Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
Reviewed by Barbara Castle
Kristin Lavransdatter (1920-22) is a thousand-page trilogy (The Wreath, The Wife, The Cross), set in medieval 14th-century Norway. Sigrid Undset writes of Kristin's transformations from childhood through marriage, motherhood, and death. Undset, though seldom known as an accomplished female historical novelist, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1928. This work is archetypical from the rare vantage point of a female protagonist that embarks on an Odyssean journey in which choices garner consequences recognizable to anyone of us. Instead of a comfortable "loving" arranged marriage, she opts for the "bad-boy" out-of-wedlock relations of the "knight." She defies social and familial norms, while remaining close with her father (Lavrans, meaning laurel-crowned), and mostly out of sorts with her mother (Ragnfriðr, meaning reigning peace), who unfairly receives the blame for all that is amiss in Kristin's life. Only later, after seven boys, a troubled estate, and a faltering marriage (aren't bad boys fun!) does she gain the wisdom that survives the cruel winters of this world. Undset captures the harsh landscape of the medieval in particular detail, upon which she builds a sketch of the human psyche with clarity and empathy. Following the transformation of Norway to Christianity, Kristin (meaning Christian) finds solace in giving her final days to caring for those infected with the plague. For the reader, we travel alongside in hopes that Kristin will return home in time to save her family (like Odysseus). For we too have dealt falsely with those we love the most, dabbled in wickedness, and rebelled against the good to our own destruction. Kristin has a lot of unforgiven debts, but she achieves "heroic" status in meeting the challenges with profound internal and external growth. This novel is truly epic, and I believe, will one day become a Netflix series (or at least it should).
Kristin Lavransdatter by