(1879-1967)
A Norwegian novelist, Falkberget was a Christian socialist who grew up near the mining town of Røros in southern Trøndelag, Norway, and spent much of his childhood and youth working in the mines. His numerous novels and stories are centered on the history of mining in the area, as well as the conflicts between the various segments of its population. A careful researcher, Falkberget created a body of literature that has both historical and artistic value. But there was also a clear connection between his portraits of the past and his commitment to promoting social justice in the present; his reconstructions of past events showed that many injustices had not been done away with in Norweigan society.
After writing several locally printed stories, Falkberget's true literary debut was the short novel Svarte Fjelde (1907; Black Mountains), which combines detailed descriptions of mining life with expressions of his love of the mountain landscape.Many other novels about hardworking people and their economic struggles—as well as their trials in various love relationships—followed, one of the more notable being Lisbet paa Jarnfjeld (1915; tr. Lisbeth of Jarnfjeld, 1930), a tragic story of passion and death in the Røros area. Brændoffer (1917; Burnt Offering), on the other hand, shows the inhumanity of capitalism as a family moves to Christiania, now Oslo, and suffers the bleak fate of many proletarians. But Falkberget could be funny as well, as is demonstrated by Bør Børson jr. (1920), a satire at the expense of those who wanted to get rich quickly in the stock market during the years following the end of World War I.
Falkberget's first truly great novel was Den fjerde nattevakt (1923; tr. The Fourth Night Watch, 1968), a novel about sin, guilt, and redemption. Its protagonist is the proud and ambitious minister Benjamin Sigismund, who serves as the Røros community's pastor early in the 19th century. After falling in love with—and committing adultery with—a peasant woman named Gunhild Bonde, Sigismund experiences a crisis of faith from which he emerges only after a great deal of personal suffering.
Two multivolume series of novels, both of them dealing with mining life, are considered Falkberget's greatest achievement. Christianus Sextus (1927—1935), in six volumes, gets its title from a copper mine that is the unifying element in an otherwise episodic narrative. Nattens brød (1940—1959), in four volumes, is centered on An-Magritt, a strong-willed woman of the people who leads a life of suffering and toil but also achievement both spiritually and materially.