Yes! I've been wanting to read this forever and with the new translation and chance to discuss, I have no excuse!

It sounds like a good idea to me, although I need to read all three books again as it's been a year or two since I finished them. It's amazing how short my memory can be at times about books I've read, even when it's a book I've enjoyed tremendously.

color, I have exactly the same problem. There is a lot of detail in this trilogy and I am just hoping I can keep it all straight and make sense in April. I am about half way finished with it. Where is Laceyvail? She was the one who brought up the topic on these threads originally, I think.

I'm here, but oh what bad timing for me! I am a very serious gardener, and spring is my busiest season, especially this year when I have lost many days in March due to bad weather. I won't have time to reread KL, and scarcely have time to go on line, but I certainly want to be part of this. Hope my memory is good!

Question: are we going to read the new or old translation? If both, it might get a little tricky in parts. I've read the old many times, the new only partially through, though it's certainly a better translation and apparently translates some scenes that were expurgated in the old translation.

lacey, I was unable to obtain the newer version of this. Since you have read it, perhaps you can enlighten us as to the expurgated parts? As for the gardening, maybe there will be a few rainy, cold days/nights that will keep you indoors so you can hopefully join in. ;-)

The article I read by Tiina Nunnally (Translator for the new edition) said that the 2nd book, Mistress of Husaby (or The Wife, as Nunnally titled it) had the most missing - a total of approximately 18 pages overall, mostly to do with the inner thoughts of Kristin, Erlend and Gunnulf and which might contribue to our understanding of their psychological motivations. I'm interested in reading the newer one, but it probably won't happen this year. I've got to read the books I own now, and I've put a moratorium on buying new books until I read some I own first.

I'm not sure if it matters which translation you read, though. I think there are still plenty of things to discuss at a broader level. Even though I just read it a few weeks ago, my memory might not be the best for recalling specifics, but it's up to everyone else as to when/if they want to discuss.

I would prefer to wait until April to discuss this,as I have not yet finished. I am somewhat bogged down now in the middle part of "Mistress of Husaby." I am surprised to learn that parts of this have been deleted. Undset won a literary prize when it was first published.

I've ordered the new translation from Amazon and it will be delivered on Monday but there is no way I will have it read by April 1 unless it continues to be icy and snowy until then (and in that case I will be so depressed that I won't be able to read at all).

georgia_peach, I keep putting a moratorium on myself for buying books but it never works. I need a 12-step program for bookaholics. Rehab is in the news all the time now -- maybe there is rehab for people like me.

Frances, how about the middle of April? I may need more time, too, as I also want to read "The Terror", which is even longer!

I can aim for the middle of April but the paperback book I ordered has 1168 pages and that is longer than The Terror. Maybe it has lots of pages of introduction and comments, which Penguin Classics sometimes have. I will do my best.

woodnymph, the prize Undset won was the Nobel Prize for literature.

BTW, I don't think I could be relied on to tell you what was missing from the old translation. I am trying to skim the Nunnally translation now (possible only because I've read it so many times and know the story so well), but I don't think I'd necessarily pick up on parts that were new to me.

In any case, I'm looking forward to this, though I do wish it were dead of winter! (For the discussion, I mean. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to spring.)

Do we want to try to begin this around April 15?

Wow, I'm so excited. Guess I will have to pick this up again soon. I'm bogged down with Stranger in a Strange Land, so choosing between the two is real simple.

Woodnymph, thanks for starting this thread.

April 15 would be marginally better for me. As I said, I'm speed reading Nunnally translation, and picking up the old translation to check on things here and there. Even speed read, KL still has the power to knock me over. Undset's understanding of the complexity of the human heart never fails to stop me cold. (How's that for mixed metaphors?)

According to the Penguin Classics edition I received today, these are some of the differences from the 1920s English translation:

"Misunderstandings and omissions also marred the English translation from the 1920s. One crucial passage in The Wreath was even censored, perhaps thought to be too sexually explicit for readers at the time. Most serious of all, certain sections of The Wife, scattered throughout the novel and totaling approximately eighteen pages, were deleted. Many are key passages, such as Kristin's lengthy dialogue with Saint Olav in Christ Church, Gunnulf's meditation on the mixture of jealousy and love he has always felt toward Erlend, and Ragnfrid's
anguished memory of her betrothal to Lavrans."

None of that means anything to me at this point and certainly does not seem to be a spoiler. I've just started to read the book but am already hooked. Maybe I can finish by April 15.

Frances, I need a 12-step program, too. My daughter wanted me to buy her the sequel to a book we've been reading, so I broke down and ordered the Nunnally translation so I could get the super saver shipping. But this really is my last order for awhile (cough, cough, sputter, sputter). Actually, I usually do slow down on book buying in the summer when my costs go up. I'm looking forward to a re-read.

Frances, thanks for posting the above. It meant a lot to me, as I am now about 2/3 of the way finished. What you wrote re the omissions has made me think I need to buy the Nunally edition and re-read this. I am struggling so with the archaic language, all the "I Trows", and "she would as lief..." .

I recently was given a B & N gift certificate. Maybe I ought to use it, as my old edition is on cheap paper from the 1920's and tears almost every time I turn a page.

Last night we had a long power outage while I was reading this, immersed in medieval Norway. Reading by candlelight, to the backdrop of howling winds certainly added to the atmosphere!

May I join the reading and discussion of KL? I read it 33 yrs ago! I was pregnant for the second time and one of my sisters sent the book. We had a little girl, and we named her.... Kristin, of course.

Thyrkas, any and all are welcome to join the discussion.

I'm in the middle of my re-read, and feel like I should know this but I don't. What is the significance of the name Margygren (Erlend's ship)? They tease him about it being a heathen name. Anyone know?

Could they be teasing Erlend because they know Kristin would never approve of anything pagan, even the name of a ship? Might this show the contrast between Erlend's and Kristin's sense of what is spritually significant?

Just last night I finished the new translation of KL, cross referencing it with the old where I thought something might be different. The footnotes and endnotes of the Nunnally translation are nowhere near as complete or thorough as in the Archer translation. Margygren means 'Sea Ogress'. There are other points where I really felt a footnote was lacking in the N. translation that was included in the A. Also, the end notes of the A. translation include many more maps and drawings of the manor layouts.

I also had an issue with an aspect of the N. translation earlier in the novel. One of the male characters--I can't remember whom--speaks of feeling as if his heart had been torn out of him through his back. (He may say his heart and lungs through his back and ribs, I can't quite remember). In any case, such an image is a strange one and makes little sense unless the reader is aware that it is an allusion to the method of execution invented by the Vikings and known as "The Blood Eagle." The A. translation calls it such, and explains in a footnote what it entailed.

Thanks, Laceyvail (I should have known that about Sea Ogress, but it just wasn't coming to me). I did find less footnotes in the Nunnally translation. I always have found it a little odd what publishers choose to footnote and what they choose to leave unexplained, though.

Did you also notice that they switched spelling conventions for certain characters from Part I to Part II. I noticed Ulf was Ulv and Gunnolf was Gunnolv in the first part (The Wreath); however, from Part II (The Wife) onward they seem to be spelled consistently.

However, I must admit, the price Amazon offers for the Nunnally omnibus edition is a steal (approx $16 USD). I think I had to pay $13.00 USD apiece at my local bookstore for the Archer volumes.

Just back to correct something above: in the Nunnally translation Gunnulf is spelled Gunnulv in the first part and Gunnulf in the remaining parts. Obviously, I can't remember the spelling, either!

georgia peach, I didn't notice the change in spellings! and my Archer translation is a very old one, all in one volume. My Nunnally translation is three paperbacks.

Overall, despite my love of the A. translation, I must say that the N. one is much more readable.

I only have read the Archer translation and appreciated both footnotes and endnotes. However --- I wish there had been even more of these! My copy had nothing for "saeter" which was used extensively, for example. I had to devise meanings from usages within contexts often.

Woodnymph, I found this definition of saeter on Wikipedia:

The name for the common mountain pasture in most Scandinavian languages derives from the old Norse term setr. In (Norwegian) the term is sæter or seter. In (Swedish) the term säter is used. The place name appears in Sweden in several forms Säter and Sätra and as a suffix: -säter, -sätra, -sätt and -sättra. The names appear extensively over Sweden with a centre in the Mälaren basin and in Ãstergötland. In most of Sweden, it used to mean "forest pasture at a distance from the settlement", whereas it in western Sweden meant "mountain pasture".

Below is a link to the article on Transhumance (a term I've never heard, but quite interesting and relevant to the farming practices of KL; apparently, saeter can mean slightly different things in different parts of the world).

Here is a link that might be useful: Transhumance

Georgia, thanks. I forgot about Wikepedia momentarily.

I just received my copy, so I'm ready to start. Plus I wanted to move this to the top to remind folks about starting April 15th!

I know! I'm feeling the pressure. I just started rereading it today, and I've also made plans to finally repaint the guest bedroom this week. I'm going to have to paint fast and read faster to get everything done.