O. E. Rolvaag

Max Lester Loges (Lamar University)

Ed. by Stephen E. Meats, Pittsburg State 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

Born 22 Apr 1876
Died 5 Nov 1931
Activity 1896-1931

Places

Born in Norway
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Letter-writer/ Diarist
Novelist

Resources

Rolvaag's Works

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Ole Edvart Rølvaag [hereafter spelled ‘Rolvaag', as he is known in the US] was a Norwegian-American novelist of the early twentieth century. He is best known for his

Giants in the Earth

(1927), which is about Norwegian settlement in the state of South Dakota in the United States during the 1870's. The primary theme of all of Rolvaag's works is the psychological and spiritual costs associated with immigration.

Rolvaag was born on April 22, 1876 on the Norwegian island of Donna located just south of the Arctic Circle. His parents were Peder Jakobsen and Ellerine Pedersdatter Vagg. He attended the school on the island and developed as a boy a real interest in reading. At an early age, Rolvaag expressed the desire to one day become a poet. Nevertheless, at fourteen, he joined his father

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1790 words

Citation: Loges, Max Lester. "O. E. Rolvaag". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 February 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3834, accessed 25 November 2024.]