Ole Edvart Rølvaag

Ole Edvart Rølvaag was a Norwegian-American novelist and professor who became well known for his writings regarding the Norwegian American immigrant experience. Ole Rolvaag is most cited for Giants in the Earth, his award-winning, epic novel of Norwegian immigrant homesteaders in Dakota Territory.

Biography

At 14 years of age Rølvaag joined his father and brothers in the Lofoten fishing grounds.
He was sent a ticket to America in 1896 from an uncle who had emigrated earlier. He traveled to Union County, South Dakota, to work as a farmhand. He settled in Elk Point, South Dakota, working as a farmhand until 1898. With the help of his pastor, Rølvaag enrolled in Augustana Academy in Canton, South Dakota, where he graduated in 1901. He earned a bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, in 1905, and a master's degree from the same institution in 1910. He also had studied for some time at the University of Oslo.

Personal life

In 1908, Rølvaag became a United States citizen and married Jennie Marie Berdahl, the daughter of Andrew James Berdahl and Karen Oline Otterness. They had four children: Olaf, Ella, Karl and Paul. Their son, Karl Fritjof Rolvaag, served as the 31st governor of Minnesota.
Ole Rolvaag died November 5, 1931, in Northfield, Minnesota.

''Giants in the Earth''

Rølvaag's authorship and scholarship focused on the pioneer experience on the Dakota plains in the 1870s. His most famous book was Giants in the Earth, part of a trilogy. The novel realistically treats the lives and trials of Norwegian pioneers in the Midwest, emphasizing their battles with the elements. The book also portrays the trials of loneliness, separation from family, longing for the old country, and the difficulty of fitting into a new culture.
Giants in the Earth served as the basis for an opera by Douglas Moore and Arnold Sundgaard that won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1951.

Honors and awards

Rølvaag was appointed Knight of the Order of St Olav by King Haakon VII in 1926. Also, St. Olaf College has created a literary award named for Rolvaag, the Ole E. Rolvaag Award for Fiction, the "award honors the memory of St. Olaf’s greatest writer, Ole Rolvaag".

Memorials

The O. E. Rolvaag House in Northfield, Minnesota, is listed as a National Historic Landmark.
Rolvaag Memorial Library at St. Olaf College is named in honor of O. E. Rolvaag.
Berdahl–Rølvaag House, where Rølvaag wrote Giants in the Earth, is located in the Heritage Park of the Augustana University campus in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The Ole Rolvaag Collection is maintained in the Norwegian-American Historical Association Archives.

Selected bibliography

Amerika-breve fra P.A. Smevik til hans far og bror i Norge – American Letters
Paa Glemte Veie – On Forgotten Paths
To Tullinger: Et Billede frå idag – Two Fools: A Portrait of Our Times
Længselens Baat – The Boat of Longing
Omkring fædrearven – Concerning Our Heritage
I de Dage – In Those Days
Riket Grundlægges – Founding the Kingdom

The following three books form a trilogy:

Giants in the Earth
Peder Seier – Peder Victorious
Den Signede Dag – Their Father's God

Last release:

Pure Gold
''The Boat of Longing''

Additional sources

Jorgenson, Theodore and Solum, Nora O. Ole Edvart Rölvaag: A Biography
Reigstad, Paul. Rolvaag: His Life and Art
Thorson, Gerald. Ole Rolvaag, Artist and Cultural Leader
Simonson, Harold P. Prairies Within: The Tragic Trilogy of Ole Rolvaag
Moseley, Ann. Ole Edvart Rolvaag
Eckstein, Neil Truman. Marginal Man As Novelist: The Norwegian-American Writers H.H Boyesen and O.E. Rolvaag
Haugen, Einar Ingvald Ole Edvart Rölvaag
Moose, Nancy Gwen, Religion, Women and Culture in the Works of Ole E. Rølvaag.. Electronic Theses and Dissertations. South Dakota State University. https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/4610
Zempel, Solveig. 1999. Ole Edvart Rolvaag: Novelist. St. Olaf and the Vocation of a Church College, Pamela Schwandt, Gary De Krey, and L. DeAne Lagerquist, eds. pp. 89-96. Northfield, MN: St. Olaf College.