The weird Sigrid Undset is back: the meaningless, mindless detail: Kristin hasn't washed her hair in three days and undoes her plait, combs it out and re-plaits it. Why Miss Undset?
The bitchy Kristin is back. Just some of the modifiers Miss Undset uses to describe her that I read this morning: "wept bitterly"; Erlend did not take "overmuch joy" with the birth of Naakkave, their first child; she is jealous that Naakkave prefers Erlend despite all that Kristin had done for him; "bitterly she thought"; "bitterly;" "with bitterness";--Pause: What exactly does Kristin Labransdatter have to be bitter about? Answer: nothing. Unpause: "her voice shook with smothered anger"; "liked it little"; “Sadly Kristin thought: the heart of a child is fickle." In margin: ? "Kids R fickle"; there is something to this pillow talk by Erlend: "God help me, 'twould seem as though you loved them less, now you have not the cares of their childhood to plague you, and our fair, well-grown sons are joy and a blessing to you--" Kristin: "Kristin did not trust herself to answer a word."; "Yet ever did she feel within her heart this unyielding discontent, and the warm glow faded..." "Yes: Ever" in margin.; "Yet, between whiles, she longed to be another." "? Lol" in margin.
That is all the modern woman, Sigrid Undset, displacing her “bitterness”, her identity crisis onto a 14th century Norwegian girl.
New-theme Sigrid Undset: "She longed to be able to forget her cares altogether, to grow gentle and thankful..." As do your readers, Kristin!
Recurrences: The plot that nearly cost Erlend his life is renewed; the same plotters are involved, too. Medieval Norwegians seem to me thick of skull. This time Miss Undset marks the renewal obviously--but immediately buries it under Kristin's plaits.
Same old Sigrid Undset: Simon disappeared again; Gunnulf, poor old Brother Gunnulf--never heard of in hundreds of pages.
The bitchy Kristin is back. Just some of the modifiers Miss Undset uses to describe her that I read this morning: "wept bitterly"; Erlend did not take "overmuch joy" with the birth of Naakkave, their first child; she is jealous that Naakkave prefers Erlend despite all that Kristin had done for him; "bitterly she thought"; "bitterly;" "with bitterness";--Pause: What exactly does Kristin Labransdatter have to be bitter about? Answer: nothing. Unpause: "her voice shook with smothered anger"; "liked it little"; “Sadly Kristin thought: the heart of a child is fickle." In margin: ? "Kids R fickle"; there is something to this pillow talk by Erlend: "God help me, 'twould seem as though you loved them less, now you have not the cares of their childhood to plague you, and our fair, well-grown sons are joy and a blessing to you--" Kristin: "Kristin did not trust herself to answer a word."; "Yet ever did she feel within her heart this unyielding discontent, and the warm glow faded..." "Yes: Ever" in margin.; "Yet, between whiles, she longed to be another." "? Lol" in margin.
That is all the modern woman, Sigrid Undset, displacing her “bitterness”, her identity crisis onto a 14th century Norwegian girl.
New-theme Sigrid Undset: "She longed to be able to forget her cares altogether, to grow gentle and thankful..." As do your readers, Kristin!
Recurrences: The plot that nearly cost Erlend his life is renewed; the same plotters are involved, too. Medieval Norwegians seem to me thick of skull. This time Miss Undset marks the renewal obviously--but immediately buries it under Kristin's plaits.
Same old Sigrid Undset: Simon disappeared again; Gunnulf, poor old Brother Gunnulf--never heard of in hundreds of pages.
