Аннотация

Considered one of Sweden&#39;s greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg created Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson to portray the joys and tragedies of daily life for early Swedish pioneers in America. His consistently faithful depiction of these humble people&#39;s lives is a major strength of the Emigrant Novels.<br /><br />Moberg&#39;s extensive research in the papers of Swedish emigrants in archival collections, including the Minnesota Historical Society, enabled him to incorporate many details of pioneer life. First published between 1949 and 1959 in Swedish, these four books were considered a single work by Moberg, who intended that they be read as documentary novels. These editions contain introductions written by Roger McKnight, Gustavus Adolphus College, and restore Moberg&#39;s bibliography not included in earlier English editions.<br /><br />Book 4 portrays the Nilsson family during the turmoil of living through the era of the Civil War and Dakota Conflict and their prospering in the midst of Minnesota&#39;s growing Swedish community of the 1860s-90s.<br /><br />&quot;It&#39;s important to have Moberg&#39;s Emigrant Novels available for another generation of readers.&quot;&mdash;Bruce Karstadt, American Swedish Institute

Аннотация

Considered one of Sweden&#39;s greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg created Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson to portray the joys and tragedies of daily life for early Swedish pioneers in America. His consistently faithful depiction of these humble people&#39;s lives is a major strength of the Emigrant Novels.<br /><br />Moberg&#39;s extensive research in the papers of Swedish emigrants in archival collections, including the Minnesota Historical Society, enabled him to incorporate many details of pioneer life. First published between 1949 and 1959 in Swedish, these four books were considered a single work by Moberg, who intended that they be read as documentary novels. These editions contain introductions written by Roger McKnight, Gustavus Adolphus College, and restore Moberg&#39;s bibliography not included in earlier English editions.<br /><br />Book 3 focuses on Karl Oskar and Kristina as they adapt to their new homeland and struggle to survive on their new farm.<br /><br />&quot;It&#39;s important to have Moberg&#39;s Emigrant Novels available for another generation of readers.&quot;&mdash;Bruce Karstadt, American Swedish Institute

Аннотация

Considered one of Sweden&#39;s greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg created Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson to portray the joys and tragedies of daily life for early Swedish pioneers in America. His consistently faithful depiction of these humble people&#39;s lives is a major strength of the Emigrant Novels.<br /><br />Moberg&#39;s extensive research in the papers of Swedish emigrants in archival collections, including the Minnesota Historical Society, enabled him to incorporate many details of pioneer life. First published between 1949 and 1959 in Swedish, these four books were considered a single work by Moberg, who intended that they be read as documentary novels. These editions contain introductions written by Roger McKnight, Gustavus Adolphus College, and restore Moberg&#39;s bibliography not included in earlier English editions.<br /><br />Book 2 opens in the summer of 1850 as the emigrants disembark in New York City. Their journey to a new home in Minnesota Territory takes them by riverboat, steam wagon, Great Lakes steamship, and oxcart to Chisago County.<br /><br />&quot;It&#39;s important to have Moberg&#39;s Emigrant Novels available for another generation of readers.&quot;&mdash;Bruce Karstadt, American Swedish Institute

Аннотация

Considered one of Sweden&#39;s greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg created Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson to portray the joys and tragedies of daily life for early Swedish pioneers in America. His consistently faithful depiction of these humble people&#39;s lives is a major strength of the Emigrant Novels.<br /><br />Moberg&#39;s extensive research in the papers of Swedish emigrants in archival collections, including the Minnesota Historical Society, enabled him to incorporate many details of pioneer life. First published between 1949 and 1959 in Swedish, these four books were considered a single work by Moberg, who intended that they be read as documentary novels. These editions contain introductions written by Roger McKnight, Gustavus Adolphus College, and restore Moberg&#39;s bibliography not included in earlier English editions.<br /><br />Book 1 introduces Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson, their three young children, and eleven others who make up a resolute party of Swedes fleeing the poverty, religious persecution, and social oppression of Småland in 1850.<br /><br />&quot;It&#39;s important to have Moberg&#39;s Emigrant Novels available for another generation of readers.&quot; &mdash;Bruce Karstadt, American Swedish Institute

Аннотация

At the beginning of the twentieth century, in the poverty-stricken Swedish region of Småland, young Valter, the son of a soldier, explores the world around him and watches his older brothers emigrate to America. In this novel of the life of a farm boy, first published in three volumes in 1946, Vilhelm Moberg sensitively explores his own childhood.<br /><br />When Valter, a boy with great imagination, describes the exciting things he sees so vividly, he is punished for lying, so he learns to write his stories down instead. He willingly leaves school and helps support his family by working in lumber camps and a glass factory. His father&#39;s ill health and death bring even harder times. Through all his toil, he debates whether to honor his father&#39;s wish and remain in Sweden to support his mother.<br /><br />With gentle irony and a loving knowledge of the landscape, the people, and the larger issue of class struggle, Moberg offers American readers a deeply moving view of the other side of Swedish immigration.

Аннотация

For centuries, people have celebrated every Midsummer&#39;s Eve at an ancient spring near a small Swedish village. On that special night, when unmarried men and women dance and some unusual activities are permitted, the Bridal Spring has special powers.<br /><br />Vilhelm Moberg introduces four musicians on the last day that each one will ever know: a curmudgeonly fiddler from the 1930s, a sad and conscientious key-harp player from the plague era of 1711, a ne&#39;er-do-well who plays the flute in 1545, and a goat-horn blower from prehistoric times who, like the others, only seeks happiness with a woman. Binding their stories together is the voice of the Bridal Spring itself, tart and grudgingly compassionate&mdash;and slow to reveal its secret.<br /><br />Each progression backward in time reflects Moberg&#39;s rich knowledge of folklore and shows the changes in everyday life in Sweden&#39;s past. First published in 1946, before the Emigrants novels, The Brides of Midsummer is a complex, compelling journey through the arc of human life.