Alberte and Jakob is Cora Sandel's debut novel. The story takes place in a coastal town in northern Norway reminiscent of Tromsø, where Sandel moved with her family at the age of twelve in 1893. Apart from Knut Hamsun's Pan, one can scarcely imagine another Norwegian novel in which the region, landscape, seasons, and light are so significant for the protagonist and the unfolding plot. The young district judge's daughter, Alberte, longs to escape the bourgeois environment, which Sandel portrays with irony and wit. Here, Sandel is our Jane Austen.
In this lecture, Professor of Nordic Literature Henning Howlid Wærp will focus on both characterisation and depiction of the setting, and attempt to convince us that this is one of Norway's finest novels!