Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Another name to catch international headlines is journalist Åsne Seierstad, whose
The
Bookseller of Kabul
was a runaway international success, although it has been hugely con-
troversial. The Kabul family, portrayed somewhat unflatteringly in the book, sued her in
European courts and, in a landmark July 2010 ruling, Seierstad and her publisher were
found guilty of defamation and 'negligent journalistic practices'; the court awarded pun-
itive damages against the author and her publishers, who were also required to pay legal
costs. Seierstad has promised to appeal, while other members of the Afghan family with
whom she stayed in 2002 have threatened to launch separate legal actions against her. Sei-
erstad's more recent works include
A Hundred and One Days,
a first-hand account of the
fall of Saddam Hussein, and
Angel of Grozny: Inside Chechnya
.
For more on Norway's active literary scene, visit Oslo's Litteraturhuset (see the boxed
text,
Click here
).
CULTURAL ICON: EDVARD GRIEG
Norway's renowned composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) was so disappointed with
his first symphony that he scrawled across the score that it must never be performed!
Thankfully, his wishes were ignored. Grieg was greatly influenced by Norway's folk
music and melodies and his first great signature work,
Piano Concerto in A minor,
has come to represent Norway as no other work before or since.
Two years after the concerto, Grieg, encouraged by luminaries such as Franz Liszt,
collaborated with Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, setting the latter's poetry and writing to mu-
sic. The results -
Before a Southern Convent, Bergliot
and
Sigurd Jorsalfar -
estab-
lished Grieg as the musical voice of Norway. This was followed by a project with
Henrik Ibsen, setting to music Ibsen's wonderful novel
Peer Gynt
. The score found
international acclaim and became Grieg's - and Norway's - best-remembered clas-
sical work.
By 1885 Grieg had developed a formidable repertoire (including
Ballad in G
minor, The Mountain Thrall, Norwegian Dances for Piano
and the
Holberg Suite
),
and he and his wife Nina moved into the coastal home at Troldhaugen (
Click here
),
close to Bergen, from which he set off on numerous concert tours of Europe. Accord-
ing to his biographer, Aimer Grøvald, it was impossible to listen to Grieg without
sensing a light, fresh breeze from the blue waters, a glimpse of grand glaciers and a
recollection of the mountains of western Norway's fjords.
