Svermeren, by Ingar Sletten Kolloen
NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) has a review of this recent Hamsun biography.
Northmen and Northwomen will have to be patient while I explain the title to non-speakers. It divides into svermer, and en, which is the masculine definite marker in Norwegian. Often you can use -en or its neuter counterpart -et to translate "the". The University of Oslo's Norwegian to Norwegian dictionary defines svermer as a dreamer, or a fantasist. en romantisk svermer. This looks like a calque or a borrow from the German.
en sverm is a swarm, just like in English.
posted at: 22:24 | path: /biogs | permanent link to this entry
