Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson, Nye Fortellinger: Et Stygt Barndomsminde [New Tales: A Painful Memory from Childhood]

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 1889

Places

Norway (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story

Resources

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In this short story, Bjørnson explores the notion of crime and punishment. He recounts a memory from fifty years before the trial and execution of a young man who killed his pregnant lover. Bjørnson remembers feeling great compassion for the pathetic youth, but, at the same time, recalls with objective clarity such details as the nervous urge to laugh during the execution and the twitching of the severed head. Bjørnson criticises a state apparatus of justice which ritually murders a youth for a crime committed in desperation, while turning a blind eye to crimes perpetrated by apparently upstanding members of the community.

The small community in Eidsfjord was shocked at the murder of a young woman: she had been pushed off a cliff, and left half hanging there for 24 hours. When

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690 words

Citation: Rees, Kathy. "Nye Fortellinger: Et Stygt Barndomsminde". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 October 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35834, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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