Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson, Nye Fortellinger: Mors Hender [New Tales: Mother’s Hands]

Kathy Rees (Independent Scholar - Europe)

Ed. by Susan Brantly, University of Wisconsin
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.5: Norwegian Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London), Anja Tröger (University of Edinburgh)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1892

Places

Norway (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story

Resources

This novella addresses ongoing social and political themes in Bjørnson’s oeuvre. He explores the position of women in Norwegian society, both married and single. Set partly in Christiana, it also conjures the contemporary resistance to Swedish sovereignty. References to Swedish officers are ironic: “two stately Swedes with their bland courtier eyes, are looking rather pale: perhaps they have been wounded as well as decorated in advance” (164). At the time of writing, the Norwegians were strengthening their army and navy, and demanding greater political freedom. The story encompasses two viewpoints: the present (the careless life of pleasure experienced by the daughter, Magne) and the past (the married life of …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

708 words

Citation: Rees, Kathy. "Nye Fortellinger: Mors Hender". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 October 2016 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35835, accessed 23 November 2024.]

Save this article