Sigrid Undset

Sigrid Undset (1882-1949), Norwegian author of historical fiction and Nobel laureate. She was born in Kalundborg, Denmark, attended school in Christiania (now Oslo), and worked there as a municipal clerk from 1898 to 1908. Her early novels, among them Fru Marta Oulie (Mrs. Martha Oulie, 1907) and Jenny (1911; trans. 1921), are sympathetic stories of romance and routine in contemporary Norwegian life. Undset is best known for her historical novel Kristin Lavransdatter (3 volumes, 1920-22; trans. 1923-27), for which she received the 1928 Nobel Prize in literature. Set in 14th-century Norway, the novel weds superb scholarship and an authentic, stately style. Also in a medieval setting is The Master of Hestviken (4 vol, 1925-27; trans. 1928-30), published following the author's conversion to the Roman Catholic church in 1924. Both novels explore universal themes—pride, heroism, love, and religion. In 1925 Undset's marriage to the Norwegian painter A. C. Svarstad was dissolved. Most of her subsequent work is modern in setting and strongly moralistic in tone. Among her later books were the novels The Faithful Wife (1936; trans. 1937) and Madame Dorothea (1939; trans. 1940) and an autobiography, The Longest Years (1934; trans. 1935). During the German occupation of Norway (1940-45), Undset lived in the United States.