bookshelves: translation, faroe-islands, paper-read, one-penny-wonder, handbag-read, classic, bedside, autumn-2013, published-1939
Read from September 10 to October 20, 2013

-One never loses Barbara, said Anna Sophia with a smile. But on the other hand, no one quite has her.

Translated by George Johnston

From the introduction: 'Barbara' is Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen's only novel. It was written between 1934 and 1938, the last four years of his short life, towards the end of which he was dying of tuberculosis in a Copenhagen hospital.

Opening: The lamps in the Royal Stores Warehouses were nearly blown out by draughts that came with each blast of the gale, but between gusts it was quiet as the grave.

Here we have an amoral woman in a small community in harsh surroundings in a time (early 1800's) where tittle-tattle and a woman's place is firmly tied to the Lutheran* faith. Barbara is rather in the mode of Oh!klahoma's I'm just a girl who can't say no. The scholars of myth traditions would have her pegged as a trickster. But who can resist her? Excellent reading.

3.5*

*That, folks, is not Lex Lutheran by nature, rather it is a severe puritanical sect that disses alchohol *gasp* ( )

I know this is supposed to be a great classic of Scandinavian literature, and was a bestseller in its time, but I found it incredibly dull, dull, dull. The only parts I liked were the author's descriptions of the difficult day-to-day life on the Faroe Islands. (Having your travel depend on the whims of the sea, for example, and waiting all the time for supply ships to come in.) And that wasn't enough to redeem the story for me. ( )

Barbara er en kærlighedsroman af den færøske forfatter Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen, der 1934 gik i gang med sit livsværk - romanen Barbara, der var skrevet på dansk og udkom året efter hans død i 1939. Romanen opnåede fra første færd berømmelse og blev oversat til mange sprog. Barbara regnes for en af de bedste kærlighedsromaner på dansk. Den rummer på den ene side en livsglæde og livsgnist, og på den anden side en stor kærlighedssorg.

Romanen bygger på et færøsk sagn fra 1700-tallet om kvinden Beinta Broberg eller Benthe, der ifølge overleveringerne var ond mod sine tre ægtemænd, der alle var præster. En fjerde præst nåede at bryde forlovelsen før de blev gift. Man var ifølge overleveringerne overbevist om, at hun var skyld i sine ægtemænds død, og at hun også var ond imod sit tyende. Andre kilder benægter dog dette.

I romanen er Barbara en præsteenke, og onde tunger siger, at hun er skyld i sine foregående to præstemænds død. Hun er 28 år, og om hende står en aura af erotik og sødme: - en femme fatale. Barbara er en meget sammensat figur, hvilket Jacobsen skildrer med stor varme og indlevelse. Barbara skildres i romanen som en kvinde, der er i sine drifters og følelsers vold. Hun er et naturbarn, som i al sin uskyld ikke kan gøre for alle de følelser af både kærlighed og smerte hun vækker i sine omgivelser. Den færøske natur er ideelle omgivelser til at skildre den utæmmede vildskab, som Barbara udstråler. ( )