Meeting at the Milestone

Meeting at the Milestone

Sigurd Hoel's Meeting at the Milestone (Møte ved Milepelen ) was first published in 1947 by Sigurd Hoel. It is considered one of the most significant books of Norwegian literature of the Occupation. It was immediately translated into several other languages.

In 1947 the great treason trials were still going on. The legal system considered the actions of individuals and admonished suitable punishment for those actions considered as treason. Many felt that the trials needed to investigate deeper. They should consider not only what the traitors had done during the war. They should also investigate why Nazism appealed to some and not to others. "Meeting at the Milestone" came as an important contribution in this debate.

The goal of the novel was to show how each individual was responsible for Nazism and also towards other people. The theme of the novel is therefore guilt and responsibility.

The novel is written in first person. Everything is seen from the perspective of the narrator. The narrative is about the actions of the main character as well as his thoughts and reflections. The only name used for the "I" is the nickname "The spotless one".

Synopsis

The novel starts with a short and mysterious prologue, Frontkjemperen (The eastern front volunteer), allegedly written in 1947. The narrator talks about "I", "he" who got eight years, "his father" who committed suicide, and "her" who "I" have not spoken with since 1945. Even though this is the fate of strangers, "I" will organise some personal notes.

The first part of the book is written immediately after this, still in 1947. It talks about the time before 1943 when "I" wrote the second part of the book. He talks about the house that he has bought after lengthy negotiations with the master builder. He lost his family early during the occupation, and he was also imprisoned for a couple of weeks. By the resistance he was called "The spotless one", a nickname he quite appreciated. The leader of the resistance decided that his house was suitable for hiding people who needed to go into hiding.

One day in 1943 a man named Indregaard came to the house. The spotless one knew of him already. Indregaard was depressed and needed to talk about his problems with The spotless one. The conversation soon got to a common acquaintance, Hans Berg, who was a Nazi. Indregaard thought that because of what happened in their youth he was responsible for Hans Berg's Nazism.

The spotless one now starts writing about Hans Berg in order to find out why some people turn to Nazism. This part, which is written in 1943, starts with an analysis of Hans Berg's childhood and youth. The spotless one fails at his analysis. He then tries to analyse others of his fellow students who became Nazis, amongst them Carl Heidenreich, simply and superficially. Again he fails. It becomes evident that it is his own past he wants to analyse.

He describes his childhood, his father, his time as a student in Kristiania, and his first erotic experiences. After a couple of brief relationships he meets "Kari". He stops mid-sentence as he reveals that "Kari" fell pregnant.

The third part is written in Sweden in 1944. The spotless one had to flee after an assignment in the southern part of the country. He was assigned with tracing an informant in a small town. The informant turned out to be his own son by "Kari". She was married to Carl Heidenreich, and her real name was Maria. The spotless one let himself get captured by the Nazis, and was interrogated by Heidenreich. After the torture, or redemption, he experienced a 'vision' where he saw it all. He was rescued by Kari/Maria. He realised during the escape that he was responsible for the downfall of his family.

The final part of the novel is written in 1947. The spotless one visited Maria when he came back to Norway. He was told that Carl Heidenreich had committed suicide, and that his son, Karsten, had been arrested. Finally he describes fragments of his 'vision'.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • The First half of the 20th century —    Scandinavian literature in the first half of the 20th century is marked by two names Karl Marx (1818 1883) and Sigmund Freud (1856 1939) and two world events: the two world wars. While the Scandinavian countries were neutral during World War I …   Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature and Theater

  • Milestone Media — s Static character Milestone Media is a company best known for creating Milestone Comics and securing an unheard of publishing and distribution deal with DC Comics and the Static Shock cartoon series. It was founded in 1993 by a coalition of… …   Wikipedia

  • The Scout Association of Hong Kong — Scout Association of Hong Kong Chinese …   Wikipedia

  • The Ed Sullivan Show — Infobox Television show name = Toast of the Town The Ed Sullivan Show caption = Ed Sullivan genre = Variety creator = developer = presenter = starring = Ed Sullivan voices = announcers = Bern nnett (1948 1949), Art Hannes (1949 1959 1961 1964)… …   Wikipedia

  • The Ravages of Time — Infobox manhua imagesize= caption = Cover of The Ravages of Time volume 16 zh hanzi = 火鳳燎原 romanized = Huǒ fèng liáo yuán genre = Historical drama, Action, Philosophical, Psychological multigenre=y Adventure = y Historical = y author = Chan Mou… …   Wikipedia

  • The Mavis Bramston Show — Format Satire, comedy Starring Gordon Chater Carol Raye Barry Creyton Miriam Karlin Noeline Brown Ronnie Stevens Ron Frazer Bryan Davies June Salter Reg Livermore …   Wikipedia

  • The Country Wife — is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley. A product of the tolerant early Restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and anti Puritan ideology, and was controversial for its sexual explicitness even in its own time …   Wikipedia

  • Ligonier Meeting — The Ligonier Meeting was a meeting of twenty eight or twenty nine Orthodox Christian hierarchs in North America, specifically those affiliated with SCOBA, held November 30 to December 2, 1994, at the Antiochian Village in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.… …   Wikipedia

  • Milestone (project management) — Within the framework of project management, a milestone is the end of a stage that marks the completion of a work package or phase, typically marked by a high level event such as completion, endorsement or signing of a deliverable, document or a… …   Wikipedia

  • Secret Meeting of 20 February 1933 — The Secret Meeting of 20 February 1933 known in German as the Geheimtreffen vom 20. Februar 1933 was a secret meeting between Adolf Hitler and 20 to 25 industrialists at the official residence of Herman Göring s in the Reichstag Presidential… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”