Fra Grundtvigs korrespondance med nordmænd. Tre norske breve til Kapellanen i Udby

Abstract

From Grundtvigs Correspondence with Norwegians. Three Letters to the Curate in Udbye.

By Gustav Albeck.

From Grundtvig’s extensive correspondence with Norwegians this essay brings to light three letters which together form a little “Sunbeam” — the story of an oldish, stagnated Norwegian student, Johan Walsen, whom the young Grundtvig, soon after he had become his father’s curate in Udby in 1811—12, got sent home to Bergen. The first letter is from Walsen’s mother, who expresses her grief at her son’s pitiable condition, but fears that he cannot be helped. The second, hitherto unpublished, is an extract from a very important letter from Jonas Rein, dated Feb. 25th, 1812, a letter which in the edition of Grundtvig’s Letters by Georg Christensen and Stener Grundtvig, Vol. I, p. 62—63, in wrongly attributed to Nordahl Brun. Rein fears, that Bergen will not be a good place for Walsen to live. Grundtvig, however, had not waited for his answer, but seen to it that Walsen was sent home (via Sweden) in Feb., 1812. The third letter is from Walsen and is dated from Bergen on March 7th, 1812. In it he tells of his arrival home and thanks Grundtvig and his father for the good help, they gave him. In the letter Walsen confesses that during his journey he became more firmly convinced that “man without God’s guidance is nothing”, and exclaims, “Thank God . . . I am saved” .

We have little information about what happened to Walsen afterwards. We know, however, that in 1838 he published a devotional book with morning and evening hymns, as well as “hymns and prayers for the day when we go to the Lord’s table” .

The essay also urges that an edition of Grundtvig’s extensive correspondence with Norwegians should be published, as a companion piece to the great edition of Bjørnson’s correspondence with Danes, which has recently appeared with the support of the Fund for Danish-Norwegian Co-operation.