There lies a fair land : an anthology of Norwegian-American writing /

Unless one lives in the upper Midwest (or listens to A Prairie Home Companion), the Norwegians are not a highly visible immigrant group like the Irish or Italians. But of all the countries that have contributed to America's immigrant experience, only Ireland has sent a larger portion of its population than Norway. This anthology, part of the ``Many Minnesotas Project,'' is a collection of Norwegian-American writing from late 19th century to the present. It contains a variety of prose and poetry arranged in four sections: ``Land-Seeking and Settling''; ``Voices from the Immigrant Trunk: A Sampler of Folk Tales Brought to the New World''; ``Heritage: Images and Reflections in a Blue Sky''; ``Going Back: The Land and the Memory.'' The selections are by writers who visited here but spent most of their lives in Norway (Knut Hamsun), those who immigrated as adults (O.E. Rolvaag), third- and fourth-generation immigrants who are not widely known (Brenda Daly), and those who are (Robert Bly). The pieces are as varied as the writers, both in content and quality, but they give a good sense of the themes that permeate the literature of all immigrant groups: the loss of the past, the difficulties of assimilation, the conflict between the generations, the need for an identity. A significant contribution to one of the important bodies of American ethnic literature. Appropriate for graduate, undergraduate, secondary school, and public libraries.-R.R. Kettler, Miami University, Ohio