Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie, by Ole Edvart Rolvaag
By Peter on Jan 12, 2008 in Fiction Books, Historical Fiction, Norwegian Writer
I just recently found Giants in the Earth on the Internet, more or less by accident. It is a great book, wonderful even. Rolvaag (or Rølvåg or Rölvaag, depending) seems to be somewhat known among Norwegian-Americans, hardly known at all to Danish-Americans or Swedish-Americans, and known by only a very, very few in Norway and the rest of Scandinavia. This is a pity. Rolvaag is a major author, and his books, especially Giants in the Earth, deserve to be much more widely known than they are. It is hard to say what the reasons for this sad state of affairs may be, but is it likely that lacking promotion of his books in Scandinavia by his publisher is a major factor in this.
Giants of the Earth (published 1925) is the first book in a trilogy of books about the Norwegian settlement of the Dakota Territory, written by the Norwegian-American author O. E. Rolvaag. Rolvaag (or Rølvaag) is a Norwegian who emigrated to the United States in 1896, and eventually became a professor at St. Olaf’s College in Minnesota. Giants in the Earth was originally written in Norwegian. The two other books in the trilogy are Peder Victorious and Their Fathers’ God.
Giants in the Earth is a beautifully written book about the experiences of the early Norwegians who settled in the vast prairie of the Dakota Territory during the latter half of the Nineteenth century. This book is truly an American classic, especially for those of Norwegian or Scandinavian descent or those who’ve lived in the Great Plains. It appears to be a realistic description of the life of the early settlers. It conveys their sense of isolation and desolation, as well as of the hardships inherent in pioneering so far West with so little resources. Giants in the Earth is a tale of hard work, ingenuity, and discipline. Their resilience in the face of relentless hardship, adversity, and deprivation is stunning, as is their belief in a better life.
Rolvaag’s characters are unbelievably rich and have considerable psychological depth. The primary characters are Beret, the troubled homesteader’s wife, Pers Hansa, her resourceful and cunning husband, their neighbor Han Olsa and his able and gentle wife Sorrine. Per Hansa is the focal figure of this group.
Rolvaag brilliantly describes both the psychological effect of early prairie life and the Norwegian immigrant culture of the time. Per Hansa is a man with tons of energy and enthusiasm, who thinks outside the box, and refuses to give in. He is a natural leader and a symbol of the pioneering spirit. It is hard not to love Per Hansa and the settlers even as they deal with squatters, locusts, sod houses, and the endless winter of the northern Plains.
Those who have read and enjoyed the quartet of books written by Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg, about the early Swedish settlers of Minnesota, will enjoy this book. And, indeed, all those who like lyrically written historical fiction. Giants in the Earth really ought to be read by all those in Scandinavia who have family members that immigrated to America. Few other books come even close to this one in expressing the experiences of those that departed. In Giants in the Earth, pioneer life is interpreted with compassion, understanding and consummate art – it is truly an epic of pioneering and a very good read.
– Peter
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