“There were many closed gates on the road to America. … Perhaps the greatest virtue of the novel, is Moberg’s warm, human approach to and depth of understanding of the emigrants.” His emigrants should strike any observer who has known older immigrants in the Middle West and elsewhere as authentic. … Moberg does not distort the factual background of conditions in Smaland in the 1840’s. It presents them as human beings who had been handicapped by what Ibsen called the real enemies of society – ignorance, poverty, and the ugly conditions of life. “The Emigrants” tells in a realistic and fascinating fashion the story of the emigration of farm people from Smaland a hundred years ago. Walter Johnson : Vilhelm Moberg: The Emigrants (Book Review) Scandinavian Studies Menasha, Wis. Vol. 24, (Jan 1, 1952): 23.: Accessed at Proquest.The story then took on a more interesting direction, with the promise of an enjoyable read in the next book of the series ( “Unto a Good Land”). However, as the families started their voyage to America, I felt more empathy with their plight and felt that I got to know them better. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.Glanceabook: For me, it took some time to warm to any of the characters, and some of the writing seemed to be repetitive, tending to labour the point about all the hardships faced by the Swedish farmers. "It's important to have Moberg's Emigrant Novels available for another generation of readers." -Bruce Karstadt, American Swedish Institute These editions contain introductions written by Roger McKnight, Gustavus Adolphus College, and restore Moberg's bibliography not included in earlier English editions.īook 1 introduces Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson, their three young children, and eleven others who make up a resolute party of Swedes fleeing the poverty, religious persecution, and social oppression of Smaland in 1850. First published between 19 in Swedish, these four books were considered a single work by Moberg, who intended that they be read as documentary novels. Moberg's extensive research in the papers of Swedish emigrants in archival collections, including the Minnesota Historical Society, enabled him to incorporate many details of pioneer life. In the first comprehensive biography of Vilhelm Moberg, Mannen i skogen ( The Man in the Woods ), Jens Liljestrand shows how the idea of emigration was a defining one in Moberg’s life. His consistently faithful depiction of these humble people's lives is a major strength of the Emigrant Novels. Considered one of Sweden's greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg created Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson to portray the joys and tragedies of daily life for early Swedish pioneers in America.
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