Giants in the Earth by O.E. Rølvaag

I first came across Giants in the Earth when I was still in high school, probably about 15 years ago now. I was bargain-hunting at a bookstore that was going out of business at my local mall. The prices on everything were slashed significantly, and I ended up with loads of classics for a steal. This novel was one of them. I had never heard of it before, but I could tell from the cover that it was a famous one. I took it home and it has sat on my shelves ever since.

When I was searching for a novel for the "translated classic" prompt for my Back to the Classics Challenge this year, I remembered this book. I was pretty sure it was a translated work because of the author's name, but I did a little bit of research just to be sure. I discovered that O.E. Rølvaag occupies an interesting place in the literary cannon. He was born on a small island off the coast of Norway in 1876. He spent his youth as a fisherman there. His family was poor, and Rølvaag did not attend school regularly, but a deep love of literature helped to keep his mind sharp. He read everything he could get his hands on, including translations of many classic American and British works. When he was 20 years old, he decided to try and make a new life for himself in America, and moved in with an uncle who owned a farm in South Dakota. Eventually, he pursued a college education there and became a novelist and professor of literature at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. He achieved the American Dream.

The reason his background is interesting is because he straddles the line between Norwegian and American literature. He was born and raised in Norway, wrote all of his novels in Norwegian, and writes about Norwegian characters. At the same time, his writing was heavily influenced by American writers, his novels are set in America, and he did all the actual writing while he was living in America. Whether you consider his works to be Norwegian, American, or something in between depends on how one likes to classify literature, but he certainly is a unique sort of author.

One thing that isn't hazy, however, is the fact that Giants in the Earth, his most well-known novel, is a translated work. Rølvaag wrote it in Norwegian, published it in Norway first, then assisted in translating the text to create an English version. In my copy of the novel, he includes an author's note at the beginning of the text describing how difficult it was to translate the work into English, owing to his use of several Norwegian idioms and references. To help offset this, he includes footnotes throughout the text to help contextualize some of the characters' comments and situations in the story. This note satisfied me that this novel was an excellent choice for my challenge. Not only was it translated from another language, it would be my first book written by a Norwegian author. I started reading, excited to learn something new.

Giants in the Earth tells the saga of Per Hansa and his family as they immigrate from Norway to America to begin their lives as homesteaders in the Dakota Territories. At the start of the novel it is 1873, and Per Hansa, his wife Beret, and their three children are slowly making their way west in a wagon to start a new settlement on the prairie with their friends. Once they claim their land, the family settles down to begin establishing their farm. It isn't an easy task, and the family faces all sorts of struggles as they get started. Inclement weather, social isolation, medical problems, difficulty with crops, and plagues of locusts all threaten to ruin their fragile settlement. However, Per Hansa's irrepressible enthusiasm and unparalleled good luck get them through most events more or less unscathed. He proves to be a savvy businessman and a wise farmer. Before long, he is doing better on his land than most of his neighbors are. They all help each other as they move through the seasons, and form a tight little Norwegian community that grows larger through the years as more settlers slowly begin to show up.

One problem that Per Hansa can't solve through his hard work and business acumen, however, is the depression of his wife. Beret did not want to leave Norway and give up all her friends and family to move to America, but ultimately agreed to follow her husband. She was never able to overcome her misgivings, and is constantly terrorized by the wide, empty prairie. Her frequent worry is that there's "nothing to hide behind" so far away from civilization. She is lonely, frightened, and begins to suffer scary episodes in which she doesn't act like herself. When the locusts descend upon their farm, she has a complete mental breakdown that lasts for years and takes a tremendous toll on the family. Even when she comes back to herself, things aren't ever the same. Her sadness runs throughout the novel as a sharp counterpoint to Per Hansa's love for their new home, casting a shadow around the edges of everything and reminding readers that there was more to homesteading than dealing with the physical difficulties.

The parts of the novel dealing with Beret's mental illness were the most compelling to me. I felt a connection with her throughout to novel, as I am also on the brink of a big move and have some misgivings about it. Like her, I have an enthusiastic and smart husband that is excited for the change. Also like her, I am dreading leaving everything I know behind. I don't mean to say that my difficulties will be anything like hers were-- I am moving across my own country to a normal city where I have every expectation of being relatively happy-- but I understand the fear and the sadness at leaving. This empathy connected me with the story more deeply than if I had read it at any other time in my life, so I'm happy that I waited until now. I was also pleasantly surprised that the mental health of a female character was explored so deeply, as a lot of older novels don't spend much time on their supporting women. Per Hansa mentions a few times that he blames himself for Beret's condition and admits that he should have paid more attention to her feelings about moving, which I liked. While her mental illness wasn't exactly his fault, it shows that there is more to his character than building, business dealings, and farming. He created an amazingly successful home in spite of incredible difficulties, but his pioneer story isn't a happy one, and it's because he comes to understand that he was a bit too self-centered. For a home to be happy, the needs of each family member need to be met. Beret's weren't.

I really enjoyed reading this novel, but not in the usual way. There were stretches that were boring, I didn't always understand how time was flowing, and some characters dropped out of the novel for oddly long stretches (including some of Per Hansa's own children). The male character's names were so similar to each other that I was often confused, and the last section of the novel was too dissimilar to the sections that preceded it. I'm not even sure what to make of the ending. However, I ultimately felt that the journey was absolutely worth taking. I learned a lot about how the early Norwegian pioneers settled in this country, and caught a glimpse at a way of life completely different to my own. I also learned a lot about Norway in general, due to the footnotes throughout the novel. Rølvaag's descriptions of the prairie, especially the sections that talked about the snow, were beautifully crafted and a joy to read. This wasn't exactly a page-turner, but it was a true, old school saga that is worthy of the acclaim it has received over the years. It reminded me a lot of Little House on the Prairie, which is a series I only ever partially read as a kid, but loved all the same.

It's funny how random little events can bring neat things into your life. If that bookstore hadn't been closing all those years ago, I probably still wouldn't know anything about Giants in the Earth, and that would be a shame, because it was a really unique reading experience. I'm glad that I chose this for my reading challenge this year. It didn't end up being a special favorite, but it was a worthwhile read and I know that I will be thinking about certain aspects of it for a long time.


Challenge Tally:  
Back to the Classics (a classic in translation): 7/12
Classics Club (#98 on my list): 29/100

Total Books Read in 2018: 25