Professor Jan Inge Sørbø shows in this book four authors: Hulda Garborg, Gro Holm, Aslaug Vaa and Marie Takvam. According to Sørbø, literary history has overlooked key features of their poetry. The book has a clear feminist message and should be a counterweight to male dominance in the so-called cannon formation. Which authors are highlighted as the most important, and which books stand out as the most central? Sørbø is concerned with the reception of female authors. Either female writers are mentioned as examples of what is bad in a period, or they are overlooked and are not allowed to help define the literary era. If female authors are promoted, it is often just like “women”, Sørbø claims. The desire to read The main emphasis of the book is presentations by the authors with a biography and discussion of the authorship. I definitely get an increased desire to read from the author productions and note down books for this summer’s ever expanding reading list. For example, Marie Takvam is placed in a tradition of poets who balance death awareness and life intensity. Sørbø draws in French Villon that Takvam himself was interested in, but also the Swedish 18th century poet Bellman. Aslaug Vaa’s poetry appears to be both friction-filled and fine-tuned. Sørbø shows the depth of Vaa’s content of thought, and draws parallels to the Frankfurt School’s critique of the Enlightenment. news program from 1964 about and with poet Aslaug Vaa. Gro Holm’s main work, the novel trilogy «Løstølsfolket», seems like a hidden gem, and will hopefully get more readers. However, I was most excited when Sørbø in the chapter about Holm included the entertainment author Sigrid Boo and the novel “We who walk the kitchen road”. The book was once filmed and found its way all the way to Hollywood. This type of rarity and digression makes Sørbø’s book quite entertaining at times. Hulda Garborg’s comedy “Rational barn care” is another excellent tip. Much of the chapter on Hulda Garborg is terrific at all. Garborg argues strongly for women’s rights, but at the same time maintains how women and men are different. I have already started reading her “The Woman Created by the Man”, a marvelous publication that combines essay writing and fiction in a debate post that could have been relevant for today’s gender discussions. news interview from 1992 where cinema and author Tor Obrestad talks about author and playwright Hulda Garborg’s significance. Over time, there will undoubtedly be something dutiful in Sørbø’s review, and some of the action summaries can be more than long, for example in the presentation of many of Garborg’s novels and Vaa’s drama. Men who think about women In my opinion, Sørbø’s feminist critique is somewhat tendentious in some places. “How is the gender category used in the reading of the four?” Sørbø writes at the beginning as if reception is a main concern for the book. But this track is not always as clear. Sørbø has good examples of chauvinistic reviews, best known is André Bjerke’s famous review of Marie Takvam: Photo: Aftenposten Read André Bjerke’s full review of Marie Takvam’s collection of poems here By presenting Takvam in the first chapter, Sørbø reinforces the book’s feminist project. But Sørbø writes nothing about, for example, the reception of Hulda Garborg’s drama. Probably because the reception of the popular plays was quite good. In addition, all four authors, as Sørbø shows, have fortunately also been met with sensible and appreciative readings. There are also several who have given Takvam redress in retrospect. Sørbø accuses academics and critics of having reduced authors to “women”. At the same time, the women’s perspective is an important theme in all the writings. The boundary between a reducing reading and an adequate understanding of the project can therefore be vanishingly small. In the concluding chapter, Sørbø writes that literary historians still downplay women and highlights, among other things, a publication by Erik Bjerck Hagen from 2019. Bjerck Hagen mentions only one female author from the period 1830–1875. But Sørbø does not say what Bjerck Hagen’s project is, and that he only deals with six authors in total. It would be similarly unfair to accuse Sørbø of discrimination because in his “Nynorsk literaturhistorie” he only mentions one woman out of a total of eight in the era between 1850 and 1890. That said, Sørbø has several good points in his analyzes. It is also relevant to remember that all these overviews were written by men, including Sørbø’s own book. And as in the film «Inception», there is another level: This reviewer is also a man, and thus considers other men’s assessments of women. Winning the hearts Sørbø makes it clear that all four authors still deserve to be read, and “Fire store” is an interesting contribution to the screening process that cannon formation is. A process we in the long run can not predict the result of. What remains over time depends on the books winning the hearts of future readers, both academics and readers. Books like this help readers find treasures they would not otherwise discover. news reviewer Photo: Samlaget Title: «Big four: Hulda Garborg, Gro Holm, Aslaug Vaa, Marie Takvam» Author: Jan Inge Sørbø Genre: Non-fiction Publisher: Samlaget Number of pages: 251 Date: Spring 2022 Hi! I am a freelancer and reviewer of books for news. If you are wondering which books I recommend you read, you can see my reviews of “Fiskehuset” by Stein Torleif Bjella, “Kveldens ubehag” by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld and “Gutteboka” by Nina Brochmann and Ellen Støkken Dahl.
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Hulda Garborg, Gro Holm, Aslaug Vaa, Marie Takvam »by Jan Inge Sørbø – Reviews and recommendations
