Ole Edvart Rølvaag
Encyclopedia
Ole Edvart Rølvaag (April 22, 1876 - November 5, 1931) was an American novelist and professor who became well known for his writings regarding the Norwegian American
immigrant experience. Ole Rolvaag is most frequently associated with Giants in the Earth, his award-winning, epic novel of Norwegian immigrant homesteaders in Dakota Territory
.
, in the far southern district of Nordland
county, Norway
. Dønna, one of the largest islands on the northern coast of Norway, is situated about five miles from the Arctic Circle
. He was born with the name Ole Edvart Pedersen, one of seven children of Peder Benjamin Jakobsen and Ellerine Pedersdatter Vaag. The settlement where he was born had no official name, but was referred to as Rølvaag, the name of a narrow bay on the northwestern point of the island where the fishermen kept their boats. At 14 years of age Rølvaag joined his father and brothers in the Lofoten
fishing grounds. Rølvaag lived there until he was 20 years of age, and the impressions he received during the days of his childhood and his young manhood endured with him throughout his life.
An uncle who had emigrated to America sent him a ticket in the summer of 1896, and he traveled to Union County, South Dakota
to work as a farmhand. He settled in Elk Point, South Dakota
, working as a farmhand until 1898. With the help of his pastor, Rølvaag enrolled in Augustana Academy
in Canton, South Dakota
where he graduated in 1901. He earned a bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College
in Northfield, Minnesota
in 1905, and a master's degree from the same institution in 1910. He also had studied for some time at the University of Oslo
.
.
president John N. Kildahl
. Rølvaag was made head of the Norwegian Department at St. Olaf College in 1916. In 1925, Ole E. Rolvaag became the first secretary and archivist of Norwegian-American Historical Association
. He would hold both positions for the remainder of his life. Rølvaag was knighted in the Order of St. Olav by the King Haakon VII in 1926.
, however his novels have a distinct American flavor and theme. Rolvaag was deeply influenced by earlier American writers who, writing in the Norwegian language, had faithfully portrayed the experiences of so many Norwegian immigrant pioneers. In this he was strongly influenced by Hans Andersen Foss
and Peer Stromme
, both of whom had written novels which provided realistic aspects of the homesteader’s experience. The Emigrants by Norwegian author Johan Bojer
, which was first published in 1925, follows many of these same themes. Rølvaag in turn provided an equally strong influence on future Scandinavia
n writers. Rølvaag attracted a number of gifted young Norwegian-Americans to St. Olaf College
, among them Einar Haugen
. Written decades later, Vilhelm Moberg
's novels would depict the experience of Swedish-American immigrants.
as they try to make a new life in America. The book was based partly upon his personal experiences as a settler and as well of the experiences of his wife’s family who had been immigrant homesteaders. The novel powerfully and realistically treats the lives and trials of Norwegian pioneers in the Midwest, emphasizing their battles with snow storms, locusts, poverty and hunger. The book also vividly portrays the trials of loneliness, separation from family and longing for the old country, the difficulty of fitting into a new culture, and the estrangement of immigrant children who grew up in the new land.
Written in Norwegian and stemming from a rich old-world literary tradition, the book equally reads as a deeply and vitally American novel. It provides a dramatic contrast between Per Hansa, the natural pioneer who sees promise flooding the wind swept plains, and his wife Beret, who hungers for the home ways and in whose heart the terror of loneliness gathers, penetrates to the deeper reality of life lived on the American frontier.
Giants in the Earth was turned into an opera
by Douglas Moore and Arnold Sundgaard; it won the Pulitzer Prize for Music
in 1951.
The following three books form a trilogy:
Last release:
Norwegian American
Norwegian Americans are Americans of Norwegian descent. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the later half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans according to the most recent U.S. census, and...
immigrant experience. Ole Rolvaag is most frequently associated with Giants in the Earth, his award-winning, epic novel of Norwegian immigrant homesteaders in Dakota Territory
Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota.The Dakota Territory consisted of...
.
Biography
Rølvaag was born in the family's cottage in a small fishing village on the island of DønnaDønna
Dønna is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland region.Outer Helgeland, consists of the municipalities Leirfjord, Alstahaug, Herøy as well as Dønna. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Solfjellsjøen. The municipality has a large...
, in the far southern district of Nordland
Nordland
is a county in Norway in the North Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is...
county, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. Dønna, one of the largest islands on the northern coast of Norway, is situated about five miles from the Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....
. He was born with the name Ole Edvart Pedersen, one of seven children of Peder Benjamin Jakobsen and Ellerine Pedersdatter Vaag. The settlement where he was born had no official name, but was referred to as Rølvaag, the name of a narrow bay on the northwestern point of the island where the fishermen kept their boats. At 14 years of age Rølvaag joined his father and brothers in the Lofoten
Lofoten
Lofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude.-Etymology:...
fishing grounds. Rølvaag lived there until he was 20 years of age, and the impressions he received during the days of his childhood and his young manhood endured with him throughout his life.
An uncle who had emigrated to America sent him a ticket in the summer of 1896, and he traveled to Union County, South Dakota
Union County, South Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 12,584 people, 4,927 households, and 3,517 families residing in the county. The population density was 27 people per square mile . There were 5,345 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...
to work as a farmhand. He settled in Elk Point, South Dakota
Elk Point, South Dakota
Elk Point is a city in Union County, South Dakota, United States. It is part of the Sioux City, IA–NE–SD Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,963 as of the 2010 census...
, working as a farmhand until 1898. With the help of his pastor, Rølvaag enrolled in Augustana Academy
Augustana Academy
Augustana Academy was an educational institution in Canton, South Dakota.The Norwegian Augustana Synod was established in 1870. In that year, the Synod began an academy called the Marshall Academy in Marshall, Wisconsin. In 1881, the academy was moved to Beloit, Iowa. In 1884 Augustana College...
in Canton, South Dakota
Canton, South Dakota
Canton is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, South Dakota, United States. The city was named by Norwegian settler and former legislator James M. Wahl...
where he graduated in 1901. He earned a bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College
St. Olaf College
St. Olaf College is a coeducational, residential, four-year, private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American immigrant pastors and farmers, led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after Olaf II of Norway,...
in Northfield, Minnesota
Northfield, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 17,147 people, 4,909 households, and 3,210 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,452.2 people per square mile . There were 5,119 housing units at an average density of 732.1 per square mile...
in 1905, and a master's degree from the same institution in 1910. He also had studied for some time at the University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
.
Personal life
In 1908 he became a United States citizen and married Jennie Marie Berdahl, the daughter of Andrew James Berdahl and Karen Oline Otterness. They had four children: Olaf, Ella, Karl and Paul. Their son, Karl Fritjof Rolvaag, served as the 31st Governor of MinnesotaGovernor of Minnesota
The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...
.
Career
In 1906, Rølvaag was recruited as a professor by St. Olaf CollegeSt. Olaf College
St. Olaf College is a coeducational, residential, four-year, private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American immigrant pastors and farmers, led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after Olaf II of Norway,...
president John N. Kildahl
John N. Kildahl
John Nathan Kildahl was an American Lutheran church minister, author and educator.-Background:Kildahl was born in Beitstaden parish , Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. Kildahl emigrated as a boy from Norway to rural Goodhue County, Minnesota. He was educated at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa...
. Rølvaag was made head of the Norwegian Department at St. Olaf College in 1916. In 1925, Ole E. Rolvaag became the first secretary and archivist of Norwegian-American Historical Association
Norwegian-American Historical Association
Norwegian-American Historical Association publishes scholarly books, documenting research and interpretations of the American experience of immigrant Norwegians....
. He would hold both positions for the remainder of his life. Rølvaag was knighted in the Order of St. Olav by the King Haakon VII in 1926.
Literary style and themes
Ole Rølvaag wrote in the Norwegian languageNorwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
, however his novels have a distinct American flavor and theme. Rolvaag was deeply influenced by earlier American writers who, writing in the Norwegian language, had faithfully portrayed the experiences of so many Norwegian immigrant pioneers. In this he was strongly influenced by Hans Andersen Foss
Hans Andersen Foss
Hans Andersen Foss was an American author, newspaper editor and temperance leader. Born the son of a small tenant farmer in 1851 in Modum, Buskerud county, Norway, Foss immigrated to the United States in 1887.-Biography:...
and Peer Stromme
Peer Stromme
Peer Stromme also Per Olsen Strømme was an American pastor, teacher, journalist, and author. -Biography:...
, both of whom had written novels which provided realistic aspects of the homesteader’s experience. The Emigrants by Norwegian author Johan Bojer
Johan Bojer
Johan Bojer was a popular Norwegian novelist and dramatist. He principally wrote about the lives of the poor farmers and fishermen, both in his native Norway and among the Norwegian immigrants in the United States.-Biography:...
, which was first published in 1925, follows many of these same themes. Rølvaag in turn provided an equally strong influence on future Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n writers. Rølvaag attracted a number of gifted young Norwegian-Americans to St. Olaf College
St. Olaf College
St. Olaf College is a coeducational, residential, four-year, private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American immigrant pastors and farmers, led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after Olaf II of Norway,...
, among them Einar Haugen
Einar Haugen
Einar Ingvald Haugen was an American linguist, author and Professor at University of Wisconsin–Madison and Harvard University.-Biography:Haugen was born in Sioux City, Iowa to Norwegians from the town of Oppdal in Norway. When he was a young child, the family moved back to Oppdal for a few years,...
. Written decades later, Vilhelm Moberg
Vilhelm Moberg
Karl Artur Vilhelm Moberg was a Swedish author and historian, most commonly associated with his four novels known as The Emigrants Series.-Early life:...
's novels would depict the experience of Swedish-American immigrants.
Giants in the Earth
Rølvaag's authorship and scholarship focused primarily on the pioneer experience on the Dakota plains in the 1870s. His most famous book is Giants in the Earth (Norwegian: Verdens Grøde), which is part of a trilogy. The classic story of a Norwegian pioneer family's struggles with the land and the elements of the Dakota TerritoryDakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota.The Dakota Territory consisted of...
as they try to make a new life in America. The book was based partly upon his personal experiences as a settler and as well of the experiences of his wife’s family who had been immigrant homesteaders. The novel powerfully and realistically treats the lives and trials of Norwegian pioneers in the Midwest, emphasizing their battles with snow storms, locusts, poverty and hunger. The book also vividly portrays the trials of loneliness, separation from family and longing for the old country, the difficulty of fitting into a new culture, and the estrangement of immigrant children who grew up in the new land.
Written in Norwegian and stemming from a rich old-world literary tradition, the book equally reads as a deeply and vitally American novel. It provides a dramatic contrast between Per Hansa, the natural pioneer who sees promise flooding the wind swept plains, and his wife Beret, who hungers for the home ways and in whose heart the terror of loneliness gathers, penetrates to the deeper reality of life lived on the American frontier.
Giants in the Earth was turned into an opera
Giants in the Earth (opera)
Giants in the Earth is a Pullitzer Prize winning opera by composer Douglas Moore. The work uses an English libretto by Arnold Sundgaard after Ole Edvart Rølvaag's novel of the same name. The work premiered on March 28, 1951 at Columbia University's Brander Matthews Theatre...
by Douglas Moore and Arnold Sundgaard; it won the Pulitzer Prize for Music
Pulitzer Prize for Music
The Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer did not call for such a prize in his will, but had arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year...
in 1951.
Memorials
- The O. E. Rolvaag HouseO. E. Rolvaag HouseThe O. E. Rølvaag House was the home of Ole Edvart Rølvaag , Norwegian-American novelist and professor at St. Olaf College. The home is located at 311 Manitou Street in Northfield, Minnesota. Rølvaag wrote most of his works in this house, which is near St...
in Northfield, MinnesotaNorthfield, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 17,147 people, 4,909 households, and 3,210 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,452.2 people per square mile . There were 5,119 housing units at an average density of 732.1 per square mile...
is listed as a National Historic LandmarkNational Historic LandmarkA National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
. - The Rolvaag Library at St. Olaf CollegeSt. Olaf CollegeSt. Olaf College is a coeducational, residential, four-year, private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American immigrant pastors and farmers, led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after Olaf II of Norway,...
is named after O. E. Rolvaag. - The Berdahl-Rølvaag House, where Rølvaag wrote Giants in the Earth, is located in the Heritage Park of the Augustana CollegeAugustana College (South Dakota)Augustana College is a private, liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. The campus makes the school the largest private university in South Dakota...
campus in Sioux FallsSioux Falls, South DakotaSioux Falls is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Sioux Falls is the county seat of Minnehaha County, and also extends into Lincoln County to the south...
, South DakotaSouth DakotaSouth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
. - The Ole Rolvaag Collection is maintained in the Norwegian-American Historical AssociationNorwegian-American Historical AssociationNorwegian-American Historical Association publishes scholarly books, documenting research and interpretations of the American experience of immigrant Norwegians....
Archives at St. Olaf CollegeSt. Olaf CollegeSt. Olaf College is a coeducational, residential, four-year, private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American immigrant pastors and farmers, led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after Olaf II of Norway,...
.
Selected bibliography
- Amerika-breve fra P.A. Smevik til hans far og bror i Norge – American Letters (1912)
- Paa Glemte Veie – On Forgotten Paths (1914)
- To Tullinger: Et Billede frå idag - Two Fools: a Portrait of Our Times (1920)
- Længselens Baat - The Boat of Longing (1921)
- Omkring fædrearven – Concerning Our Heritage (1922)
- I de Dage – In Those Days (1923)
- Riket Grundlægges - Founding the Kingdom (1924)
The following three books form a trilogy:
- Giants in the Earth (combined version of I de Dage and Riket Grundlægges – translated and published in 1927)
- Peder Seier - Peder Victorious (translated in 1929)
- Den Signede Dag - Their Father's God (translated in 1931)
Last release:
- Pure Gold (translated in 1930)
- The Boat of Longing (1933)
Additional sources
- Jorgenson, Theodore and Solum, Nora O. Ole Edvart Rölvaag: A Biography (Harper and Brothers, 1939)
- Reigstad, Paul. Rolvaag: His Life and Art (University of Nebraska Press, 1972)
- Thorson, Gerald. Ole Rolvaag, Artist and Cultural Leader (St. Olaf College Press, 1975)
- Simonson, Harold P. Prairies Within: The Tragic Trilogy of Ole Rolvaag (University of Washington Press, 1987)
- Moseley, Ann. Ole Edvart Rolvaag (Boise State University Bookstore, 1987)
- Eckstein, Neil Truman. Marginal Man As Novelist: The Norwegian-American Writers H.H Boyesen and O.E. Rolvaag (Taylor & Francis, 1990)
- Haugen, Einar Ingvald Ole Edvart Rölvaag (Boston: Twayne Publishers,1983)
External links
- Ole Rølvåg
- Minnesota Historic Society - Minnesota Author Biographies Project
- St Olaf College – Rolvaag Memorial Library
- Two Novelists of the Northwest Prairie Frontier. (Texas Christian University Press, 1998.)
- Rolvaag's Search for Soria Moria by Raychel A. Haugrud (Norwegian-American Historical Association. Volume 26: Page 103)
- Dear Sara Alelia: An Episode in Rølvaag's Life by Einar Haugen (Norwegian-American Historical Association. Volume 31: Page 269)
- The Social Criticism of Ole Edvart Rølvaag by Neil T. Eckstein (Norwegian-American Historical Association. Volume 24: Page 112)
- Rølvaag’s Lost Novel by Einar Haugen (Norwegian-American Historical Association. Volume 32: Page 209)
- The Scandinavian Immigrant Writer in America by Dorothy Burton Skardal (Norwegian-American Historical Association. Volume 21: Page 14)