Table Of ContentInside the Gate
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Inside the Gate
sigrid undset’s life
at bjerkebæk
�
Nan Bentzen Skille
Translated by Tiina Nunnally
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis
London
Published in Norwegian as Innenfor gjerdet. Hos Sigrid Undset på Bjerkebæk;
copyright 2003 by H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard). Originally published
in English by H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard) AS; copyright 2009 by
H. Aschehoug & Co.
First University of Minnesota Press edition, 2018. Published in agreement
with Oslo Literary Agency.
English translation copyright 2009 Tiina Nunnally
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.
24 23 22 21 20 19 18 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Skille, Nan Bentzen, author. | Nunnally, Tiina, translator.
Inside the gate : Sigrid Undset’s life at Bjerkebæk / Nan Bentzen Skille ; translated by
Tiina Nunnally.
First University of Minnesota Press edition. | Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 2018.
| Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017054254 | ISBN 978-1-5179-0496-8 (pb)
Subjects: LCSH: Undset, Sigrid, 1882-1949. | Authors, Norwegian–20th century–Biography. |
Bjerkebæk (Lillehammer, Norway). | BISAC: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY /
Literary. | BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women.
Classification: LCC PT8950.U5 S6513 2018 | DDC 839.823/72–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017054254
Contents
Introduction 6
Lillehammer Station—Disembark on the right 9
Sigrid Undset makes herself a home 23
With an office in “Norway’s most beautiful home” 47
The “guesthouse” that became the “priest’s house” 67
The garden—“the third loveliest” in the world 79
The children at Bjerkebæk 101
Mathea Mortenstuen 135
Miniature theaters and other sorts of drama 161
The Nobel Prize comes to Lillehammer 173
The difficult thirties 191
“Fight for all that you hold dear” 213
The curtain falls 239
Epilogue 268
Notes 274
Chronology 283
Photo credits 288
foreword
Introduction
One day in 1979, when I was working at the University Library in Bergen, my My thanks to Maihaugen, the Sandvig Collections, and the friends of Maihau-
colleague Maya thee showed me something she had found in one of the old gen, who awarded me the anders Sandvig Museum Stipend in 2000, and to
boxes stored on the fifth floor. It was a yellowed issue of The New York Times eckbos Legater for additional financial support. thank you to all who have
Book Review from 1943 which contained an article by Sigrid Undset entitled contributed to this book by providing access to Undset materials that have not
“the Books that Last forever.” She had written the essay at the Hotel Mar- been previously known. Some of the new source material came from Susanna
garet in Brooklyn while her thoughts were on occupied Norway and her home Bøe and her sons allan and karsten, who have preserved the letters and photo-
Bjerkebæk, which at the time had been taken over by the Gestapo. for me, the graphs left by Bjerkebæk’s housekeeper, Mathea Mortenstuen Bøe. they also
discovery of “the Books that Last forever” was the start of a long and pas- allowed me to examine her large collection of books from Bjerkebæk. research
sionate interest in Undset’s writing, her life story, and eventually also her home. librarian tone Modalsli at the Norwegian National Library has kept me
I thought it was only natural to view these three facets together – rather like a informed about acquisitions to the Manuscript Collection during the past few
handshake, a hand, and a glove, to use one of Undset’s own images. years. especially intriguing were the letters that Sigrid Undset wrote to Mar-
this book has two goals. first, I want to present some of the source materi- jorie kinnan rawlings in the years after the war. jarle Bragelien had the pre-
als that I’ve gathered over the past years, both through my work with the sence of mind to bring home to Norway copies of a collection of letters that
Sigrid Undset Society, which I headed for five years after its founding in 1997, Sigrid Undset wrote to Magny Landstad-jensen in the United States. a special
and through my work documenting the Bjerkebæk site history from 1998 until thank you to Harald Bentzen and tore Skille for their patient assistance, useful
2003. for this reason, I have largely made use of letters and photographs that comments, and steadfast support.
have not been used in earlier Undset biographies. Second, I want to offer a
portrait of Undset in stereo. My work with the physical estate and the bio- Nan Bentzen Skille
graphical materials has been very enriching for me, as I have attempted to “read”
the values and attitudes expressed in the artist’s home along with the story of
her life.
6 ) inside the gate
foreword
One day in 1979, when I was working at the University Library in Bergen, my My thanks to Maihaugen, the Sandvig Collections, and the friends of Maihau-
colleague Maya thee showed me something she had found in one of the old gen, who awarded me the anders Sandvig Museum Stipend in 2000, and to
boxes stored on the fifth floor. It was a yellowed issue of The New York Times eckbos Legater for additional financial support. thank you to all who have
Book Review from 1943 which contained an article by Sigrid Undset entitled contributed to this book by providing access to Undset materials that have not
“the Books that Last forever.” She had written the essay at the Hotel Mar- been previously known. Some of the new source material came from Susanna
garet in Brooklyn while her thoughts were on occupied Norway and her home Bøe and her sons allan and karsten, who have preserved the letters and photo-
Bjerkebæk, which at the time had been taken over by the Gestapo. for me, the graphs left by Bjerkebæk’s housekeeper, Mathea Mortenstuen Bøe. they also
discovery of “the Books that Last forever” was the start of a long and pas- allowed me to examine her large collection of books from Bjerkebæk. research
sionate interest in Undset’s writing, her life story, and eventually also her home. librarian tone Modalsli at the Norwegian National Library has kept me
I thought it was only natural to view these three facets together – rather like a informed about acquisitions to the Manuscript Collection during the past few
handshake, a hand, and a glove, to use one of Undset’s own images. years. especially intriguing were the letters that Sigrid Undset wrote to Mar-
this book has two goals. first, I want to present some of the source materi- jorie kinnan rawlings in the years after the war. jarle Bragelien had the pre-
als that I’ve gathered over the past years, both through my work with the sence of mind to bring home to Norway copies of a collection of letters that
Sigrid Undset Society, which I headed for five years after its founding in 1997, Sigrid Undset wrote to Magny Landstad-jensen in the United States. a special
and through my work documenting the Bjerkebæk site history from 1998 until thank you to Harald Bentzen and tore Skille for their patient assistance, useful
2003. for this reason, I have largely made use of letters and photographs that comments, and steadfast support.
have not been used in earlier Undset biographies. Second, I want to offer a
portrait of Undset in stereo. My work with the physical estate and the bio- Nan Bentzen Skille
graphical materials has been very enriching for me, as I have attempted to “read”
the values and attitudes expressed in the artist’s home along with the story of
her life.
6 ) inside the gate
Lillehammer Station
– disembark on the right
The train from Kristiania arrives daily in Lillehammer at 4:42 p.m. and 8:05 p.m.
this small announcement was regularly printed in Lillehammer’s local news-
paper during the summer of 1919. at the main train station in kristiania (now
Oslo), the northbound passengers prepared for departure. the locomotive
spouted a few tentative clouds of white steam and slowly but surely began
moving away from the platform. It chugged along, one kilometer after another,
past apartment blocks and wooden houses with gingerbread trim, sawmills and
iron foundries, stands of Norway pine and fields of grain, medieval churches
and small farms. the train passed the paddle steamer on Lake Mjøsa, and after
180 kilometers it finally slowed and then came to rest at the small town of
Lillehammer.
each day livery drivers and local residents came to the station to pick up
goods and guests, because during this particular summer the traffic to the val-
ley town was busier than it had been in a long time. after four terrible years of
war in europe and everything the fighting had entailed – including high prices,
shortages, reckless speculation in stocks, and bitter financial losses – life had
finally settled into a regular routine again. But as the world war came to an end,
the Spanish flu epidemic struck, and tuberculosis was still raging without mercy.
It was tempting for many Norwegians to turn their backs on the capital, with
Lillehammer Station.
lillehammer station C 9
Lillehammer Station
– disembark on the right
The train from Kristiania arrives daily in Lillehammer at 4:42 p.m. and 8:05 p.m.
this small announcement was regularly printed in Lillehammer’s local news-
paper during the summer of 1919. at the main train station in kristiania (now
Oslo), the northbound passengers prepared for departure. the locomotive
spouted a few tentative clouds of white steam and slowly but surely began
moving away from the platform. It chugged along, one kilometer after another,
past apartment blocks and wooden houses with gingerbread trim, sawmills and
iron foundries, stands of Norway pine and fields of grain, medieval churches
and small farms. the train passed the paddle steamer on Lake Mjøsa, and after
180 kilometers it finally slowed and then came to rest at the small town of
Lillehammer.
each day livery drivers and local residents came to the station to pick up
goods and guests, because during this particular summer the traffic to the val-
ley town was busier than it had been in a long time. after four terrible years of
war in europe and everything the fighting had entailed – including high prices,
shortages, reckless speculation in stocks, and bitter financial losses – life had
finally settled into a regular routine again. But as the world war came to an end,
the Spanish flu epidemic struck, and tuberculosis was still raging without mercy.
It was tempting for many Norwegians to turn their backs on the capital, with
Lillehammer Station.
lillehammer station C 9
