Mr. C's IB English Lit Blog - BD Somani Int School : January 2015

Wednesday, 7 January 2015

OLEANNA DAVID MAMET RESOURCES

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/15/theater/theater-he-said-she-said-who-did-what.html?pagewanted=print

http://vermilionproductions.com/oleanna-sub02.html

“It seems that 'Oleanna' is in fact 'Oleana'. Ole Bull (1810-1880) was a Norwegian

1

virtuoso violinist who took his music all over the world until, finding himself in

Pennsylvania, he fell in love with the place. In 1852 he bought a vast tract of land and

tried to set up an idealistic community, which he called 'Oleana', where fellow

Norwegians could live peacefully and escape the tyrannies of their homeland. In fact, the

land he had bought was completely unsuitable for farming and the venture failed. He, and

many other settlers who had joined him, lost a great deal of money and most of them, Ole

Bull included, returned to Norway. The site of his venture is now the Ole Bull National

Park. An 'oleana' is thus used to refer to the hopeless pursuit of an idealistic, even utopian,

dream where all things are naively held to be possible”.

http://www.benchtheatre.org.uk/plays0203/oleanna.html Following is a version of the

Norwegian folk song Oleanna (Oleana), (Translation from the Norwegian by Pete Seeger)

Ole, oleanna, ole, oleannaole, ole, ole, ole, ole, oleanna Oh to be in Oleanna,

that's where I'd like to be.