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Av måneskinn gror det ingenting (1947)

by Torborg Nedreaas

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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952283,250 (3.88)2
Nothing Grows by Moonlight (Av måneskinn gror det ingenting), first published in Norway in 1947, is sure to be talked about. It is a moving novel of love, betrayal, search, and sorrow that introduces a major twentieth-century Norwegian writer, Torborg Nedreaas, to an English-speaking audience. Under the surface of a dramatic story rich in atmosphere lurk social themes that will be of particular interest to American and British readers. At the beginning, a man picks up a woman in a railway station. "It is really very difficult to say what it was that made me notice her. It was probably many things, my own mood, the weather, the emptiness of that particular day." It turns out that she simply wants, desperately needs, someone to talk to. He listens to her story, spellbound, and from that night he is haunted forever by the clear, honest revelation of a broken soul--as the reader will be. The woman describes her hopeless involvement with her teacher and lover, who continues to see her, always to reject her, long after he is married. Obsessively, she returns to situations in which she is abused. Finally, in confronting her past without self-pity, without denying personal responsibility, she realizes how much her self-destructive behavior owes to a capitalistic and patriarchal system that forces women into roles that make them emotionally and economically dependent. A powerful subthemes of Nothing Grows by Moonlight concerns abortion, which Nedreaas sees not as a crime to be punished but as a tragedy that would not be necessary in a more equitable and caring society. But what finally lingers in the reader's mind is the fully developed image of a woman, buffeted by life, coming to terms with God and man.… (more)
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Fortellingen går over en natt som fortellingstid mens handlingen bare peker bakover, i retrospeksjon. En kvinne treffer en mann, blir med ham hjem og sitter oppe hele natten og forteller sitt liv. Hennes oppvekst skjer i gruveby i fattigdom der hun som ung jente forelsker seg i læreren og naturligvis må forholdet holdes skjult, han finner en annen - apotekerdatteren. Hovedpersonen blir gravid, tar abort, men vender alltid hun tilbake til Johannes om enn via andre forhold, via et ekteskap og via aborter. Hennes lengsler, oppgjør med seg selv, to steg fram og tre tilbake med iakttagelser av ekteskapet, kjærlighetene, fattigdommen, status, det å føde barn, det å være fagorganisert, det å streike,
  lestrond | Sep 4, 2020 |
This is a short but unrelentingly bleak book. I have to say that it was a bit hard to take and took much longer than would be expected to read it. However, this may be because I was reading it alongside some other depressing books. The framing narrative is annoying and sometimes the translation is awkward. The story has the potential to be didactic – possibly too blatantly feminist in the story of a woman who has a relationship with a former teacher and is shunned and scorned while he marries another woman and retains his respectable standing. However, none of the characters are all good or bad and every option leads to some sort of misery. Other social issues are broached but there are no solutions. Well, maybe suicide.

The narrator meets a woman on the street and she tells him her story. This device really did seem unnecessary especially as there are frequent interruptions. The woman describes her unhappy and poor family – her drunken but occasionally loving father, her bitter and self-sacrificing mother and her sister, who convinces the father of her child to marry her with unhappy results. The narrator has an affair with Johannes, her former teacher, which at first is wildly happy but soon turns sour. She’s always going back to him though and thinks occasional bursts of affection or interest mean he wants an actual relationship. They are on and off for the whole book but she has to endure the gossip and judgment of the townspeople as well as the grinding poverty while he is much better off. Still, Johannes’ marriage is also conflicted. At times, the narrator addresses abortion (another means to make women disposable in her view), labor issues (strikes lead to nothing but misery) and conventional morality (just more hypocrisy). She meets a kindred spirit in the church organ player but he also has a checkered past. Otherwise, all her relationships are horribly unhappy. There’s enough in here to make it worth reading but it’s quite unpleasant. ( )
1 vote DieFledermaus | Aug 23, 2012 |
Showing 2 of 2
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» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Torborg Nedreaasprimary authorall editionscalculated
Lange-Nielsen, SisselAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lee, BibiTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Manceau, SimoneTraductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Nothing Grows by Moonlight (Av måneskinn gror det ingenting), first published in Norway in 1947, is sure to be talked about. It is a moving novel of love, betrayal, search, and sorrow that introduces a major twentieth-century Norwegian writer, Torborg Nedreaas, to an English-speaking audience. Under the surface of a dramatic story rich in atmosphere lurk social themes that will be of particular interest to American and British readers. At the beginning, a man picks up a woman in a railway station. "It is really very difficult to say what it was that made me notice her. It was probably many things, my own mood, the weather, the emptiness of that particular day." It turns out that she simply wants, desperately needs, someone to talk to. He listens to her story, spellbound, and from that night he is haunted forever by the clear, honest revelation of a broken soul--as the reader will be. The woman describes her hopeless involvement with her teacher and lover, who continues to see her, always to reject her, long after he is married. Obsessively, she returns to situations in which she is abused. Finally, in confronting her past without self-pity, without denying personal responsibility, she realizes how much her self-destructive behavior owes to a capitalistic and patriarchal system that forces women into roles that make them emotionally and economically dependent. A powerful subthemes of Nothing Grows by Moonlight concerns abortion, which Nedreaas sees not as a crime to be punished but as a tragedy that would not be necessary in a more equitable and caring society. But what finally lingers in the reader's mind is the fully developed image of a woman, buffeted by life, coming to terms with God and man.

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