By turns frightening, beautiful, confounding, and full of mystery, it is a world we come to see more vividly through Mattis’s eyes. In The Birds, Norway’s most celebrated writer of the twentieth century allows us to rediscover the world. But when Jørgen and Hege become lovers, Mattis finds the safety of his familial life threatened and his jealousy quickly spirals. When he finally sets himself up as a ferryman, the only passenger he manages to bring across the lake is a lumberjack, Jørgen. Eking out a modest living knitting sweaters, Hege encourages her brother to find work to ease their financial burdens, but his attempts come to nothing.

The Birds tells the story of Mattis, a deeply sensitive, intellectually disabled young man living in a small house in the Norwegian countryside with his sister Hege.

His mastery of the nynorsk language, landsmål (see Norwegian language), has contributed to its acceptance as a medium of world class literature.“Tarjei Vesaas has written the best Norwegian novel ever, The Birds- it is absolutely wonderful, the prose is so simple and so subtle, and the story is so moving that it would have been counted amongst the great classics from the last century if it had been written in one of the major languages.” - Karl Ove Knausgaard His debut was in 1923 with Children of Humans (Menneskebonn), but he had his breakthrough in 1934 with The Great Cycle (Det store spelet). Commonly dealing with themes such as death, guilt, angst, and other deep and intractable human emotions, the Norwegian natural landscape is a prevalent feature in his works. His stories often cover simple rural people that undergo a severe psychological drama and who according to critics are described with immense psychological insight. Written in Nynorsk, his work is characterized by simple, terse, and symbolic prose. His mastery of the nynorsk language, landsmål (see Norwegian language), has contributed to its acceptance as a medium of world class litera Tarjei Vesaas was a Norwegian poet and novelist. Mattis, 37, lives with his sister Hege, 40, in a. Vesaas (1897-1970 The Ice Palace, 1963) originally published this novel in 1957, but it has a freshness that can only be due to its timeless subject matter. His stories often cover simple rural people that undergo a severe psychological drama and who according to critics are described with immense psychological insight. The point of view of a mentally simple man provides a poignant perspective on day-to-day events in this novel from Norway. Tarjei Vesaas was a Norwegian poet and novelist.

De vogels by Tarjei Vesaas