Rosapenna

Rosapenna
Author Ola Bauer
Country Norway
Language Norwegian
Genre novel
Published 1983

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]

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 maladjusted 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]

Rosapenna Street is a genuine street in the Bone area of Belfast, adjacent to Ardoyne.[7]

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.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Bauer, Ola (1983). Rosapenna (in Norwegian). Oslo: Gyldendal. ISBN 82-05-14083-9.
  2. ↑ Christensen, Lars Saabye (9 July 2000). "Min kamerat Ola". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 9 March 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 Rottem, Øystein (1998). Norges Litteraturhistorie. Etterkrigslitteraturen (in Norwegian). 3. Oslo: Cappelen. pp. 196–197. ISBN 82-02-16426-5.
  4. ↑ "Ola Bauer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
  5. ↑ Dahl, Willy (1989). Norges litteratur (in Norwegian). 3. Oslo: Aschehoug. p. 314. ISBN 82-03-16004-2.
  6. 1 2 3 Skrede, Ingar (21 July 1999). "Med nisselue til Belfast". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 9 March 2010.
  7. ↑ Street censorship serves only British interests
  8. ↑ Bauer, Ola (1987). Mellomkrig. Vesper. To hørespill (in Norwegian). Oslo: Gyldendal. ISBN 82-05-17551-9.
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