I first heard of Sigrid Undset a couple of years ago after coming across an article about a new English translation of her <i>Kristin Lavransdatter</i> trilogy. Since it's such a huge book, I thought I would read one of her shorter works first and decided on this one.
<i>Gunnar's Daughter</i> is a dramatic story of a woman who was raped by the man she wanted to marry, and how this betrayal of trust changed the whole course of both their lives. That the story is set when Norway and Iceland were in a time of transition between paganism and Christianity, so that the characters sometimes act in a Christian manner, sometimes not, makes it even more interesting. We get a sense of what it was like to live in a time when infanticide, Viking raids, and blood feuds were normal and people were only beginning to question the morality behind those practices. These days one comes across quite a few people who like to dwell on the imperfections of societies with long Christian histories, blame them on Christianity, and think things would be so much better if Christianity were done away with altogether. Beware of what you ask for.....
I knew Undset was trying to emulate the style of the Icelandic sagas when she wrote <i>Gunnar's Daughter</i>, but I thought a saga was a long epic poem, like the medieval lays or the <i>Iliad</i> and the <i>Odyssey</i>. Turns out that the saga is a very pared down prose style that focuses on actions and events and does not dwell on descriptions or the thoughts of the characters. As a result, the story moved at a fast pace and the style gave it a timeless quality. I could not put it down and finished it in one (late) night! The spareness of the style actually gives more scope to the reader's imagination since everything is not spelled out.
Looking forward to reading more by Sigrid Undset.
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