Ole Edvart Rølvaag
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Ole Edvart Rølvaag (spelled "Rolvaag" in the United States) (April 22, 1876 - November 5, 1931) was a Norwegian-American writer and professor, well known for his writings on the immigrant experience. Karl F. Rolvaag, the former Governor of Minnesota and US ambassador to Iceland was Ole Rølvaag's son.
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[edit] Biography
Rølvaag was born in Dønna in Northern Norway in 1876. At 14 years of age he joined his father and brothers in the Lofoten fishing grounds, where he worked until he emigrated to the United States in 1896 and became a naturalized citizen in 1908. He settled in Union County, South Dakota and worked as a farmhand until 1898. With the help of his pastor, Rølvaag then enrolled in school. The wooden cabin where Rolvaag wrote Giants in the Earth sits on the Augustana College campus in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
In 1901 Rolvaag graduated from Augustana Academy in Canton, South Dakota, a school that would merge with the Lutheran Normal School in Sioux Falls in 1918 to become Augustana College. He earned a bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota in 1905, and a master's from the same institution in 1910. He studied for some time at the University of Oslo, and was a professor at St. Olaf College from 1906 until his death in 1931 (head of the Norwegian department from 1916).
[edit] Authorship
Rølvaag's authorship and scholarship focused primarily on the pioneer experience on the Dakota plains in the 1870s, particularly among Norwegian immigrants. His most famous book is Giants in the Earth (ISBN) (Verdens Grode in Norwegian), which is part of a trilogy based upon his experiences as a settler. These novels powerfully and realistically treat the lives and trials of Norwegian pioneers in the Midwest, emphasizing their battles with snow storms, locusts, poverty and hunger. Probably more importantly, the books make vivid the trials of loneliness, separation from family and longing for the old country as well as difficulty fitting into a new culture and estrangement from children who grew up in the new land.
Rølvaag also attracted a number of gifted young Norwegian immigrants to St. Olaf College, among them Einar Haugen. Rølvaag was knighted in the Order of St. Olav in 1926, and the Rølvaag library at St. Olaf is named after him. His impact was felt beyond his generation of immigrants. His influence at St. Olaf was still strong as late as 1964, when every incoming student was expected to read and discuss Giants in the Earth.
His literary depiction of the Norwegian-American immigrant experience is comparable to Vilhelm Moberg's novels depicting the experience of Swedish-American immigrants.
[edit] Works
- Amerika-Breve – 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 Book of Longing (1921)
- I de Dage – In Those Days (1923)
- Riket Grundlægges - Founding of 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 Sigende Dag - Their Father's God (translated in 1931)
Last release:
- Pure Gold (translated in 1930)
[edit] References
Boat of Longing by Einar Haugen, Minnesota Historical Press, 1985. ISBN 0-87351-184-0
