In offering to the public our Translation of Ovind, we wish to say that
the work was commenced simply for the pleasure of it, and without any
view to publication; but having completed it, we have decided to follow
the advice of many of our friends who have read the book, and who think
it a pity to keep in manuscript the translation of a work so original
as this. It is therefore offered to the English reader, in the hope
that it will meet with the same success in this country that it has
done in others; for Bjoernstjerne Bjoernson, that singular man who seemed
so long destined to be distinguished for naught but foolish pranks as a
boy, and inaptitude at school and college, has won for himself high
literary honors, not only in his native land but throughout Northern
Europe. A restless nature, wandering in a wilderness of unfixed
purpose, he has repeatedly been on the point of giving himself up as
good for naught, until at last the sequestered valley, and the lowly
and quiet life of his home, broke upon his wondering eye, in forms he
had been seeking in that dreamy half-conscious instinct, which has so
often been the harbinger of greatness.
The "Bonde," that sturdy aristocrat of a northern settlement, a man of
noble descent, a lord of his ground, and the mainstay of his country,
covering under the rugged garb of his matter-of-fact life, a heart that
beats warm with attachment to his fellow man, and an inborn pride,
nurtured by Saga memories and family traditions,--is Bjoernson's text,
and a text he handles well. His romances are true to nature, and the
sombre grandeur of his land inspires him with ideas which we meet with
only in his writings, and which are completely his own. There is a
weird light over his whole mind, reflected in his works, which does not
repel, but allures. In short, Bjoernson, of all men living, seems to
have entered most entirely into the life of his nation as it is in its
reality, the life which exists on the national traditions, customs,
thought, handed down from generation to generation.
The story, which it has been our endeavour to translate as literally as
possible, is one of the author's earliest works. In the original the
chapters are without headings, but we have added them as more consonant
with English taste and custom. As the Norwegian title, "En glad Gut,"
scarcely bears translation, we have given the name of the hero of the
story to the book. Thinking it would be acceptable to our readers, we
have added two of Bjoernson's shorter pieces, "The Eagle's Nest," and
"The Father."
We should not feel to be doing Herr Bjoernson justice, if we spoke only
of his romances, and omitted to mention his success as a poet and
dramatist. In the drama he has mostly chosen for his subjects, scenes
in old Norwegian history, but his play entitled, "Mary Stuart," and
another of more general interest, "The newly-married couple," would
perhaps be better suited to the English reader.
North Ormesby,
Middlesbrough, October, 1869.