O. E. Rolvaag, Den Signede Dag [Their Father’s God]

Max Lester Loges (Lamar University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1931

Places

United States (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Their Fathers’ God,

the final volume in Rolvaag’s immigrant trilogy, begins about seven months after

Peder Victorious,

the previous volume, ends. The main character, Peder Holm, is a young farmer in South Dakota living with his new bride, Susie, who was pregnant at the time of their nuptials. They are making their home with Peder’s mother, Beret, on the homestead that his dead father established in the first book of the trilogy,

Giants in the Earth.

The time is the early 1890’s and the state is suffering from a terrible draught, which causes many homesteaders to abandon their farms. A proposal is brought before the commissioner’s court to hire a rainmaker to milk the skies over the county.

As the book opens, Peder learns of the rainmaking proposal, which he considers to be an

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1617 words

Citation: Loges, Max Lester. "Den Signede Dag". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 October 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=26207, accessed 24 April 2024.]

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