SIGRID UNDSET’S NOVEL-TRILOGY «CHRISTINE, DAUGHTER OF LAVRANS» AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE GENRE OF FAMILY SAGA

• Main Author: РУДИЧ, Вікторія
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Ukrainian
• Published: Visnyk of the Lviv University. Series Philology 2018
• Subjects: Norway; Sigrid; Northern Norway
• Online Access: http://publications.lnu.edu.ua/bulletins/index.php/philology/article/view/9025; https://doi.org/10.30970/vpl.2018.67.9025

The article is based on the major novel «Christine, Daughter of Lavrans» authored by the Norwegian writer Sigrid Undset, for which the writer was granted the highest literary award – the Nobel Prize. Sigrid Unset described the modern Norway through the prism of the history of one family, living in Middle Ages of the 13thcentury in northern Norway. Thus, the novel «Christine, Lavrans’ Daughter» became an encyclopedia of medieval Norway and continued the genre of the family saga in Scandinavian literature. The events of the novel took place at the beginning of the 14th century, where the reader gets acquainted with the family of Lavrans and his daughter, Christine, who plays the central role in the narrative from the fi rst pages. In line with the traditional representation of the plot in a family saga, one observes all important events in the process of her life: birth, maturation etc. The time line of the novel is shown in three generations that occupied a long period of time in the history of society and forms another important feature of this genre – the development of the history of one family in parallel with the development of the history of the whole country. The paper posits that the essential genre-forming motive for this family saga is the motive of generations, as it determines the ideological and artistic specifi city of the novel. In the process of developing the plot in Sigrid Undset’s trilogy, we observe a clear departure from the patrilineal principle of organizing a family history. In the fi rst part of the trilogy, the father of Christine is traditionally shown as the head of the family and develops the patriarchal line of relations. Then, in the following parts of the novel, Christine becomes the head of the family and the owner of the estate and changes the patriarchal line of relations into matriarchal one. Sigrid Undset made a fundamental contribution to the establishment and development of the genre of the family saga in Scandinavian and world literature. Her historical novels, being an example of medieval family chronicles, inspired a great number of Scandinavian writers to work in this genre. Keywords: Sigrid Undset, family saga, trilogy «Christine, daughter of Lavrans», Nobel Prize, Middle Ages, Norwegian literature. Статтю присвячено норвезькій письменниці Сіґрід Унсет та її роману-трилогії «Крістін, дочка Лавранса», за який у 1928 році письменниця удостоїлася Нобелівської премії. Сіґрід Унсет зображує події роману на тлі доби Середньовіччя, розкриваючи історію північної Норвегії крізь призму історії однієї родини. Тож, роман «Крістін, дочка Лавранса» став енциклопедією середньовічної Норвегії та продовжив жанр родинної саги у скандинавських літературах. Ключові слова: Сіґрід Унсет, родинна сага, роман «Крістін, дочка Лавранса», Нобелівська премія, Середньовіччя, норвезька література.