Martha Ostenso (17 September 1900 – 24 November 1963) was a Norwegian American novelist"So THIS is the novel!"
''The Globe and Mail'', Aritha van Herk October 2, 2009 and screenwriter who is also an important figure in Canadian literary history.

Early life and education

Martha Ostenso was born in Haukeland (now part of

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

), in

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

County, Norway. Her parents were Sigurd and Olina (née Tungeland) Ostenso. She emigrated with her family to the

province of Manitoba Manitoba is a province of Canada at the longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's fifth-most populous province, with a population of 1,342,153 as of 2021. Manitoba has a widely varied landscape, from arctic tundra and the Hudson B ...

, Canada, where she first settled in Brandon before moving to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

.Janet Galligani Casey.
A New Heartland: Women, Modernity, and the Agrarian Ideal in America
'. Oxford University Press; 23 March 2009. . p. 105–. Ostenso taught in a rural school and attended the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

for approximately one year; she never graduated.Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada''. Edited by

W. H. New William Herbert New (born March 28, 1938) is a Canadian poet and literary critic. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he was educated at John Oliver Secondary School, where he received one of the top matriculation exam scores in British Columbia ...

. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p.854-55. '' While studying at the University of Manitoba, she was a student of Douglas Durkin, a professor in the English Department. Shortly thereafter Durkin left his wife and children and moved to New York City; Ostenso joined him there. They lived together in New York, where she studied at Columbia University.

Career

Martha Ostenso worked as a social worker in New York; she and Durkin were active in the literary circles of the time. Ostenso's best-known novel, '' Wild Geese'', was published in 1925. The book, about a young schoolteacher sent to teach in rural Manitoba, was hailed by critics, including in analysis by

Faye Hammill Faye Hammill Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE is a professor in the University of Glasgow, specialising in North American and British modern writing in the first half of the twentieth century, what is often called 'middlebrow'. ...

, as a landmark in Canadian realism; it won the 1925 Dodd, Mead and Company Best Novel of the Year Award. It made her a well-known and best-selling author.Buckley, Joan N. "Martha Ostenso: Norwegian-American Immigrant Novelist" (NAHA. Volume 28: Page 69) A film version of ''Wild Geese'' was made in 1927. Ostenso and Durkin later moved to

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

and then to Minnesota. Many of her novels were based on Minnesota farm life; most incorporate elements of romance and melodrama. Ostenso portrays the lives of rural immigrants with dignity. Although none of her later novels ever reached the acclaim ''Wild Geese'' attracted, most continued to explore a similar theme: the relationship between men and women and the land they work. A number of her other works were translated and have been reprinted several times. In 1931, Ostenso acquired American citizenship. She continued to publish short stories, magazine serials and novels, and wrote a number of screenplays. Although it is now known that Ostenso collaborated with Durkin, all their writing appeared under her name alone. She produced fifteen more novels, the most successful of which was ''O River, Remember'', a novel about a family in the

Red River Valley The Red River Valley is a region in central North America that is drained by the Red River of the North; it is part of both Canada and the United States. Forming the border between Minnesota and North Dakota when these territories were admitted ...

of Minnesota which won a

Literary Guild The Literary Guild of America is a mail order book sales club, book club selling low-cost editions of selected current books to its members. Established in 1927 to compete with the Book of the Month Club, it is currently owned by Bookspan. It was a ...

selection in 1943. Another significant novel is ''The Young May Moon'' (1929), which critic Stan Atherton identified as possibly the best in the canon. A new edition of this novel was published by Borealis Press in 2022. Asked how to pronounce her name, she told ''The

Literary Digest ''The Literary Digest'' was an American general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, ''Public Opinion'' and '' Current Opinion''. ...

'', "Of the three syllables in ''Ostenso'', the first receives the major accent, the second is without accent, the third receives a minor accent. The final result is as if you spoke the name ''Austin'' and added ''so'' as an afterthought."

Charles Earle Funk Charles Earle Funk (1881–1957) was an American lexicographer. He was a member of the Funk family who owned the publisher Funk & Wagnalls; Dr. Isaac Funk was his uncle. Funk wrote several etymological dictionaries An etymological dictionary ...

, ''What's the Name, Please?'', Funk & Wagnalls, 1936 After Durkin's wife died, he and Ostenso married in 1945. Martha Ostenso and Durkin lived for a time in Hollywood, California, where they had friends among the movie stars of the 1930s and 40s. Ostenso's novel ''Wild Geese'' was filmed as ''

The Cry of the Wild Geese ''The Cry of the Wild Geese'' (German: ''Ruf der Wildgänse'') is a 1961 Austrian historical drama film directed by Hans Heinrich and starring Ewald Balser, Heidemarie Hatheyer and Brigitte Horney.Bock & Bergfelder p.217 The film's sets were d ...

'' in 1961 as a West-German and Austrian co-production and later as ''After the Harvest'' in 2001 as a made-for-television movie for Canadian TV starring

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned half a century. He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, ...

Death

The film industry lifestyle impacted Ostenso's and Durkin's health, as well as their productivity and the quality of their work. In 1963, the couple moved to Seattle, Washington, to be near Durkin's sons. Shortly after the move, Ostenso died from cirrhosis of the liver, the result of years of heavy drinking.

Selected bibliography

*''A Far Land,'' Ostenso's only book of poetry. (1924) *'' Wild Geese'' (1925) *''The Dark Dawn'' (1926) *''The Mad Carews'' (1927) *''The Young May Moon'' (1929) *''The Waters Under the Earth'' (1930) *''Prologue to Love'' (1932) *''There's Always Another Year'' (1933) *''The White Reef'' (1934) *''The Stone Field'' (1937) *''The Mandrake Root'' (1938) *''Love Passed This Way'' (1942) *''And They Shall Walk'' (1943, with Sister

Elizabeth Kenny Sister Elizabeth Kenny (20 September 1880 – 30 November 1952) was a self-trained Australian bush nurse who developed an approach to treating polio that was controversial at the time. Her method, promoted internationally while working in Austra ...

) *''O River, Remember!'' (1943) *''Milk Route'' (1948) *''The Sunset Tree'' (1949) *''A Man Had Tall Sons'' (1958)

References

External links

*
"Martha Ostenso"
''The Canadian Encyclopedia''.
The Literary EncyclopediaSt. Louis Park Historic Society"Minnesota Historical SocietyCanada's Early Women Writers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ostenso 1900 births 1963 deaths American women screenwriters Canadian women novelists Canadian women screenwriters Norwegian emigrants to Canada Norwegian emigrants to the United States Writers from Bergen Writers from Brandon, Manitoba Writers from Winnipeg 20th-century American novelists 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian screenwriters 20th-century American screenwriters Screenwriters from Manitoba