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For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource O.E. Rølvaag Papers (P0584) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context P0584 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rølvaag, O. E. (Ole Edvart), 1876-1931 Description An account of the resource <div class="element-text"> Ole Edvart Rølvaag was born on April 22, 1876, in Dønna, Norway, and immigrated to the United States in 1896, working as a farmhand in South Dakota before earning a B.A. and M.A. from St. Olaf College, with studies at the University of Christiania in between. From 1906 to 1931, he taught Norwegian language and literature at St. Olaf and wrote novels, essays, and poems depicting the Norwegian-American immigrant experience, including the acclaimed Giants in the Earth (1927) and Peder Victorious (1929). He helped preserve Norwegian-American culture by co-founding the Society for Norwegian Language and Culture and the Norwegian-American Historical Association, and in 1926 he was knighted by King Haakon VII of Norway. <div class="flex flex-col text-sm pb-25"> <div class="text-base my-auto mx-auto pb-10 [--thread-content-margin:var(--thread-content-margin-xs,calc(var(--spacing)*4))] @w-sm/main:[--thread-content-margin:var(--thread-content-margin-sm,calc(var(--spacing)*6))] @w-lg/main:[--thread-content-margin:var(--thread-content-margin-lg,calc(var(--spacing)*16))] px-(--thread-content-margin)"> <div class="[--thread-content-max-width:40rem] @w-lg/main:[--thread-content-max-width:48rem] mx-auto max-w-(--thread-content-max-width) flex-1 group/turn-messages focus-visible:outline-hidden relative flex w-full min-w-0 flex-col agent-turn"> <div class="z-0 flex min-h-[46px] justify-start"></div> <div class="mt-3 w-full empty:hidden"> <div class="text-center"></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="pointer-events-none h-px w-px absolute bottom-0"></div> </div> The catalog record for the O.E. Rølvaag Papers can be found online <a href="https://norwegianamericanhistory.org/catalog/items/show/11038" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>. Funding: Funding to digitize a portion of the O.E. Rølvaag papers provided to the Norwegian-American Historical Association through the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, a component of the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy constitutional amendment, ratified by Minnesota voters in 2008. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context p0584_07798 p0584_07799 p0584_07800 p0584_07801 p0584_07802 p0584_07803 Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. P0584 O.E. Rølvaag Papers (P0584: Ruth Lima McMahon Correspondence) O.E. Rølvaag Papers (P0584) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lima McMahon, Ruth, 1898-1981 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1925 March 2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Letters (correspondence) Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Rølvaag, O. E. (Ole Edvart), 1876-1931 Description An account of the resource The Ruth Lima McMahon Papers (P0844) are housed at NAHA. Funding to digitize the O.E. Rølvaag Papers was provided to the Norwegian American Historical Association through the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, a component of the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy constitutional amendment, ratified by Minnesota voters in 2008. Ruth Lima's letter to Ole Rølvaag. Transcription: Dear Prof. Rølvaag, I am going to ask you to release me from our private contract in regard to translating it, after reading this letter, you think it right to do so. When I wrote my first enthusiastic letter about translating, without having seen the book, I thought of the work merely as a splendid bit of training, and not as a thing of any value to you! When I received your letter offering me both the position at St Olaf, and the job of translation, I thought of the work still pretty much from a personal point of view, though after my first rapid reading of the book, I had a wakeful night! I felt that I was not prepared to wholly identify myself with the novel; and therefore I asked to be anonymous if my translation were published. You will no doubt want me to be more specific: Chiefly I felt uncomfortable about the expression on Beret’s early “sins.” not because I think such writing in itself the last bit immoral in its place, but I thought it seemed unnecessary in the drawing of Beret’s character, in fact, it seems to me to blur the character instead of to clarify it. But, as I say, at the time I minimized my [?] as being perhaps fallacious and childish, while on the other hand I was increasingly eager for the work of translating. And so I answered as I did. My sins of hurry are actually finding me out, in a matter that I cannot dismiss by mere anonymity There are certain charges against your book coming from quarters in which I shall be called upon to defend my translation, and I shall be not only weakened, but paralyzed in my defense of that whole flood of new freedom with you represent, by the very fact that I think my opponents partly in the right. Am I making myself clear? To you, of course, the dilemma does not exist. You have written in accordance with your convictions and can defend whole heartedly or leave defuse alone, as you please. My disagreement may be a sign of immaturity. Whatever it is – it is there and must evidently be taken into account. The criticisms of which I speak have reached me only indirectly, but they have forced me into this reconsideration. You will likely have seen Gjerde’s article in “Broderfaandet” for Feb. 1. I have not seen it, but I can image what it is, and I am pretty sure to disagree with it. I think those people are wrong in dozens of ways, and I think your book is beautiful in dozens of ways. But it is just because I should like some time to hit their wrong view that I don’t want to give cause for just offense. I don’t want to have to answer: “Yes, I grant you I can’t defend these paragraphs but then I translated the book just for the love of doing it.” I confess I am puzzled, and unfit for the responsibility of publication. At the same time I am under promise, and I realize that the matter may be of some importance to you. It is not, you understand, that the work of translating is to me personally wrong. In facet I’m determined to do it as if I have every sheet afterward, but I am in the midst of circumstances that make the work doubtful, as well as offensive to a considerable number of my fellowmen. Further, it appears that it is just among these people that my work will lie, at least in the immediate future, and I shall, as I have already said, paralyze myself by doing right if something lay in their honest hearts believe to be wrong. I told you that I refused the teaching offer in order to live with my father. Now this means living in a community full of exactly such prejudices as I suppose Gjerde expressed in his criticism. Naturally if I live with father I shall seek an outlet in some activities outside the household. For instance, there is an old library society to receive, father and I are planning to collect a history of the community, etc. I am afraid that there, too, my having translated a book condemned by these people’s ministers will not be of a chance of doing the little good I might otherwise accomplish. Do you see how complicated a business it is? Perhaps it is inevitable that I shall sooner or later let these people know how I disagree with their prejudices but I would rather not be tied by work previously done. And I do honestly reverence their faith. I know that I must at least inconvenience you for the present if you decide to cancel my obligation, and therefore I am sorry. Besides, it may seem to you not only a foolish indecision on my part, but also a gross ingratitude to you after your many kindnesses, not only in regard to the position at St. Olaf, but in Norway and while I was a student. I can only assure you that as a teacher you have done me an immaculate amount of good and that as a friend I not only respect you, but hold for you that strong affection which we naturally conceive for the few in whom we find an “understanding soul.” I am not happy over this. I am torn, as I seem always to have been between irreconcilables. If you think I am wrong in asking to be released from my promise, say so. I am open to conviction, and your experience on these dangerous seas is wider than mine. Write just as you think best in answer to this muddled letter and do not fear to hurt my feelings by criticism. You can reach me at 5503 16th St. N.W. Washington, or at 1720 Stevens Avenue, Minneapolis. In any ease, I shall probably come down to Northfield for a few days and we can talk it over. Sincerely yours, Ruth Lima Title A name given to the resource Letter from Ruth Lima McMahon to Ole Rølvaag, 1925 March 2 Bibliographic Citation A bibliographic reference for the resource. Recommended practice is to include sufficient bibliographic detail to identify the resource as unambiguously as possible. [Indicate the cited item here]. O.E. Rølvaag Papers. Norwegian American Historical Association, Northfield, Minnesota. Text