Falkberget, Johan

Falkberget, Johan (yō`hän fälk`bĕrgə), 1879–1967, Norwegian novelist. Falkberget's early poverty and toil in the mines colored all his works. The trilogies Christianus Sextus (1927–35) and Bread of Night (1940–59) concern mining life in the 17th and 18th cent. They emphasize the virtues of hard work and Christian love. Falkberget's other works include Lisbeth of Jarnfjeld (1915, tr. 1930), Fourth Night Watch (tr. 1968), poems, and memoirs.

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Falkberget, Johan 

Born Sept. 30, 1879, in Rugldalen, Rôros; died there Apr. 5, 1967. Norwegian writer.

Falkberget’s realistic writing, which was influenced by M. Gorky, is concerned chiefly with working people, as in the novellas Bjarne (1903), Hauk Uglevatn (1906), The Black Mountains (1907), and Victim of Fire (1917; Russian translation, 1965), and in the collection of short stories The Miners (1908). Historical themes are treated in the novellas Eli, Daughter ofSjur (1913; Russian translation, 1913) and The Bear Hunter (1919) and the trilogy Bread of Night (1940–59). The novels The Fourth Watch (1923) and Christianus Sextos (vols. 1–3, 1927–35) deal with the history of the Norwegian working class.

WORKS

Verker, vols. 1–12. Oslo, 1956–59.
Jeg så dem. Oslo, 1963.
In Russian translation:
“U vechnykh snegov.” Novaia zhizn’, 1911, no. 12.
“Odna iz tiazhelykh nochei.” Put’, 1912, no. 10.
“U mogil bedniakov.” Put’, 1912, no. 11.
“Kak nashi pradedy na lyzhakh khodili.” In the collection Rasskazy skandinavskikh pisatelei. Moscow, 1957.

REFERENCES

Thesen, R. Johan Falkberget og hans rike. Oslo, 1959.
Rogstad, K. G. Johan Falkberget. Trondheim, 1964.

L. G. GRIGOR’EVA