even the pile of stonesis sentimentalized:
Dei tottedei lauthaldeav henneetteralt slitet ho haddekosta. Dei peikapaa den
og den steinenog kjendeliksomatt kvar einskild - sjaa den! minnestdu han?
ja og den daa visstkjemeg so ihug (pp. 10-11).
A childis bornto thecouple,and thestrugglebecomesmoreserious:
Aakerenauka seg,og steinr0ysane
auka, dei var storetagalleminnesmerke,
men
dei setteogsomerkepaa han sombygdedei (p. 13).

The childdies,however,and a changetakesplace withinthe father.

Clearingland is no longerthe gameit was:
og mannentok til brjotejord i eislags0rske,det galdtaa d0yvedet som vilde
slaa han ned,slaa att etternoko,det var somjordititraliteav redsleforhan,der
han grovmedj0nn og makt(p. 14).

In Evening at Grinde,afterToremun,the couple's second child,

returnsto Grindeafterfinallyleavingjail, he, too,beginsclearingland
as if obsessed:
Sonentreivberrespadeni 0rvaene,slo laus medsvartforaugo,. . . aldrihaddevel
ein nybrotsmann kvi kunde ho iikje
set med slikt anlet utyverarbeidsteigen,
livne,den gledasom h0yrertil det arbeidet?(p. 109).
We are also givena quasi-psychological
explanationof Toremun's
nature,tracingit back to his father's:
9 Syn og segn (Olso, 1922), pp. 283-284.

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 Vesaas' Earliest Writing 137

Sonen hadde fengeblaase inn i seg so tungtog vildrandeeit sinn,og sidan

hadde lagnadensettinn paa honom,trive honomi bringaog slengthonomtil
markiog gjengesinvegutanminsteforklaaring (p. 109).
Toremunis the firstof manycharactersin Vesaas' books who are
at the mercyof forcesover whichtheyhave no control,and against
which they struggle,sometimessuccessfully, sometimesin vain. He
showsthissideofhisnaturefirstin thesequencein The Farm at Grinde
in whichhe throwsthelamb intothepond. This sectionof thenovelis
one of the mostremarkableand hauntingscenesVesaas has ever de-
picted,and standsout sharplyin thenovel,breakingas it does into the
sentimental storyof the childhoodof Toremunand Brit. It musthave
amazedand puzzledmanyreadersat thetimeof thenovel'spublication,
butseenfromourpresentviewpoint it is easy to see howit is thestarting
point of an line
interesting of development.How difficultlife is for
Toremun, and howstrong theforcespullingat himare,is welldescribed:
Og so b0ygdehan hovudetog skynaendaa ein gongkor det er uliktfor ulike
mennesker.
Ein kündele meddenandrevar siegenav gaatur,ein kündegangeherog lata
- og ein annenkjende
detbli kveldog natt,og endaaha eit hjartasomlo i bringa
nattislo ut sommyrkeblomar,og kjendekorho drogog saug og maktstol, so ein
maattekrinsekringhenne,og liksomkjennepaa henne,slikein altid lyt dragasi
av det l0ynde(p. 140).
He has comeout into the nightbecause he feltthathe was "some-
how beingcalled" (p. 142) ("Det liksomroparpaa meg inatt."), by
something thatis "callingand askingifI dare." ("Det roparog sp0rurn
eg torer.") And he is fullyaware of what is facinghim: (p. 141)-
"Inattvil eg faa vitakveneg er." The conflictwithinToremunis never
clearlydefinednor successfully resolved;the desireto do penance for
the lamb's and Brit'sdeath'is not deeplyenoughgroundedpsychologi-
cally and the endingof the storytoo melodramaticforthis. But the
anxietiesand obsessionswhichplaguehimare centralhumanproblems,
and even thoughVesaas was not able to presentthemconvincingly at
this early stage of his career,it is clear that the romanticattitudes
towardlifewhichcharacterize his earlywritingwerealreadybeginning
to undergoa transformation.

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