Dakota Life: Giants in the Earth

one of the best-known and most important books about the Pioneer experience of the late 1800s is set in eastern South Dakota I think it's important for the standpoint that after his writing of giants in the earth there were no more novels about the pining experience they were written from a Romantic standpoint because he told not only the hard parts the tragedy of the other pioneer experience but also the joy and so it was a more realistic finally a realistic look at at what those pioneers had to interface as they came to Dakota Territory into America giants in the earth tells the story of a Norwegian immigrant couple who come to Dakota Territory in the 1870s pair honza and his wife Barret are tested by the harshness and isolation of the Prairie they descend into a conflict that embodies the immigrant dilemma a husband who looks West and a wife who looks back east toward her home and her family and she was filled with guilt for many reasons the husband works joyfully and proudly seeks a new and prosperous life the wife is nearly consumed by loneliness and remorse her sadness only grows as she begins to realize that her children are of the new world not the old Olli rolvaag would have recognized the dilemma in his own life experience he was born in 1876 on an island off the west coast of Norway it was a very austere beginning very poor beginning and he the education was such in those years you had went for three weeks three times a year for seven years and then your education was over and so but the family read and was in and had many just great discussions around the table so that was a part of his background as well he became a fisherman and when he was up the Laughlin Islands in northern of near the Arctic Circle is a massive storm where many of his neighbors and friends died and he almost died himself they're wondering if this isn't part of what led to his his early death at age 55 and so he decided fishing was not for him that's when he wrote his uncle asking he had sent money for him to come so he could come to South to do America for three years rolvaag worked on this farm in Union County North of Elk Point once he'd earned enough money he enrolled at Augustana Academy in Canton a forerunner of today's Augustana University in Sioux Falls rolvaag met Jenny Burt all at Augustana they were married in 1908 and Oly rolvaag became a US citizen he continued his education and was awarded bachelor's and master's degrees at st. Olaf College in Northfield Minnesota rolvaag eventually accepted an appointment in Norwegian language and literature Department rolvaag continued her write and teach at st. Olaf until his death in November of 1931 Jennie Bertil rolvaag was born in 1878 in a sod house on a farm northeast of Sioux Falls in 1883 ten years after coming to the u.s. from Norway Jenny's parents Andrew and Karin Burt all built this house it was moved from his original location in the 1970s and restored is now a museum [Music] holy and Jenny rolvaag spent many hours here and Olli got acquainted with the bird all family settlement stories the bird all's were among the first Norwegian immigrants to arrive in Dakota Territory they had come in a wagon train by the way in 1873 to near Garrett's in South Dakota at 11 covered wagon train and as in Andrew his father-in-law and his brother and sisters had were filled with the stories of their coming in the wagon train on how it was to arrive in the snow the locusts and the grass and the loneliness and so heard those stories and this was very much a part of his writing in fact as he wrote as he sat in the and the rolvaag writing camis were any cabin in northern Minnesota he was corresponding back and forth with his with his wife who was staying here in Sioux Falls with her with her father as he was writing in 1923 and he was asking questions like what about this what about this and so the news correspondent Wentz back and forth so we know that many of the stories of the of the wagon train that came to Dakota Territory are included in giants and the earth rolvaag wrote the book in Norwegian and it was first published in Norway in two volumes in 1924 and 1925 the English translation was published in 1927 giants in the earth is the first book in a trilogy about the Hansa family's journey from being Norwegian immigrants to becoming Americans none of roll bogs other writings achieved the commercial success of giants in the earth the berdahl rolvaag house the rolvaag writing cabin and other buildings in Heritage Park on the Augustana University campus in Sioux Falls are open for tours from June through August you

Channel: Dakota Life

Views: 6,591

Rating: 4.4210525 out of 5

Keywords: south dakota, sdpb, south dakota public broadcasting, ole rolvaag, giants in the earth, pioneer

Id: -fvYQHS-r5I

Length: 6min 3sec (363 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 04 2018