Karen

by Alexander L. Kielland

Alexander Lange Kielland (1849-1906) was one of the most famous Norwegian authors of the 19th century. This is one of his short stories.

Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Scandinavian Literature

6 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 7, 2010

About the author

Of the most famous realistic writer of the 19th century, Alexander Lange Kielland ranks as one of the "four greats" of Norwegian literature alongside Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, and Jonas Lie.

Born wealthy, he as a factory owner with a sincere affection for the less fortunate treated his workers well. He, a critic of society throughout his time as a writer, spoke for the weak. His best known plays were the satirical comedies Tre Par (1886) and Professoren (1888). He was also well known for his short stories.

Among his most famous works are the novels Gift (1883), Skipper Worse (1882) and Garman & Worse (1880). Gift (published in English as Poison ) is the first of a trilogy including Fortuna (1884) and St. Hans Fest (1887). In this trilogy, Kielland satirizes the hypocrisy of Norway's clergy. In Gift, Kielland debates the preference for Latin that Norwegian teachers had during his time. [wikipedia]

Reviews

[julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

read for school

i'm sure the symbolism is great ... if only i could understand it

update: i now understand

[♥♫☻Olivia☻♫♥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. But also the translation was atrocious, too bad I can't understand Norwegian.

[Marte · Rating 4 out of 5]

eksamenslesing teller 100% på goodreads når jeg ikke har energi til å lese noe annet

[Alexandra ♡︎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

- for school

[Samira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alexander Kielland was a Norwegian author. He was one of the most central Norwegian representatives of realism. My Norwegian teacher read this short story today and I really enjoyed it. The short story itself begins as a fairytale. Given the very serious topics that will be addressed throughout the story, this is a rather ironic beginning. Introducing the short story this way creates a strong contrast to everything that comes later. The short story has a two-part plot, where one plot follows Karen and the postman, while the other follows the fox and the hare out in the wild. Karen symbolizes the hare, which is weak in relation to the fox, which symbolizes the postman. The fox tricks the hare in the same way as the postman does to Karen.

A tinyyy spoiler:)

The difference between these two stories between the hare and the fox compared to the young girl and the postman is that the hare escapes.

[Alexander Aasen · Rating 1 out of 5]

hell

[Frida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skulle alltid ønske det var noe… mer

[nina! ˚⟡˖ ࣪ ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

for school lol

[Sofie Marcelie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karen as

[Marielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Så få ord,og så vond.

[Mette · Rating 5 out of 5]

🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

[Kathrine Meitzner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kort og godt skrevet!

[matheo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this (5 times) at school, it was honestly really good when I actually understood

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karen er en mørk fortelling om en ung jentes feiltrinn, fantastisk fortalt av Kielland på få sider. Språket er ikke for tungt, og den er ikke alt for vanskelig å forstå seg på, så den er absolutt verdt det.

[Mathias · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 stjerner