Troll

by Theodor Kittelsen (Illustrator), Per Erik Borge (Editor), Berlitz GlobalNET (Translations)

Norwegian trolls and fairytales.
This beautiful book is illustrated by Theodor Kittelsen (1857-1914) who was one of Norway's most popular artists. Editor Borge has included Kittelsen's own descriptions of particular creatures from fairytales and legends.
The tourist edition is available in other popular languages.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Fairy Tales, Art, Fantasy

65 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Theodor Severin Kittelsen was a Norwegian artist. He is one of the most popular artists in Norway. Kittelsen became famous for his nature paintings, as well as for his illustrations of fairy tales and legends, especially of trolls.

Reviews

[Asiuol K · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really excited about this book and while the images/stories were interesting, the construction ruined it. They used excerpts of famous stories, but they had abrupt opening sentences that were clearly a continuation and it was really hard to get into them. Even though I liked using two separate stories about the same idea or person, such a Askeladden, they didn't feel tied together. Also, they used initial letters, but the second letter was just the first letter in the regular font. That really frustrated me. The first story and image was captivating. If every section was like the first one, I would have definitely given it a higher mark.

[Loris Di Giovanni · Rating 4 out of 5]

La foresta, la selvaggia monotonia della foresta, ha lasciato la sua impronta su di noi, siamo diventati parte della sua stessa natura. La amiamo così com'è, forte e malinconica.
Da bambini contemplavamo gli abeti e i pini fruscianti. Osservavamo con gli occhi e l'anima i possenti tronchi, ci arrampicavamo tra le forti braccia contorte finendo sulle cime più alte, sulle alte, fruscianti cime, lassù nell'incantevole blu.
Quando il sole tramonta, una solitudine e un silenzio si scendevano sulle profonde brughiere, tacitamente e densamente
Era come se non passerò respirare, come se la foresta giacesse muta, placida attesa. Allora il cuore ci batteva forte. Volevamo di più, desideravamo ardentemente delle avventure, possenti e selvagge avventure, solo per noi poveri bambini.
E il bosco concesse un'avventura.
Grande e silenziosa essa venne furtiva, col soffice passo felpato di un gatto.
Tutto ciò che prima stava immobile come pietra, cominciò a muoversi.

[Isa RN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro de fragmentos de cuentos tradicionales noruegos que acompañan a evocadoras ilustraciones que han creado el folclore en torno a la figura del troll.

[Teresa Raquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um livro onde se pode aprender um pouco mais sobre estas figuras tão características de Noruega. Assim como de um dos seus grandes impulsionadores.

[Warren · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was created by Per Erik Borge to highlight one of Norway's most famous fairy tale artist, Theodore Kittlesen. Where the book lacks is solely the problem of Borge, he's the editor and within these pages are many different Troll stories that Kittlesen had drawn for, unfortunately he chose to solely give you excerpts from the tales. Kittlesen's artwork is shown large which is great but it's kind of pointless reading the fairy tales when you only get a couple paragraphs from them. It also seems inconsistent as there is one tale that is in full and one picture where there isn't a tale but a write up about the picture adjacent to it yet all the others are simply excerpts from tales. In the opening pages we're given a bit of history about when and why the Norwegian fairy tales started to become written down in the 19th century and in the last pages we're given a bit of a biography on Kittlesen. It's a shame because it's printed very nicely and is interesting but it's hard to read when you only get pieces of a larger story that just isn't here.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's begin with a compliment: Kittelsen's art is haunting. You can see that everyone from Maurice Sendak to EC Weird Comics took inspiration from his marvelous trolls. On the strength of the illustrations, the book is worth picking up. However, the editor's choice to feature fragments of the stories rather than whole ones to accompany each picture is disconcerting. And whoever wrote the artist's biography gets a D for dud. No research, no insight, no perspective on where Kittelsen stood on either the local or international scene.

[marise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives you a little information about the Norwegian artist Theodor Kittelsen.
On every other page you will find one of his drawings of trolls with next to it (a part of) the story it represents.
Nice informative book, but it might seem a little incomplete if you know nothing about trolls or Kittelsen.

[Alejandro Valenzuela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poesía, prosa y relatos dignos de las ilustraciones de este hombre, y aún así, tal parece que son las ilustraciones las que se hicieron dignas de embellecer estos "cuentos de hadas" que han trascendido en el folklor escandinavo durante siglos. Un bello ejemplar con lo necesario para dejarlo a uno queriendo más, deseando descrubrir más acerca de estas creaturas tan increíbles y sobre su autor.