Name Alfred Hauge Role Novelist | Books Serafen | |
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Died October 31, 1986, Stavanger, Norway Awards Nynorsk Literature Prize | ||
Alfred Hauge (17 October 1915 – 31 October 1986) was a Norwegian novelist, poet and historian. Hauge wrote extensively about life on the Ryfylke islands and about Norwegian-American emigration.
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Biography
Hauge was born and grew up on the island of Kyrkjøy in Sjernarøy, part of Finnøy municipality in Rogaland County, Norway.
Hauge is best known for describing the life and adventures of Cleng Peerson, a pioneer Norwegian immigrant to the United States in the 1820s. His trilogy included: Hundevakt (1961; "Midwatch”), Landkjenning (1964; "Land Sighting"), and Ankerfeste (1965; “Anchoring”). This collected work was published as Cleng Peerson in Norway during 1968. An English-language version was translated by Eric J. Friis and published under the same title during 1975. This publication was released as one of the official publications of the Norwegian Immigration Sesquicentennial.
Hauge received numerous literary awards during his career. In 1955, Hauge won the Gyldendal's Endowment, a literature prize which was awarded by the Norwegian publisher Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. In recognition of his work he was also awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature in 1965.
A memorial to Hauge has been erected on Kyrkjøy at Sjernarøy church (Norwegian: Sjernarøy kirke), an historic wooden church which dates to 1636. Composer Hallvard Johnsen wrote an opera based upon Alfred Hauge's Legenden om Svein og Maria. The opera was first performed on 3 September 1973 by The Norwegian Opera and Ballet (Norwegian: Den Norske Opera & Ballet) in Oslo.