Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-19
Plain, Bitter Woman in Black
Brings Soul of Norway Here
Nine. Sigrid Undset
Tells Of Flight
From Nozi Guns
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

some Say Mu1c olSIlO OlOScC Is
the greatest living figure in world
literature.
She was a plain, bitter woman in
black-this creator of passion-racked
Kristin Lavransdatter and consci-
ence-tortured Olav Audunsson-who
faced interviewers at the Norwegian
Legation here yesterday. A plain.
bitter woman in black who, in days
to come, surely will be to Norway
what Tolstoi is to Russia or Hugo
to France.
Altogether, perhaps, this 58-year-
old Norwegian is the most dlStln-
guished exile thrown upon American
shores out of the war storm sweep
ing over Europe after an odyssey
without parallel in the stories OF
genius.
Six months ago Nine. Undset was
working quietly in her country home
near Lillehammer-a 18th century
dwelling whose living room is said
to be the most beautiful interior IN
Norway. She was recognized the
world over as one of the greatest
literary figures of her time. With
out warning came the German in
vasion.
Oldest Son Is Killed.
She entered the service OF the
government. Her oldest son joined
the army and was killed in action
three weeks later. Her youngest boy
entered an ambulance unit. A Ger
man transport plane was forced
down outside her garden wall and
its crew made prisoners after q
sharp struggle.
She fled with another son and q
neighbor family. Mani bombers were
overhead all the time. Once they
lay face down in the snow IN q
forest while a hail of machine gun
bullets sprayed around them. Once
they abandoned the car and sought
shelter in a farm house from ma
chine gun fire.
Finally they reached the sea and
took a boat northward to Mo, on
the edge of the Arctic Circle. From
there they were on the road to
Sweden. Part of the crossing had
to be made by skis. From Stock
holm, where she obtained Russian
visa, Nine. Undset crossed through
European Russia to Siberia, thence
to Japan, to Hawaii and finally to
San Francisco.
Nfoldad Heroine From Own Life
This story of Sigrid Undset seems
bound to become one Of the classics
of literary history as the magma
ton which sent the trembling Kris
tin into the graveyard at midnight
to scrape moss from grave to be
paid for with her wedding ring in
order to cure by sorcery the child of
a rejected lover is more and more
recognized as one of the supreme
imaginations of the age.
It required a fortitude worthy of
Kristin herself, and one can hardly
escape the thought that in this
greatest of her characters she was
portraying a subconsciously recog-
nized part of herself.
What the hard-faced women in
black thinks about the present state
of world affairs perhaps doesn't
matter much. She is no statesman.
All that can be said of her in this
regard is that she knows more about
the soul Of Norway than any other
individual iving-more about the
souls of its men, women. children,
fords and forests from the dark
days before the first missionaries
came into the land of the midnight
sun to the bright days before the
parachutists of Hitler.
NORWAY Will Never Forgive"
Norway" she says, "can be kept
in cold storage for a hundred years.
Its people will never forget and they
will never forgive until the nation
Is restored. know that"
Nothing will be gained by eff
forts at conciliation," she continued.
But haven't you read about how
generous Hitler wants to be-" breaks
in Minister Morgenstierne sarcastic
cally. Il understand he has prom
Used to give us undisputed possession
Of the South Pole in this new world
order"
AS for American uterature-Mme
Undset believes that it suffered its
greatest loss with the death two
years ago Of Thomas Wolfe. When
she came to the United States she
bought his last published posthu-
nous novel. The energy of such
torrential works as Look Homeward,
Angel" and "Of Time and the
River" she believes, has seldom
been surpassed in modern literature.
Here may have been the ground
work, she thinks, Of the great
American novel," It was tribute
from one of the most objective to one
of the most subjective of writer's.
She has even read Gone With the
Wind" somewhat in line, so far as
its general theme Is concerned, with
some of her own epic novels. It
has been translated into Norwegian
and was a best seller.
She's Known rs Man-Hater."
Scarlet" she said, seems to me
q real person. The author did fairly
well with the women, but the
men,"
Nine. Undset's own male charac-
tiers are celebrated for their living
reality and the Master Of Hestviken
Is probably q more realistic Hamlet
than Hamlet-far more realistic than
the poor Ashley Wilkes.
But tn Norway" she says, they
say I'm . man hater. That's perhaps