Brittleness
When an international readership thinks of Norwegian literature, the names that impose themselves will be Ibsen, Undset, Hamsun – and now Jon Fosse. Not many people these days read Tarjei Vesaas. He is, however, a giant, long recognised as such. From the end of the Second World War he was serially nominated for the Nobel Prize. Friends alerted me long ago to Witold Leszczyński’s 1968 adaptation for the screen of Vesaas’s The Birds under the title Żywot Mateusza. Only last week did I watch it. It is an extraordinary movie, at once realistic and poetic, exquisitely filmed, with a remarkable performance by Franciszek Pieczka. Vesaas had a rare ability to render the brittleness of life as being not menacing but beautiful. Leszczyński communicates this insight reverently, filling his work with tenderness notwithstanding the tragic ending. Corelli’s Concerto Grosso op. 6 no. 8 punctuates the scenes. It gives one a jolt at first, but the choice is inspired. You can watch Żywot Mateusza with English subtitles here.
