The Ice Palace by tarjei vesaas PDF

Download The Ice Palace by tarjei vesaas PDF book free online – From The Ice Palace by tarjei vesaas PDF: A new edition of what is commonly seen as the legendary Norwegian writer’s masterpiece, this story tells the tale of Siss and Unn, two friends who have only spent one evening in each other’s company.

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Description The Ice Palace by tarjei vesaas PDF

But so profound is this evening between them that when Unn inexplicably disappears, Siss’s world is shattered. Siss’s struggle with her fidelity to the memory of her friend and Unn’s fatal exploration of the strange, terrifyingly beautiful frozen waterfall that is the Ice Palace are described in prose of a lyrical economy that ranks among the most memorable achievements of modern literature.

Review of The Ice Palace by tarjei vesaas PDF

In such a short amount of time and in so few, yet potent, words, Vesaas delivers a chilling, metaphor-driven tale of loss set in the dense winters of Norway. You really should read this book. It is a very quick read, but it will remain with you long after you finish the last page.

Vesaas, who was a decorated poet as well as a novelist, delivers a fresh, poetic and concise prose that damn near flows off the page. The real majesty however, is in the way he crafts an environment that reads like a living, breathing character. The snowy landscapes that blanket this novel, and the Ice Palace itself, are just as important characters as the two female leads themselves as Vesaas illustrates them in layers of metaphoric beauty. Also, his ethereal imagery will make you feel like there is a savage winter storm just beyond your window regardless of the actual weather outside.

This novel reads like a long form poem as there is so much below the surface and the actual words. It is filled with symbols and metaphors that are very direct to the plot and characters and open up a much broader understanding of Siss and her tribulations. While the prose is swift and the novel is short, you would do well to slow down and really examine what Vesaas has written much as you would do with any poem. Without giving anything away, the ice palace found in the novel can be viewed on many different levels; from a symbol of several of the characters, as death, or even as the novel itself. I don’t want to go into it as not to provide spoilers but after reading this I felt cheated that I didn’t read this for a class and didn’t have an essay to formulate as I had so much to say about all of Vesaas’ hidden messages.

This is a near perfect, and very teach-able, novel. It calls up the nostalgic feeling of adolescence, dazzles you with it’s simple and direct poetry, provides food for thought, constantly keeps things fresh as the style shifts around (one chapter is just a short poem), plus it practically has its own soundtrack with the vivid cracking of ice and as it’s hard not to image a woodwind composition playing after all the talk of woodwind players in the last third of the novel. Oh, and there is some terrifying bits about walking down the road in opaque darkness. This novel is powerful and chilling (sorry, after all the descriptions of icy cold I had to include at least one ‘cold’ pun).

Review of The Ice Palace by tarjei vesaas PDF

We have a significant amount of snow on the ground for the first time in four years. With this influx of winter weather, it is comforting to read books about snow and colder climates. I have seen a number of goodreads friends review Tarjei Vesaas’ definitive book the Ice Palace. In need of a foreign prize award winner for classics bingo, I decided to read his masterpiece for myself. Short in length, this novella is poignant in its prose as Vesaas writes of grieving and survivors guilt’ in this harrowing coming of age tale.

Siss is eleven years old and the most popular girl in her school. An only child, she is also the center of her parents’ attention. One day her feelings toward everyone around her change when a new girl named Unn joins Siss’ class at school. A lonely girl by nature, Unn is ignored by everyone in the class, except Siss. The girls decide to meet at Unn’s house after school on one darkening autumn evening and commence on an electric friendship. Unn reveals to Siss that her mother died of an illness six months earlier and that even at eleven years old she does not know who her father is. Coping with these feelings swirling inside of her, Unn has yet to openly discuss her station in life with anyone, that is except for Siss. Despite being the leader of everyone at school, Siss is at heart lonely as well. It seems divinely ordained that the two girls have been brought together, and now they share a deep secret that not even Unn’s Aunt or Siss’ parents are privileged to know. Together, the girls appear to be on the cusp of navigating through their teenage years without much angst.

This powerful friendship ends before it has a chance to begin. The next morning, Unn decides to navigate an ice palace on her way to school. In Norway, ice is as thick as stone and little is capable of penetrating through it. It is inside of this ice palace structure unspoiled by nature that Unn is able to meditate on her feelings about her mother, her father, her new friendship with Siss, and her inherent loneliness. Almost by design, Unn falls through the ice and drowns. Siss’ new friendship is not meant to be and, through a despondent winter, she grieves in her solitude. In addition to the ice structure, Siss has erected an almost impenetrable barrier around herself that not even her parents are able to crack. Coping with her own survivors’ guilt while being on the cusp of adolescence, Siss is unable to strike a balance between preserving Unn’s memory and moving on with her own life.

Vesaas has created a harrowing story through his exquisite prose and use of an ice palace as both a character and a metaphor for Siss’ boundaries in sharing her feelings with others. I read the English version translated by Elizabeth Rokkan and she has done a magical job in preserving the prose in translation. Versaas’ novella is an ode to his native country of Norway and much of the land that has been unspoiled by development. In addition to the ice palace that is both sparkling yet deadly, Versaas describes native birds and plants who sound like a woodwind section to an orchestra. The sounds of the Norwegian countryside enhance the beauty of this novel that is otherwise harrowing and borders on the metaphysical thoughts of an adolescent girl.

Tarjei Versaas was a runner up for the 1964 Nobel Prize for his work on this hauntingly beautiful novel. When I think of an ice palace, the first thing that comes to mind is Elsa’s creation in the Disney version of Hans Christen Andersen’s Elsa the Snow Queen. Elsa’s construction designed as a boundary between herself and the world, and Versaas’ ice palace is similar both physically and emotionally. His prose in describing the ice is chilling yet full of beauty, which is the image I see with the untarnished snow on the ground before me. I had never read one of Versaas’ novels before, and The Ice Palace is a poignant introduction to his work, which also includes the 1952 award winning The Winds. An ode to Norwegian nature and adolescent friendship, Versaas’ work is one that will stay with me for a long while.

About the Author

Tarjei Vesaas was the author of several novels, volumes of poetry, and a book of short stories which was awarded an international prize at Venice in 1952. He was awarded several other prizes, and was a candidate for the Nobel Prize in 1964, 1968, and again in 1969.

The book certainly brought all the feels, and elements of all characters. Throughout the novel, the story is smooth and generally moves along well. At the end of the day if you are looking for something that you have read similar to this before and don’t mind another, then this will satisfy you. If you are looking for something more than just an average read, that you will want to engage with, then this is also something you will enjoy.

Details About The Ice Palace by tarjei vesaas PDF

Name: The Ice Palace
Author: tarjei vesaas
ISBN: 978-0720620061
Language: English
Genre: Literary Fiction, Small Town & Rural Fiction, Classic Literature & Fiction
Format: PDF/ePub
Size: 1 MB
Page: 176
Price: Free

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