Hans Andersen Foss - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Hans Andersen Foss was an American author, newspaper editor and temperance leader. Born the son of a small tenant farmer in 1851 in Modum

Modum

Modum is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hallingdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Vikersund. The municipality of Modum was established on 1 January 1838 .The area has a long tradition of skiing with several famous...

, Buskerud

Buskerud

is a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and Vestfold. The county administration is located in Drammen.-Geography:...

county, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Foss immigrated to the United States in 1887.

Biography

A lifelong proponent of the temperance movement

Temperance movement

A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...

and the Populist Party, Foss edited several temperance publications and from 1888 to 1893 served as editor for the Norwegian language newspaper Normanden in Grand Forks, North Dakota

Grand Forks, North Dakota

Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2010 census, the city's population was 52,838, while that of the city and surrounding metropolitan area was 98,461...

. Foss gave up the newspaper business and became a grain dealer, eventually settling in Minot, North Dakota

Minot, North Dakota

Minot is a city located in north central North Dakota in the United States. It is most widely known for the Air Force base located approximately 15 miles north of the city. With a population of 40,888 at the 2010 census, Minot is the fourth largest city in the state...

during 1906.

Foss wrote a number of novels, many first serialized in Norwegian language

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

newspaper. Foss's writing style made him a popular author among Norwegian-American immigrants. However, Foss's lasting literary contribution is principally his influence on later, more widely known writers such as Peer Stromme

Peer Stromme

Peer Stromme also Per Olsen Strømme was an American pastor, teacher, journalist, and author. -Biography:...

and Ole Rølvaag.

Foss is most associated with his 1899 novel, Husmands-gutte, (English: The Cotter's Son).
The book, which tells the story of Ole Haugen, the son of the poor farmer in Sigdal

Sigdal

Sigdal is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Prestfoss. -Background:...

, Norway

Norway

, is considered by many to be a most accurate depiction of the lifestyle of farm workers in Norway. The popularity of The Cotter's Son serial was credited with saving the Decorah Posten

Decorah Posten

Decorah-Posten was a notable Norwegian language newspaper published in Decorah, Iowa. It was founded in 1874 by Brynild Anundsen, a native of Skien, Norway, and widely read by Scandinavian immigrants in several states.-History:...

from bankruptcy. The Cotter's Son has long enjoyed popularity in Norway, where numerous editions have been published.

Selected works

Husmands-gutten. En fortælling fra Sigdal (Decorah, Iowa: DP. 1885
Livet i Vesterheimen ( Decorah: AP. 1886
Den amerikanske saloon (Grand Forks, North Dakota: AP. 1889)
Hvide slaver. En social-politisk skildring (Grand Forks, North Dakota: 1892)
Allehaande (Minneapolis, MN: Scandinavian-American Publishing Assn. 1907)
Valborg (Decorah, Iowa: DP. 1927)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Biography

Selected works

Other Readings

External links