Letter

Astrup, Nikolai to Kramer, Per
1927-11-18

Transcription:

Siri Katinka Valdez

Translation:

Francesca Nichols

Page

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Transcription
Translation

Letter

Astrup, Nikolai to Kramer, Per
1927-11-18
ubb-ms-1808-l-6, MARCUS – Spesialsamlingene ved Universitetsbiblioteket i Bergen

10 Pages

Transcription: Siri Katinka Valdez

Translation: Francesca Nichols

Transcription

Tekst opp ned, og vertikalt nedover venstre side:

P.S 

Af mangel paa smaapenge vedlægges 

Kr 65 – istedenfor 64, som regningen lyder pa, at trække af paa min gjæld til dig!

Kjære Kramer!

Ja, jeg lovede at skrive igjen 

snart, – det blev jo ikke

noget hyggeligt brev, dù fik – 

sidst, – det var vist bare om 

min sykdom. Ja, denne bron-

kitten tager mig igjen gang paa 

gang, – jeg blir aldrig kvitt den; 

jeg har bare været ùde en dag, og det 

tok haardt paa mig. Men nù skal 

jeg ikke plage dig med mine elendig-

heder. Jeg er begyndt at "trykke" lidt

men orker lidet – blir straks træt og

forpùsten. –––

Ja nù skal dù höre, hvordan det

er gaaet med radio apparatet, som 

jeg nù faar begynde at betale paa. – 

(<"Fiskermanden"> var jo en begyndelse)

2

Som dù veed, har jo flere forsögt

sig paa dette aparatet forùden dù: – Lille-

Per Kramer, – Gùnnar Sandal og 

nù i höst ogsaa Prytz, men ùden 

noget resultat. En sövnlös nat

fandt jeg paa at klùsse med det, – 

satte en korke-skive ind mellem 

fjærene i telefonkoblingerne og fik 

da alle 3 lamper til at lyse samti-

dig, selv naar telefonkoblingerne blev

sat pa. (Bror Peter, som i sommer

ogsaa arbeidede forgjæves med ap-

paratet, – paastod, at der maatte være

en koblingsfeil ensteds). Imidler-

tid hörte jeg endnù intet, – men 

saa fòr jeg over alle koblinger 

med nippetangen, og de som var af

isoleret traad, tok jeg væk og satte

nye i steden. Enden af spolerne klip-

3

pede jeg en tomme af og koblede

igjen, – saa snùdde jeg alle ebonit- 

haandtakene – (eller hvad de kaldes)

saa langt til venstre, som de

gik – og plùdselig hörte jeg, men 

det var vanskeligt at indstille, 

da "haandtaket" – (regùlatoren) 

for spolerne er "lös" og aldrig vil

staa der, den blir sat; – der er like-

som "fjærart" i den, men ved at 

"stivholde" den, kùnde vi höre al-

deles udmærket til slùt, – særlig

England og Sverige og ùnder-

tiden Tyskland – sjældnere Dan-

mark og Oslo og aldrig Bergen. 

Jo engang hörtes det ùd til, at

vi havde faaet tak i Bergen: – 

vi hörte en samtale paa "kav" 

Bergensk; – men det hörtes

nærmest ud til at være en 

4

privat telefonsamtale, som paa

en eller anden mærkelig maade

er bleven "kringkastet". – Det var

nemlig en, som spurgte en anden 

om, hvorledes det gik med forretnin-

gen el. lign. "OK de e barre sjit op aa

lort i mente – aa ikje er

her nokken tilförsel norren-

i fra heller". –––

En anden gang skùlde det trolig

ogsaa være Bergen, – endskjönt

han, som talte, havde udpræget

östlands dialekt; – det var sent

paa kveld, – vor klokke var heni-

mod ½ – 12, – og han, som talte, 

ùnderviste i engelsk: "Hùsk en-

delig paa at dette ord altid maa

skrives med stor bogstav paa en-

gelsk – jeg ser nemlig" – (sa han saa

5

med mere dæmpet stemme) "at

dere to smaapiger der henne

har skrevet det med smaatt."

Og saa lagde han i vei med at for-

klare forskjellen paa "to go" og

"to walk", – og saa siger han: 

"Tænk dere nù, at dere skal gaa

en spadsertùr op til Nestùn" o.sv. ––.    

Ja det var det sidste ord, som 

gjorde mig opmærksom, – saa

 at jeg troede, det maatte være Ber-

gen; – thi man kùnde ikke anden-

steds tale om en spadsertùr til Nestùn

Jeg mærkede mig pladsen baade for 

spolernes og kondensatorens vedkom-

mende, – men fik aldrig senere

höre noget fra Bergen. ––

Det vi hörte bedst var en afholds-

prædikant i Sverige, som forbande-

de denne "bankoen" med en 

6

brutal skùrrende stemme kveld

efter kveld – og forovrigt "male-

de fanden paa væggen" i svenske

arbeiderhjem. Saa hörte vi al-

deles udmærket de svenske profes-

sorers taler baade ved "högskùle-

jùbilæet" og ùniversitets jubilæet.

Ligeledes hörte vi godt veirvars-

lingerne fra Oslo og telegram-

merne derfra, – noget som vi se-

nere fik se ordlydende igjen i "Tid. 

Tegn." Undertiden hörte vi mùsik

og sang fra en svensk kabaret, – 

men dette blev oftest forstyrret af

"afholdsprædikanten", som kom frem 

paa de mest forskjellige bölgelængder, 

ja endog til – ùden antenne! – her var

nemlig en nat frygtelig torden og 

lynild, og jeg stængte af antennen 

over paa jordledningen, – og næste

kveld hùskede jeg ikke dette, 

7

og koblede batterier og telefon 

som vanligt og hörte altsaa ùten 

antenne baade afholdsprædikanten

og lidt engelsk "jass" – (altsaa

de ting man mindst önskede); – 

men der var et saadant spek-

takkel i aparatet, at jeg vilde 

opgive at lytte mer den kveld, 

men saa huskede jeg, at antennen

var koblet over paa jordledningen, 

og siden fùngerede alt bra, – da

jeg ordned dette om igjen. –––

Som sagt engelsk "jass" og engelske

kabaretter eller lign. – – disse

forbandede stykker med "snakk"

og sang om hinanden – ofte paa

samme tid, – det var det meste

vi hörte. En kveld hörte vi ùsed-

vanlig godt en slik engelsk historie. 

Engel og og jeg sat da alene, og saa

vilde vi finde noget andet, og jeg

8

lod da Engel faa lov at "lete", 

medens jeg ledte op min pipe. 

Men da var det pludselig slùtt 

med alt og har været slutt siden. 

Kan det tænkes at Engel har 

dreiet for sterkt frem og tilbake

paa spolerne og kanske "vùndet af"

traaden? Jeg synes, det var rart, 

at alt skulde slutte bare 5 min. 

efter, at vi havde hört bedre end

nogensinde. Jeg har tænkt mig

at det flade batteri – (med alle

törr elementerne) kan være noget

galt med; thi lamperne lyser svært

svagt nesten ikke. Det höie batteri med de to glas-

tanker har jeg fyldt vand paa, og det

ser ud til at fungere bra. Alle kob-

linger er i orden, – og jeg hörer af og

til ganske svagt "morsingerne". 

Naar jeg blir lidt bedre, – jeg er nemlig

daarlig af bronkitten endnù, – saa vil jeg

gaa over aparatet grùndig og forsöke

9

om jeg kan faa skrùet lös spolerne. 

Som dù kanske erindrer, er spole-

kapselen klövet – sprùkket tvers

over; – men det kan vel ikke

have noget at sige, – det har jo 

været saaledes hele tiden og har

neppe forværret sig. ––

Jeg var nù borte og prövede det igjen, – 

men nù lyser ikke lampene det

spor, – det maa da antagelig

være batterietrne, som slaar feil.

Jeg forsögte nù det "flade" batteri (med

alle törelementerne) og ved at före po-

lerne sammen, fik jeg et helt lidet lyn

saa violet og sterkt, – at det batteri kan  

ikke feile noget, – det maa da være

i det andet – at "elektrolyten" mùli-

gens er bleven for svak, – det fùngerede

ùdmærket, efter at jeg fyldte vand paa

men nù er der ikke den mindste "gnist"

at opdage. – Jeg tænkte paa at tilsætte

salmiak, men tör ikke gjöre dette, 

10

förend jeg faar vide, hvad denne væd-

ske bestaar af; – bedst var det vel at

tage platerne op og pùdse dem, og saa

fylde helt ny vædske paa, – jeg hav-

de jo ikke "destileret" vand for haan-

den (kùnde faaet det paa apotheket), – 

men troede ikke det var mere

nödvendigt med dette batteri at brùke

destileret vand – end med de gamle

telefonbatterier, som jeg lavede selv i gam-

le dage, – de fùngerede ùdmærket med

almindeligt vand, – men jeg veed at 

destileret vand er nödvendig til enkel-

te batterier, hvor man brùker blandede

syrer. –––

"Besta" beder mig hilse, idet hùn hermed

sender pengene og beder mig takke dig

tusinde gange for komfùren. Engel beder

hilse! – hùn taler stadig bare om sölvræv og

om at "brænde brændevin" til mig, – da hùn 

skjönner det er nödvendigt for at holde min 

asthma og bronkit paa afstand. Naar jeg er

helt frisk skal dù höre nærmere fra mig. Hils

hele din familie fra alle her. Din Astrup

Translation

Upside down text, along left margin:

P.S 

Due to lack of change I enclose 

kr. 65 – instead of 64, the amount of the bill, to deduct from my debt to you!

Dear Kramer!

Well, I promised to write again  

soon, – it was not such

a pleasant letter, that you received – 

the last time, – it was apparently only about 

my illness. Well, this bron-

chitis catches up with me again and 

again, – I will never be rid of it; 

I have only been outdoors one day, and it 

hit me hard. But now I shall 

not bother you with my afflic-

tions. I have begun to “print” a little

but cannot do much – become instantly tired and

out of breath. –––

Well now you shall hear, the  

status of the radio apparatus, which 

I will now begin down payments on. – 

(<“The Fisherman”> was a start)

2

As you know, many have had a

try at this apparatus besides you:: – Little-

Per Kramer, – Gùnnar Sandal and 

now this autumn also Prytz, but without 

any result. One sleepless night

I decided to fiddle with it, – 

inserted a piece of cork in between 

the springs in the telephone circuits and thus 

got all 3 lamps to light up simul-

taneously, even when the telephone circuits were

turned on. (Brother Peter, who this summer

also tried in vain to work on the appa-

ratus, – claimed, that there must be

a fault in the circuits somewhere). In the mean-

time I still did not hear anything, – but 

then I went over all the circuits 

with cutting pliers, and the ones that were made of

insulated wire, I removed and replaced

with new ones. The ends of the coils I clip-

3

ped one inch off of and reconnected them

again, – then I turned all the Ebonite

handles – (or whatever they are called)

as far to the left, as they

would go – and suddenly I could hear [something], but 

it was difficult to tune in the frequency, 

since “the handle” – (the tuner) 

for the coils is “loose” and will never

remain, where it is set; – it’s as though

there is a “spring” in it, but by 

“holding it firmly”, we could hear per-

fectly fine in the end, – especially

England and Sweden and occa-

sionally Germany – more infrequently Den-

mark and Oslo but never Bergen. 

Well once it sounded like 

we had got hold of Bergen: – 

we heard a conversation in “sheer” 

Bergen dialect; – but it almost

sounded like a 

4

private telephone conversation, which in

some strange way

had been “broadcasted”. – It was

in fact someone, who asked another person 

about, how the business was

going or something similar “OK it's all shit from 

here till Sunday – and there <isn’t>

anything arriving from the north

either”. –––

Another time it was presumably

Bergen as well, – although

the man, who spoke had a distinct

East Norway dialect; – it was late 

at night, – according to our clock it was go-

ing on 11:30, – and the man, who was speaking, 

taught English: “Make sure

to remember that this word must always

be written with an upper case letter in Eng-

lish – I can see” – (then he said

5

in a more muted voice) “that

you two young girls over there

have written it in lower case.”

And then he went on to ex-

plain the difference between “to go” and

to walk”, – and then he says: 

“Imagine now, that you are going to take

a walk up to Nestùn" etc.. 

Well it was the last word, that 

caught my attention, – so

I thought that it must be Ber-

gen; – because there was nowhere

else one might take a stroll to Nestùn

I made note of the spot regarding

both the coils and the capaci-

tors, – but never again

heard anything from Bergen. ––

What we heard best was a temperance

preacher in Sweden, who cursed

that “Swedish punch” in a 

6

brutally grating voice night

after night – and otherwise “paint-

ed the devil on the wall” in the homes

of Swedish labourers. Then we heard per-

fectly clearly the Swedish profes-

sors’ speeches at both the “college

jubilee” and the university jubilee.

We could likewise clearly hear the <weather

reports> from Oslo and the tele-

grams from there, – which we lat-

er could see printed word for word in “Tid. 

Tegn.” Sometimes we hear music

and song from a Swedish cabaret, – 

but this was often disrupted by

“the temperance preacher”, who appeared 

on many different radio waves, 

indeed even – without an antenna! – we had

a terrible thunderstorm here one night and 

lightning, and I switched the antenna 

over to the ground wire, – and the next

evening I forgot about it, 

7

and attached the batteries and telephone 

as usual and actually heard without the

antenna both the temperance preacher

and a bit of English “jazz” – (in other words

the things one least preferred); – 

but there was such a ruck-

us in the apparatus, that I wanted 

give up listening any more that evening, 

but then I remembered, that the antenna

was switched over to the ground wire, 

and since then everything functioned well, – once

I rearranged it. –––

As I said English “jazz” and English

cabarets or the like – – these

cursed programs with “talk

and song one after the other – often at

the same time, – that was what we

listened to most. One evening we heard perfectly

cleary one of those English numbers. 

Engel and I sat there alone, and then

we wanted to find something else, and so I

8

permitted Engel to “search”, 

while I lit up my pipe. 

But then everything suddenly 

stopped and has been so ever since. 

Is it possible that Engel has 

turned the coils back and forth

too roughly and perhaps “worn down”

the wire? I think it strange, 

that everything should cease only 5 mins. 

after we had better reception than

ever before. I have speculated

whether the flat battery – (with all

the dry elements) may have something

wrong with it; because the lamps shine very

weakly hardly at all. The tall battery with the two glass

tanks I have filled with water, and it

appears to function well. All the cir-

cuits are in order, – and I can hear now and

again very weakly “Morse code”. 

When I am a little better, – I am still

ill with bronchitis you see, – then I will

look over the apparatus thoroughly and see

9

if I can unscrew the coils. 

As you perhaps remember, the coil

casing is cracked – broken in

two; – but that should not

be a problem, – it has 

been like that the entire time and has

scarcely got worse. ––

I was just over there and tried it again, – 

but now the lamps don’t light up at

all, – then it is most likely 

the batteryies, that is failing.

I just tried the “flat” battery (with

all the dry elements) and by connecting the 

poles together, it produced a great flash of lightning

so violet and intense, – that that battery can- 

not have anything wrong with it, – it therefore must be

in the other one – that “the electrolite” has pos-

sibly become too weak, – it functioned

perfectly, after I filled it with water

but now there isn’t the slightest “spark”

in sight. – I thought of adding

ammonia, but don’t dare to do it, 

10

until I find out, what this liq-

uid is composed of; – it would probably have been best to

take out the plates and dust them, and then

fill them with fresh liquid, – I did

not have “distilled” water on

hand (could have got it at the pharmacy), – 

but did not believe it was any more

necessary to use distilled water

in this battery – than it was with the old

telephone batteries, which I made myself in the

old days, – they functioned perfectly with

ordinary water, – but I know that 

distilled water is necessary for cer-

tain batteries, where one uses

acid compounds. –––

Besta” says hello, as she sends

the enclosed money and asks me to thank you

profusely for the stove. Engel sends her

greetings! – she talks repeatedly about silver foxes and

about “distilling liquor” for me, – as she 

understands it is necessary to keep my 

asthma and bronchitis at bay. When I am

totally recovered your will hear more from me. Say hello

to your entire family from everyone here. Your Astrup