Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson, Mindre Fortellinger: Blakken

Kathy Rees (Independent Scholar - Europe)

Ed. by Susan Brantly, University of Wisconsin
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.5: Norwegian Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Kjerstin Moody (Gustavus Adolphus College), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London), Anja Tröger (University of Edinburgh)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1866

Places

Norway (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story

Resources

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This autobiographical tale is set in the parish of Kvikne, a remote village where winter came “sorrowfully early!” (159). Bjørnson remembers that “the cold was so great that I dared not take hold of the latch of the street door, lest my fingers should freeze fast to the iron” (159). Kvikne was reputed to be so violent that, on going to church, the priest had to carry a pistol; for a long period, no clergyman was appointed there. Bjørnson’s father, known for his strength and authority, took a posting there, during which time he acquired a dun-coloured horse called Blakken. Its mother was a large red mare, and its sire, a “madcap” black fjord horse (163). Young Bjørnson “slept with the mare and foal in the fields, and rolled between the mare’s legs when the foal was…

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398 words

Citation: Rees, Kathy. "Mindre Fortellinger: Blakken". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 September 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35807, accessed 23 April 2024.]

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