Magnhild: A Tale

Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne, 1832-1910Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 241K words
Chapters: 25

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Magnhild: Kertomus by Bjørnstjerne BjørnsonAuthor: Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne, 1832-1910,Language: Finnish, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Jun 11, 2016

Editor's review

Magnhild: Kertomus is a narrative work by the Norwegian writer Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson; the Finnish translation, titled "A Story," preserves the original method of letting human destiny draw social questions in its wake. Bjørnson excelled at setting tension between personal feeling and public ethics, and this book likewise unfolds around the protagonist's situation, with a style both lyrical and argumentative. For Chinese readers, the value of this work lies not only in the story itself but in the window it offers onto how nineteenth-century Nordic literature dealt with faith, gender, and social norms. The very existence of a Finnish translation also reminds us to note the circulation of languages and translation networks within the Nordic region. Read slowly and attend to the narrator's evaluative tone toward the characters' choices, for that is often the key to understanding the author's social concerns.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Nordic literature and nineteenth-century social novels
Readers with Finnish reading ability who want to know Bjørnson's translations
Scholarly readers studying the dissemination and translation history of Nordic literature
Serious fiction readers who enjoy discussing ethical questions through human destiny

Not a good fit for

Chinese readers without Finnish and without access to a parallel translation
Popular-fiction readers expecting fast pacing and strong dramatic conflict
Beginners hoping for detailed Chinese notes and an introduction

Reading tips

Learn about Bjørnson's life and creative background before entering the text; this will help grasp its argumentative narration.
While reading, mark passages where the narrator evaluates the characters' choices, and trace the author's social concerns.
If Finnish is difficult, look for translations in other languages for comparison, grasp the plot first, then return to the original wording.
After each chapter, briefly retell the characters' situations and conflicts so that narrative logic is not lost to language barriers.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a Finnish original or a translation?

According to the metadata, the book's language is Finnish and the author is the Norwegian writer Bjørnson, so it should be regarded as a Finnish translation. While reading, attend to how the translator handles dialogue and narration; this helps understand language circulation within the Nordic region.

Can I read this book without any Finnish?

Reading it directly is quite difficult, since the text is in Finnish and public-domain e-books usually lack Chinese notes. It is advisable first to find translations of Bjørnson's works in other languages to learn the story, then decide whether to read the Finnish original section by section with a dictionary.

What common features do Bjørnson's works have?

Bjørnson often places personal feeling alongside social ethics; his narration is argumentative, and his characters' choices often involve public issues. This book, titled "A Story," follows the same approach; attend to the narrator's evaluative tone and the author's social concerns will become clearer.

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About the author

Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne, 1832-1910 Author

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910) was a Norwegian writer, with 35 works held in this collection. As public information is limited, the details of his life are not expanded here, but his works show that he was skilled in fiction, drama, and poetry alike. Representative works such as Synnöve Solbakken and A Happy Boy draw largely on Norwegian rural life, written in a plain style rich in human feeling; Three Dramas, Three Comedies, and Maria Stuart Skotlannissa show his sustained engagement with the theatre; In God's Way: A Novel deals with questions of faith and morality; and Poems and Songs, together with the five-volume Gesammelte Werke, reflects his poetic output and the collected form of his writings. These works cover a variety of subjects and combine realism with lyricism, exerting a fairly broad influence on Norwegian literature.