Biography:
Waldemar Ager was born in Frederikstad, Norway in 1869 and grew up in Gressvik--just across the river Glåma. The street on which he lived there is today named Waldemar Agers Vei in his honor and memory.
In 1885, at the age of sixteen, he emigrated to America with his mother and two siblings to join the father in Chicago—who had gone to America earlier. Ager learned the printer's trade as an apprentice typesetter for Norden, one of Chicago's large Norwegian-language papers at the time. He also became an active member of a Norwegian temperance lodge there and began writing short pieces for its little monthly paper. He would remain a dedicated avholdsmann—alcohol prohibitionist—for the rest of his life--perhaps because of his father, who had drinking problems.
Ager moved to Eau Claire in 1892 when he was 23 years old. He had been offered a job here as a typesetter and fledgling journalist for a new Norwegian temperance paper called Reform. Upon the death of its editor in 1903, Ager succeeded to that position and eventually became owner of the paper; he would be associated with the paper for the rest of his life.
It was here in Eau Claire that he met a young immigrant woman from Trømso, Gurolle Blestren, whom he married. They were to raise nine children in the home he purchased on Chestnut Street--which still stands.
Reform became the main pulpit from which Ager pleaded his idealistic causes, urged his political opinions on his readers, and worked to raise the ethnic consciousness of his countrymen and women in the new land—as well as their moral and cultural level.
Not surprisingly, the paper died when Ager did, in 1941, when its readership had declined to a few hundred old survivors of the Norwegian-American heyday that was now past.
(From http://www.agerhouse.org/golden-age.htm)
Works by Waldemar Ager:
Novels
Waldemar Ager was born in Frederikstad, Norway in 1869 and grew up in Gressvik--just across the river Glåma. The street on which he lived there is today named Waldemar Agers Vei in his honor and memory.
In 1885, at the age of sixteen, he emigrated to America with his mother and two siblings to join the father in Chicago—who had gone to America earlier. Ager learned the printer's trade as an apprentice typesetter for Norden, one of Chicago's large Norwegian-language papers at the time. He also became an active member of a Norwegian temperance lodge there and began writing short pieces for its little monthly paper. He would remain a dedicated avholdsmann—alcohol prohibitionist—for the rest of his life--perhaps because of his father, who had drinking problems.
Ager moved to Eau Claire in 1892 when he was 23 years old. He had been offered a job here as a typesetter and fledgling journalist for a new Norwegian temperance paper called Reform. Upon the death of its editor in 1903, Ager succeeded to that position and eventually became owner of the paper; he would be associated with the paper for the rest of his life.
It was here in Eau Claire that he met a young immigrant woman from Trømso, Gurolle Blestren, whom he married. They were to raise nine children in the home he purchased on Chestnut Street--which still stands.
Reform became the main pulpit from which Ager pleaded his idealistic causes, urged his political opinions on his readers, and worked to raise the ethnic consciousness of his countrymen and women in the new land—as well as their moral and cultural level.
Not surprisingly, the paper died when Ager did, in 1941, when its readership had declined to a few hundred old survivors of the Norwegian-American heyday that was now past.
(From http://www.agerhouse.org/golden-age.htm)
Works by Waldemar Ager:
Novels
- I Strømmen: en Fortælling (1899)(In the Stream)
- Kristus for Pilatus. En Norsk-Amerikansk Fortælling (1910)
Translation by J. J. Skordalsvold published in 1924 as "Christ before Pilate: An American Story"
(Digitized on-line at the Hathi Trust digital library) - Oberst Heg og hans Gutter (1916)
Translation by Della Kittleson Catuna and Clarence A. Clausen published as "Colonel Heg and his Boys"
(Digitized on-line at the Hathi Trust digital library) - Paa Veien til Smeltepotten (1917)
Translation by Harry T. Cleven published in 1995 as "On the Way to the Melting Pot"
(Digitized on-line at the Hathi Trust digital library) - Det Vældige Navn: Et Drømmebillede fra Verdenskrigen (1923)(The Mighty Name)
(Digitized on-line at the Hathi Trust digital library) - Gamlelandets Sønner (1926)
Translation by Trygve M. Ager published in 1983 as "Sons of the Old Country"
(Part of this translation can be read online at Google Books.) - Hundeøine (1929)
Translation by Charles Wharton Stork published in 1931 as "I Sit Alone"
- Paa Drikkeondets Konto: Fortællinger og Vers (1894)
- Afholdsmuller fra Boghylden (1901) (Abstinence Crumbs from the Bookshelf, a collection of essays)
- Fortællinger for Eyvind (1906)
(Digitized on-line at the Hathi Trust digital library)
Translation by J.J. Skordalsvold published in 1907 as "When You Are Tired of Playing: Stories for Eyvind"
(Translation Digitized on-line at the Hathi Trust digital library) - Hverdagsfolk (1908) (Everyday People)
- Fortællinger og Skisser (1916) (Stories and Sketches)
(Digitized on-line at the Hathi Trust digital library) - Udvalgte Fortællinger (1918)(Selected Stories)
(Digitized on-line at the Hathi Trust digital library) - Ny Samling. Fortællinger og Skisser (1921)
- Under Forvandlingens Tegn. Fortællinger og Saadant (1930)(Under the Sign of Change)
- Skyldfolk og Andre (1938)
Translation by Hildur Nicolai published in 1982 as "The White Cross in the Woods"
- A Reform Sampler: excepts from Ager's 46-year career as editor of the Norwegian weekly, Reform.
- The Reform collection is available online.