How we wish to be cited:
Norberg B. Bernhard Nordh and body language [health]. Rondel 2002; 13. URL: http://www.rondellen.net

Bernhard Nordh and body language


Bernhard Nordh 1900-1972
The Bernhard Nordh Society www.bernhardnordh.nu		 The autodidact author Bernhard Nordh was the son of a farm-hand family. He became one of the most popular pens of Sweden. His peak production was the trilogy from the southwest part of Lapland, at the borders between forests and mountains (1-3). The events of the novels took place in the period 1850-1900. Nordh was a keen listener, observer, and reporter, as sharp as black and white photos. His description of tensions between individuals, villages, and professions is objective and unbiased. However, his books do not report that the wife and mother in the first generation of settlers, Britta, had one Lap parent. Nor does Nordh mention that Isak Larsson, grandson of the first settler in Marsliden, worked for several years as a reindeer herdsman (cf 4). The name of the first settlement, Marsliden, means "The Mars Hill". The settlement was founded on a shoulder from the Mars Mountain, providing a steep south slope with good earth in frost-free position above the Mars Lakes. The settler had deeper roots in the earth, the nomad was – pardon! – more urbane. He knew that there are more villages than one in the wide world and was usually on talking terms with all. Nature forced settlers and reindeer herdsmen into close collaboration for mutual survival. Co-operation was supported by law, order, and ethics, which were provided from government and church. The true history is that Laps founded settlements and settlers moved into reindeer herding. Present population of the Kultsjö country, as well as of North Sweden, is the result of the love correctly extolled by Nordh. The text below is an imagined interview with Bernhard Nordh and a translation of the dialogue between the "tame" wolf (cf 5) of the new Marsliden settlement and a visiting bear; the dialogue is re-translated from the body language described by Nordh.

Bernhard, every artist has a right to be graded for his own strength and talent. You are a paradox in Swedish literature, loved by lay, loathed by learned. If the market is right, you are one of our greatest writers. If leading litterateurs are right, you are no author at all.

In my opinion, you are a keen listener, observer, and reporter. Your trilogy from Kroksjö and Marsliden is unsurpassed (1-3). I could easily translate the battle between the bear and the wolf from Nordh (1) to Jerome (6).

Excuse me, Mr Bear, but you are mistaken. This cow-barn is not a part of a legal settlement, into which a bear can break in freely and at his own risk. This cow-barn is a part of a lair of a wolf! In fact, my den! The people you swept into their hut were my folk. The cows, which you are getting at, are my cows.

A wolf with house, cow-barn, folk, cattle?. Never heard such a story, Sir. Please, try to sell it to another publisher.

The sheriff is 200 kilometers away. We will have to go to court by ourselves at this yard. Obviously, it is too small for both of us.

My cordial curses, Wolf! You have clawed out an eye for me and skinned my hind legs. But now, at last, you are finished!

You are right, Bear! I am finished. Serve yourself! The light will go out in your remaining eye, though, just before your first bite. From now on, you will fumble and nose in the dark, until you find the eternal night.

You are right, Wolf! Your cost/benefit ratio provides a poor prospect. I leave you to your humans. These artificial and cruel creatures will certainly not minimize your pain. I bet that they will let you die slowly from your injuries and then serve you as stewed wolf, fried wolf, smoked wolf, fermented wolf. In contrast, we predators are quick and clean. Our prey suffers no pain (7).

That is my problem, Bear! I belong to my farm. We have received our wounds, both of us. Depart and be rested!

Bernhard, I know that the Jerome style (6) is far from the Nordh style (1-3). However, I can translate Nordh into Jerome style but not into Lindgren style (8); the complexity of Lindgren is beyond my talent as translator.

Body language is tricky (cf 9). It might reinforce verbal message, or it might contradict verbal message. We know the dribbling, the feint, and the straight pass (cf 10). Sometimes, body language may betray a liar astonished. Truth is simple and requires no forethought. A life in truth is an easy life.

Your best books (1-3), Bernhard, reflect truth. I think that these books will support workers in historical and behavioral sciences in their search for our history and general features of human interaction (4,5).

Bo Norberg

Literature

  1. Nordh B. I Marsfjällets skugga (1937 ). Schatten über der Marshalde, Braunschweig 1941
  2. Nordh B. Undan frostpiskan/Flickan från fjällbyn (1938) Die Leute von Kroksjö, Goslar am Harz 1948. Terres promises, Paris 1945
  3. Nordh B. Fjällfolk (1939). Norrlandsöhne, Braunschweig 1943
  4. Norberg B. Umeå – a society model [culture]! Rondel 2002; 10. URL: http://www.rondellen.net/culture10_eng.htm
  5. Norberg B. Bequest for better and worse [health]! Rondel 2001; 7. URL: http://www.rondellen.net/health07_eng.htm
  6. Jerome JK. Three men in a boat (1889)
  7. Mackenzie R. David Livingstone – The truth behind the legend (2000)
  8. Norberg B. The Torgny Lindgren library [culture]! Rondellen 2002; 12. URL: http://www.rondellen.net/culture12_eng.htm
  9. Fast J. Body language: The essential secrets of non-verbal communication (1992)
  10. Norberg B. Chaos Park – a model of the production game [health]. Rondel 2000; 2. URL: http://www.rondellen.net/health02_eng.htm

Published November 24, 2002