International Journal of Language & Literature

Kristin Lavransdatter: Bright, Defiant Axis
Kelly Murray Frigard

Abstract
Kristin Lavransdatter, by Sigrid Undset is a story set in the first half of the fourteenth century in the central and southern region of Norway which tells the saga of a bright and defiant woman who journeys through life with daring desire, making her life a complex pilgrimage of exploration, questioning, sacrifice, suffering, and ultimately deliverance. This work of over 1,000 pages won Sigrid Undset a Nobel Prize in 1928. As the work nears its hundredth birthday, Undset’s position in the history of women writers deserves the attention of contemporary international readers because it poses many questions about the lives of women which are still poignant today. As a writer of historical fiction in the Realist tradition, Undset crafts her characters to reveal the complexity of the human condition as they journey through life in the Middle Ages, fraught with contradiction, namely the struggle between the tangle of earthly desire, romantic love, and familial loyalty, while being bound by the teachings of the Christian church. Most importantly, however, Undset explores how the choice of a husband affected a woman's life-long financial security and the standing of her children for generations to come. Kristin Lavransdatter is the story of a bold woman who chooses to challenge this hierarchical framework and take on the complex, burdensome pilgrimage which follows, ultimately revealing her main character’s own inner strength and honor through Undset’s unique compassionate lens.

Full Text: PDF      DOI: 10.15640/ijll.v4n2a1