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The Birds

Name: The Birds
Author: Tarjei Vesaas
ISBN: 9780720614947

by Tarjei Vesaas

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Overview

A tale of delicate beauty and deceptive simplicity by one of the greatest Scandinavian writers of the 20th century The Birds tells the story of Mattis, who has mental disabilities and lives in a small house near a lake with his sister Hege who ekes out a modest living knitting sweaters. From time to time Mattie encourages her brother to find work to ease their financial burdens, but her attempts come to nothing. When finally he sets himself up as a ferryman, the only passenger he manages to bring across the lake is a lumberjack, Jørgen. When Jørgen and Hege become lovers, Mattis finds he cannot adjust to this new situation.

About the Author, Tarjei Vesaas

Tarjei Vesaas (18971970) is widely considered to be one of Norway's greatest writers of the 20th century and perhaps its most important since World War II. He published several novels including The Ice Palace, several volumes of poetry, and a book of short stories which was awarded an international prize at Venice in 1952. He was awarded several other prizes and was a candidate for the Nobel Prize in 1964, 1968, and 1969.

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Editorials

From the Publisher

"The careful translation from the Norwegian underscores Vesaas's rare sensitivity in recording Mattis's often insightful view of his world. . . . A literary gem." —Publishers Weekly

"A spare, icily humane story . . . the translation conveys successfully a concentration of style and feeling that seems to Vesaas' characteristic mark as a novelist." —Sunday Times

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

With spare simplicity, Vesaas (The Ice Palace) tells the tale of Mattis, a mentally disabled man cared for by his lonely older sister, Hege. Their routine, isolated existence is interrupted when a lumberjack arrives at their lakeside cottage and falls in love with Hege, leaving Mattis fearful that he will lose his sister. The careful translation from the Norwegian underscores Vesaas's rare sensitivity in recording Mattis's often insightful view of his world. One episode at the grocer's illustrates his inside-out universe: After buying food, Mattis watches in horror as the grocer puts a packet of candy in his shopping bag: ``He was being given sweets like a child-although he knew about great things like shattered trees and lightning and omens of death.'' Mattis turns the situation around, telling the kindly shopkeeper, ``Well, I guess you can't really help it... being like you are, of course.'' It's a sardonic rejoinder to an earlier plaintive and unanswered query to a farmer's wife: ``Why are things the way they are?'' With only limited understanding of the unpredictable power of nature, Mattis nonetheless turns to the elements to discover the answer-with unsettling results. Vesaas's own secluded life in the Norwegian woods likely informed the novel's themes of isolation and natural forces. A literary gem. (Jan.)