Trägudars land

Trälen Holme #1

by Jan Fridegård

The romantic and powerful Viking warrior is a favorite subject of novelists, moviemakers, and historians. But he is not the hero of Land of Wooden Gods. His servant is. Jan Fridegård (1897-1968) recreates the Viking period from a new perspective, bringing to life not only a warfare culture but the institutions that supported it, especially slavery and a religion of fear. Originally published in Sweden in 1940, Land of Wooden Gods is the first volume of a trilogy of novels that Scandinavians consider among the greatest and most accurate every written about the Vikings. For capturing its directness and emotional force in English, Robert E. Bjork won the 1987 Translation Prize of the American-Scandinavian Foundation.



A thrall named Holme is the protagonist of Land of Wooden Gods, which centers on the slave population of Sweden in the ninth century, when the country was on the verge of Christianization. The novel begins with the abandonment of a slave baby, condemned to the wolf-infested woods by a Viking chieftain upset by thrall unrest. The ensuing action shows Holme, the father, acting as not slave has ever before. Fridegård, a master at creating atmosphere, sets the scene for his monumental work: a Viking village, with its log halls, stable, and sty; feuding families and human sacrifice; broadsailed dragon ships; and a port of pirates. The remaining novels in the trilogy—People of the Dawn (1944) and Sacrificial Smoke (1949)—were published by the University of Nebraska Press in 1990.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Sweden, Swedish Literature, Historical, Classics, Scandinavian Literature

226 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1940

About the author

Johan Fridolf Fridegård, known as Jan Fridegård, originally Johansson and in youth called Fride Johansson, was a Swedish writer. In the Swedish literature Fridegård belonged to the so called proletarian authors, specifically (statarskolan). He is known for integrating social issues and conditions within his novels. His most prominent books are the self-biographical "Lars Hard" series as well as his Viking age trilogy. However, he was a very prolific author.

Fridegård kom från statarmiljö; den fräna självbiografiska romansviten om Lars Hård (1935–36) genomsyras av ett frigörelsepatos. Samma engagemang kännetecknar också trilogin om den upproriske trälen Holme, Trägudars land (1940), Gryningsfolket (1944) och Offerrök (1949).

Reviews

[Bjorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trägudars land har definitivt åldrats på 80 år. Både i sin bild av 800-talet (en modern Upsalaforskare skulle antagligen skaka leende på huvudet åt skildringen av blotet) och i sin måttliga nordism där alla verkar vara medvetna om att de lever i en brytningstid i ett land som gudarna slåss om - vilket iofs säkert också kan skyllas på hans bakgrund som proletärförfattare där allt hela tiden står på spel. Samtidigt innebär det inte att den inte har åldrats väl; Fridegårds prosa är väldigt stark (om också lite väl karg i sin tokvägran att återge ens den minsta lilla dialog) och perspektivet han lägger på vikingatiden utifrån dem som faktiskt fick saker att fungera, och utan att tvinga på dem alltför uppenbart moderna idéer, känns fräscht.

[Daniel Westman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Det var länge sedan jag läste den senast, men jag tyckte den var ännu bättre nu. Den skulle kunna bli en grym miniserie på Netflix.

[Haaze · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Swedish classic focusing on the perspective of the slaves during the time of the Vikings. It is the first in a trilogy published in the 1940s. The book follows the perspective of the slave Holme and his life over the timespan of about five years. I understand that one of Fridegård's main interests was archaeology. The book certainly describes may aspects of society and its structure. In addition, the theme of the arrival of Christianity is present. One interesting aspect of the book is that it barely contains any conversation at all. The reader is informed about the content of messages relayed between characters, but generally not in a dialogue form. Fridegård often takes his time to describe settings and to unfold the events in the book. The work is also very focused on describing the landscape, weather, nature, light, animals, plants and changes in the surroundings. In that sense it very much felt like a dream that slowly unfolded. Highly recommended for readers interested in the Viking age and historical fiction. This was the second time I read this book and I'm likely to return to it one day. Besides, I am already looking forward to the other two parts in the trilogy.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ganska enkel story med en del uppenbara underliggande budskap. Den underställdes kamp mot överheten, det nordiska folkets särdrag, ljuset i kristendomen. Får inte riktigt känslan av det epos jag minns mig ha läst för många år sedan.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this years ago in a class on Celtic and Norse mythology. We read it from the mythological perspective and didn't go into any other details with it, and I had completely forgotten the narrative between then and now.

I wanted to reread it in part because I didn't remember it and wanted to read the whole trilogy, and partly because my co-chair for my master's thesis, Bob Bjork, was the man who translated it. He's a cool dude.

This is the first of the Holme Trilogy, which was published in Sweden in the 1940s. I am taking it with a rather large grain of salt because much of it seems unreliable or unbelievable to me. Fridegard did a fabulous job with the descriptions of daily life of the Viking thrall. I'm sure there was plenty of artistic license taken, but overall it was much as I remembered from discussions in my Old English classes. The accounts of the dwellings and surroundings were vivid and really enhanced the tale.

I do have a problem with any book that has as a protagonist a man who raped a woman, and I have a bigger problem with the woman for actually deciding to stay with her rapist and make a life with him? What the everloving fuck? That's like some twisted story right out of SVU or something. I know that rape-fantasies of many varieties are kind of common, so maybe Fridegard had one of his own he could never have fulfilled, so he had Holme do it. I did not like that one bit, not just for the rape and such, but also because I don't see that it added anything to the plot. If there had been a reason for it in the overall scheme of the story, maybe I'd be more understanding. As it is, I don't see why, if Holme is such a fine, upstanding man, Ausi wouldn't have just made a life with him minus the rape.

I also am curious as to why Fridegard made the Norse gods seem like they were meant for the nobility and warrior classes only, not for the masses. As Bjork noted several times throughout the book, the god Thor in particular was viewed as the people's god. There is no evidence that the Norse pantheon was elitist or "non democratic."

As this is only the first of the trilogy, I am curious to see how Holme and Ausi will develop further. Holme is clearly on the rise for a revolution among the thralls and lower classes. How that plays against the representation of Christianity being a religion for the people will be interesting to see. The stranger, a Christian monk who was sacrificed during the nine-days festival, was hated by Holme, and yet they were both working for the same purpose, just going about it in a different manner.

So far I am not actually sure what I think of the book. The focus on the thralls rather than the warriors is different from what we might be used to, so that's interesting. But I also do not view Holme as any sort of heroic figure. Everything he does in the book so far has been to keep Ausi with him and to protect his own interests. If it helps others in the process, it seems merely to be an unintended perk, rather than his main motivation.

[Christel Ek-Williamsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

🇸🇪 En kopia av denna boken har funnits i min pappas bokhylla så länge jag kan minnas, men jag läste den aldrig när jag bodde hemma och det har liksom aldrig blivit av sen heller! Köpte dock denna för typ en tia i somras och i sann #theunreadshelfproject2018 -anda har jag nu äntligen läst den! 😊Jag kan väl inte säga att den lämnade några djupare spår och jag är inte jättesugen på att läsa hela trilogin. Men den var helt klart läsvärd och som religionslärare och dessutom allmänt historieintresserad så fanns det mycket att fundera på; den utspelar ju sig i övergångsperioden mellan asatro och kristendom. Lättläst och kändes, iaf språkligt, inte särskilt gammaldags för att vara skriven 1940. 🇬🇧 A copy of this book, Land of Wooden Gods, has been on my dad’s bookshelf for as long as I can remember, but I never read it while I was living at home and haven’t got around to it after that either! I bought this copy for about a pound last summer though and now, in true #theunreadshelfproject2018 spirit, I’ve finally read it! 😊 It didn’t make that much of an impact on me, and I’m not sure I’ll read the other two parts of the trilogy. But it was definitely worth my time, and as an RE teacher and someone who’s also generally interested in history I found it to be quite interesting since it takes place in the period when the old Norse beliefs were losing ground in favour of Christianity. It was easy to read and, though it was written in 1940, didn’t feel very dated, at least not language wise.

[Sandra Gustafsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

En helt okej liten historia. Dock är den inte helt historiskt korrekt och ett visst mått av sexism finns helt klart, men det är väl bara att vänta eftersom den skrevs 1940 - en helt annan tid från idag.
Stilen med vilken han skriver är jag inte helt på det klara med vad jag tycker. Avsaknaden av dialoger mellan karaktärer gör att det känns som att man inte riktigt kan leva sig in i historien, att man inte är delaktig i vad som händer. Å andra sidan gör just detta att det känns som att detta är en historia man får berättad för sig, så man får lite känslan av att delta i en sagostund, tycker jag.
Men överlag tycker jag helt klart att detta är en bok värd att läsa, oavsett om man gör det för intresse för svensk litteratur, historia, asatro/nordisk mytologi och/eller vikingarna och deras tid. Jag tycker att den var inspirerande, om man bara slutar fjanta och knota sig över att den inte är "historiskt korrekt". Detta är underhållning - inte facklitteratur.

[Winternight · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an unusual book: its main focus are not the vikings themselves but their slaves. It has some exciting parts, some mildly boring parts and some great parts. For example, the chapter with the great temple I found very curious and I wonder if the tv series "Vikings" took inspiration from this book, or the creators of the show and the author of the book used the same source. Anyway, one can learn a lot from it and have a good time reading it. I've read many unfavourable reviews here, but I suppose it's just disappointment that it doesn't include the usual idiotic stuff from modern viking books and movies: superhuman strength, women warriors, monsters, dragons, disfigured seers and carnages. I've read the English translation, which is ok, but I wish I could read it in my mothertongue (take the hint, Bulgarian publishers!).

[Artur · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jag tvingades att läsa den här boken i högstadiet. Jag gillade den inte då, men har fått upp intresset för vikingatiden sen dess och bestämde mig för att ge den en chans till. Det skulle jag inte ha gjort.

Fridegård's "knappa" språk betyder otroligt fattiga miljö och personbeskrivningar, och obefintlig dialog (Obefintlig är ju inte direkt någon överdrift. Jag tror att jag hittade sammanlagt 4 rader i hela boken). Handlingen är inte lysande heller.

Det känns som att läsa en lågbudget stumfilm beställd av en nyfrälst församling. Kristendomen tar en stor plats, men saknar all form av nyans. Asagudar- dåligt. Gud - bra, och främlingen (missionären) är så otroligt naiv och ensidig att jag blev uppriktigt glad när någon väl gav honom en snyting. Kort sagt, inget intressant eller tankeväckande i hela boken.

[Jossy Tsui · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jag bad min svenska lärare om att välja en intressant bok för mig att läsa, han föreslog mig denna skönlitteratur. Den ursprungliga boken som skrivdes av Jan Fridegård är mycket svårt för mig att läsa, därför valde jag en lättläst, trots att det fortfarande är lite utmanande att uppfatta. Boken utspelade sig under vikingartiden, berättelsen handlar om två trälar som blev kära i varandra och fick sitt gemansamt barn som gjorde hövdingen som ägde dem rasande. Hövdingen kastade barnen ut i skogen. Holme (Den trälmannen) gjorde vad ingen annan träl hade gjort förut är att leta efter barnen i skogen och sen drog han i väg med trälkvinnan till frihet.

[John Carlsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holme och Ausis är trälar på en gård i vikingatidens Sverige. Deras barn sätts ut i skogen mot deras vilja. De söker upp barnet och flyr därifrån och drar sig vidare mot Birka där deras bakgrund inte är helt känd. Saker och ting ska förändras dock, både på gården de flydde från och i landet i stort - en ny religion är på intågande...

Det är en intressant skildring som måhända inte är helt historiskt korrekt, men ändå intressant då den ger en skildring av trälarnas liv och synen på dessa. Läste denna första året i gymnasiet och hade inte så starka minnen av den, men den var klart läsvärd och jag kommer fortsätta läsa övriga delar så småningom!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into this, but once I finally did it became a really enjoyable read. I’m looking forward to the rest of the trilogy, the second of which I bought recently. So great to see the Viking age not from the familiar perspective of warriors, but instead their slaves. It reminded me once again of who does the actual work in any society, and it’s not the rulers.

This is the first book I’ve read in two languages. I read it (with painstaking slowness) in the original Swedish, during college, but remembered almost nothing about it other than the missionary’s unpleasant demise.

[Danushka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm, interesting book - there were some things I didn't like that much, other parts I did, and some unique pieces that kept me going. I think I'll try to find Books 2 and 3 since there is supposed to be a big character arc/redemption for Holme. But fascinating to read about the Vikings time from the perspective of a slave/thrall.

[Laura]

I really enjoyed this book even though I read it in Swedish and had to constantly translate some of the words. There's something about the perspective that felt very close, real and at times bold but somehow true. He seemed to have captured the human psyche and made a distant time a palpable reality.

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Läste för universitetskurs. Var plågsamt. Varför Fridegård ville skriva en bok där varje karaktär var så skev och omöjlig att hela berättelsen blir orealistisk och märklig fattar jag liksom inte? Han lyfter denna del av vikingatiden helt skevt och orealistiskt, varje karaktär osympatisk och poängen med detta verk går helt förbi.

[Håkan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of two viking slaves escaping their owner and eventually finding a new home at the viking town Birka, where they also come to meet with the new Christian religion that just found its way to Sweden.

[Yrsa S. Hagström · Rating 1 out of 5]

Probably the most Boring novel I have read in my entire life....

[Charlotta · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.4 stars

It got better after we worked with it in class (but I still don’t think I will choose it for my students to read).

[Othilia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pissdålig

[Azita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Första halvan var fett nice supervacker mmm så bra. Andra halvan var ganska meh så jävla trist med kristna missionärer jag bryr mig inte om dig varför började boken handla omdig istället

[Märta Sahlsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nja, lite seg och inte mycket hände. Men interesting att vardagen på 800-talet kan jämföras med den på tidigt 1900tal

[Calle Humborg · Rating 4 out of 5]

+ bra

[Pompom]

Jag började läsa Trägudars land när jag gick i högstadiet. Nu är jag färdig, tjugotvå år senare.



Jag borde ha läst färdigt den 1988. Det är inget särskilt med historien om de två förrymda trälarna Ausi och Holme som hamnar i Birka och på helt olika sätt hanterar det nya livet i staden. Men den lyckas bra med att ge liv åt historieböckernas småtråkiga redogörelser för livet på vikingatiden precis när asatron och kristendomen började trängas på samma mark. Om jag bara hade läst den samtidigt som jag läste historieböckerna hade den förmodligen varit ganska intressant.

[Gene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of a three-volume work by Fridegard. A beautifully written story in translation from Swedish on 9th century Viking life and culture considered by Scandinavians as one of the greatest and most accurate descriptions of the period yet with message for today. A "can't put it down" book as you follow the trall Holme and his fight for freedom. "Has vast amount of historically accurate and largely unromantizied, information about life during the Viking era" (R. Wright, U of Ill.)

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was nothing special. It was very boring. The storyline is ok, but the author didn't really make the book as exciting as it could have been. Also--the last 20 pages seem extremely unnecessary since the writer seems to be dragging the book out (which was not needed). All in all, it was not a good book.

[Guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't expect this book to be as good as it was; somehow historical novels from the 1940s usually substitute melodrama for accuracy. But this one had a good feel for what I imagine pre-Christian Sweden to have been like. I am looking forward to reading the other two novels in the set.

[Johanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this trilogy by Jan Fridegård in our company "library" shelf - written in the 1940's I didn't have too high expectations for historical fiction like this... but Fridegård paints a stunning story with blunt accuracy of the life in Sweden during the 9th century and the Viking era.

[Marie-Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than I remembered it from being forced to read it in school at age 13. Was it brilliant? No. But an excellent example of an all-knowing author using God-perspective. I understand now why this book is used for educational purposes. It's not just to bore 13-year-olds to death. *nodnod*

[ebba · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started out good, and then went downhill from there. Though I liked 'the stranger'-guy. He was cool. :3

[linn · Rating 1 out of 5]

tråkig bokjävel lmao. skoluppgift.