Norway

by Nico Jungmann

173 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 28, 2015

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading free ebooks or Project Gutenberg books is a terrific thing. There is a downside missing illustrations though. It is a particular problem here as the author’s husband was a respected artist and his art is missing from my copy. There are heavy-type titles throughout that are where art work should be. After reading the book I even tried to look for used copies but couldn’t find anything under $100. Here on Goodreads the book is listed as by Nico Jungmann but that is not correct. Beatrix Jungmann, his wife, wrote the text. Nico was a Dutch/English artist whose work looks to fit into the arts and crafts style. The couple took a longish trip to Norway before this book was published in 1904. While Nico was painting Beatrix enjoyed things a traveler to Norway would have done at this time. Critically, she spent a lot of time talking to people she met along the way, even if she didn’t speak Norwegian and they didn’t speak very much English. They met some English, German and American people who were either salmon fishing for sport or were commercial travelers. Tourists were uncommon here at this time. Beatrix got a wonderful view of a more timeless Norway and wrote up stories about the beautiful landscape, crafts, folk ways, folklore, industry (fishing and forestry mainly), farming, the honesty and lack of servility among the people, and noted special trips they made to visit the Sami people in Lapland. She briefly mentions the artist Munch as a “rather morbid” youth (now known famously for “The Scream” but does think he shows some promise. The couple is impressed with the literature of Ibsen and the music of Grieg.

One of my favorite stories here is of Beatrix trying to bargain for an ironing board that has a hand carved wooden horse as its base. The farmwife wouldn’t give it up. Considering how they travel on rough mountain tracks in small post carts on the edges of cliffs, and in small steamboats crowded with cattle on fjords it probably was just as well.

[Tammy Bolderdijk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice travel journal, with beautiful illustrations. Interesting to learn what Norway was like in 1905.