Kristofer Uppdal was a self-educated poet, novelist, essayist, and critic who wrote in a Nynorsk colored by the dialect of Trondheim. The rallar (migrant laborer) became a significant figure in Norwegian society with the rapid industrialization of Norway at the beginning of the twentieth century, and Uppdal is considered the champion of these individuals: a migrant worker himself, he traveled across the whole of Norway and portrayed rallar life and experiences in his novels and poetry. A writer of incredible productivity, he is considered, along with Sigbjorn Obstfelder and Claes Gill, a pioneer of the modernist movement in Norway. Little recognized during his lifetime, Uppdal has earned a significant place in Norwegian literary history with such works as the ten-volume novel cycle Dansen gjennom skuggeheimen (The Dance through the World of Shadows, 1911-1924), the poetry collections Elskhug: ungdomsvers (Love: Youth Poems, 1919) and Altarelden (The Altar Fire, 1920), and the...