FALKBERGET, JOHAN PETTER

born Sept. 30, 1879, near Rros, Nor. died April 5, 1967, Tyvol, near Rros pseudonym of Johan Petter Lillebakken regional novelist of life in the central eastern mountains of Norway. The self-educated son of a miner, Falkberget worked in the copper mines himself from the age of eight until he was 27, learning to write at the same time. His novels about the mountain peasants, miners, and railway workers deal realistically with their hard lives, marginal culture, and antagonism to the more comfortable and prosperous valley settlers. His major works are set in the past. Den fjerde nattevakt (1923; The Fourth Night Watch, 1968) deals with life in Rros between 1807 and 1825. Christianus Sextus (192735), a trilogy set in the 18th century, dramatizes the history of a mine by that name. In 1940 Falkberget escaped the German occupation of Norway by walking to Sweden, carrying with him the manuscript that was to become his second trilogy, Nattens brd (194059; Bread of Night). In 1960 he received the Cross of St. Olav.