Rosapenna

Rosapenna is a novel published in 1983 by the Norwegian writer Ola Bauer.[1] The book introduced Belfast and Northern Ireland into Norwegian literature.[2]

Contents

Context

The novel is the fourth in a series about the character "Jo Vendt". The first book, Bauer's debut novel Graffiti published in 1976 under the pseudonym Jo Vendt, describes the principal character's tough childhood as a dropout sent to schools for misfit children. The next novel, Bulk (1978), describes "Jo" as a sailor with a background from a debauched life in Oslo. Humlehjertene from 1980 is about the anarchist "Jo Vendt" who travels to Paris in 1968, falls in love with a Finnish girl, and ends up on the barricades with paving stones in his hands.[3]

Plot

The focus in Rosapenna is the conflict in Northern Ireland,[4] which "Jo Vendt" is covering as a journalist.[5] Other central characters in the novel are the English soldier "Sammy Jenkins", who has a background as a poor boy from Whitechapel, and the poor IRA girl "Brigid Doherty".[6] The novel is set in 1973. "Vendt" has been instructed to cover the conflict from a pro British point of view, and is prepared to satisfy the editor in this respect, and to write about James Joyce and Brendan Behan from the cultural side.[6] He eventually gets in contact with IRA people in Ardoyne, an Irish Nationalist district of North Belfast, and move in with a family in the ghetto The Bone.[3] From then on he is on a collision course with his newspaper editor.[6] He becomes disgusted with the misrepresented reports delivered by the journalist corps, and tries to understand the underlying reasons for the conflict in Northern Ireland.[3]

Play version

An episode from Rosapenna was adapted into the audio play Vesper, produced for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation theatre Radioteatret and printed in 1987.[7]

References

  1. ^ Bauer, Ola (1983) (in Norwegian). Rosapenna. Oslo: Gyldendal. ISBN 82-05-14083-9. 
  2. ^ Christensen, Lars Saabye (9 July 2000). "Min kamerat Ola" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2000/07/09/210794.html. Retrieved 9 March 2010. 
  3. ^ a b c Rottem, Øystein (1998) (in Norwegian). Norsk Litteraturhistorie. Etterkrigslitteraturen. 3. Oslo: Cappelen. pp. 196–197. ISBN 82-02-16426-5. 
  4. ^ "Ola Bauer" (in Norwegian). Store norske leksikon. Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. http://www.snl.no/Ola_Bauer. Retrieved 9 March 2010. 
  5. ^ Dahl, Willy (1989) (in Norwegian). Norges litteratur. 3. Oslo: Aschehoug. p. 314. ISBN 82-03-16004-2. 
  6. ^ a b c Skrede, Ingar (21 July 1999). "Med nisselue til Belfast" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/1999/07/21/171796.html. Retrieved 9 March 2010. 
  7. ^ Bauer, Ola (1987) (in Norwegian). Mellomkrig. Vesper. To hørespill. Oslo: Gyldendal. ISBN 82-05-17551-9.