Olaf Malms historie. Om en skjebnefigur i Vilhelm Bergsøes roman Fra Piazza del Popolo

Abstract

In translation the title of this article would be: “The story of Olaf Malm: About a person of destiny in Vilhelm Bergsøes’s novel Fra Piazza del Populo”. The novel was published in 1867, and in many editions it is subtitled: “a cycle of short stories”. But this article is meant to show the reader that one of the stories, told by a character called “The old artist”, in itself can be read as a completed work of literature. The story of a young, Norwegian sculptor is meticulously composed, weaving a tissue of entangled threads of destiny. All his works are demolished, yet the protagonist finally appears as a creator of divine art. This is also an accomplishment both of the narrator: the old artist, and Bergsøe himself.