Ahhh, Minnesota (and Moberg)

[mrissa]

As we were putting our coats on at Caribou, I was raving to Ginger about how wonderful Vilhelm Moberg's two-volume History of the Swedish People is, how he assumes you can tell Sten Sture the Elder from Sten Sture the Younger in a dark alley and goes on from there to sink his teeth into Swedish history, such that secret history fantasy novels practically write themselves from it and I might as well just sit back and do my nails and watch it happening.

I turned to leave, and I noticed that the three people (man, woman, child) at the next table were all staring at us. "What's your name?" asked the little girl. I said, "Marissa, what's yours?" "Siri." "That's a very pretty name," I said, "a very pretty Norwegian name, if I'm not mistaken." "That's right," said her mom, and then her dad chimed in sheepishly, "I couldn't help hearing you talk about Moberg. I love Moberg. I'm in the middle of rereading his tetralogy, you know, the --" "Emigrant books," I said with him. He grinned: "Yeah. I think it's really neat what you're doing, the stories you were telling her." "Oh, wow, thanks!" I said.

It was good.

(And seriously, I know matociquala says all history is like this, but come on! These people have last names like Night-and-Day and Sun-on-the-Water! They differentiate between branches of a family with alchemical symbols! They go around making peasant treaties regardless of what their lords think! It's just so fabulous. They make my job so much fun.) (Well, maybe I have a little something to do with that. Still: fun!)

Comments

[songwind.livejournal.com]

I have no idea if there is an English translation, but your post made me think of this book. (http://juuro.livejournal.com/220317.html)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It doesn't look like there is, but there are a couple of other interesting things by the same author. Thanks!

[dancingwriter.livejournal.com]

Right, well there's another entry for my must-read list!

Oh, and the Austen mysteries arrived in fine shape--thank you so much again!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Glad on both counts. I really, really, truly recommend the Mobergs. They're so much fun I can hardly stand it, and I can't lend them out much because I would probably have to lend a couple of other volumes of Swedish history to go with them in order for most people to appreciate them, and nobody has indicated that much interest in Swedish history.

[dancingwriter.livejournal.com]

No interest in Swedish history? In Minnesota?!

Too bad for them. Though to be honest, I haven't read much Swedish history since my pubescent fascination with Christina--in the intervening years, there's been so much else I've needed to read, for one reason or another. But I'm convinced now that I do *need* to read the Mobergs!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It's not that there's no interest. It's that our group of friends is not very skewed towards one particular region or era of history, as far as interests go. (We're also probably less Scandinavian per capita than the state of Minnesota.) So while I could probably find people who are mad keen on Swedish history much more easily here than most places, it doesn't work out to mean that the people I've found for other reasons are mad keen on Swedish history.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

Sounds intriguing.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

Siri? I thought it was spelled Siiri.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Ethnic Norwegian is Siri.

Ethnic Finn -- either Finnish national or Kven, which is ethnic Finn, Norwegian national -- is Siiri. Not everyone who spells it Siiri is ethnic Finn, but they've definitely been influenced by it.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

Ah. The lab tech I worked with a couple years ago was named Siiri, and I always thought it was an impossible name to write, but a wonderful name otherwise. Nifty.