Duun, Olav
Duun, Olav
(ō`läv do͞on), 1876–1939, Norwegian novelist. He taught in public schools until 1927. His monumental series of six novels, The People of Juvik (1918–23, tr. 1930–35), is a saga of a Norwegian farm family. Later works, including Floodtide of Fate (1938, tr. 1960), depict the internal conflict of the individual against a background of impending social catastrophe. Most of his work was written in a rural Norwegian dialect.Duun, Olav
Born Nov. 21, 1876, in Joa in Namdalen; died Sept. 13, 1939, in Tönsberg. Norwegian author.
Duun was a schoolteacher from 1904 to 1927. He was the author of the psychological novels Marjane (1908), Three Friends (1914), Harald (1914), and Good Conscience (1916). In the cycle of novels The People ofJuvik (vols. 1-6, 1918-23), Duun told the story of one peasant family in Trondelag. The language of Duun’s books contains elements of the dialect of this region of Norway. Problems of modern life are discussed in the historical novel Charlemagne (1928).
WORKS
Skrifter, vols. 1-12. Oslo [1948-49].Skrifter i samling, vols. 1-12. Oslo, 1957.
REFERENCES
Hanssen, O. “Juvik—verket av Olav Duun.” Ung Norig, 1921.Haakonsen, D. Olav Duun. En dikter om vår egen lid. [Oslo] 1949.
Saeteren, A. Mennesket og samfunnet. Oslo, 1956.