Norwegian Literature — A Survey
Runic inscriptions — The first literature
Literary Old Norse 1050 – 1370
The Edda poems and Scaldic poetry
The sagas: Icelandic sagas (families, clans) and Kings’ sagas (the Viking kings)
Fiction sagas or lying sagas
Ari the learned 1067 – 1148
Snorri Sturlason 1179 – 1241
The King’s Mirror, ca. 1255, Old Norwegian
Courtly, clerical, and religious literature, bringing Norwegians into contact with European culture
Ballads and folk tales — oral traditions written down in the nineteenth century
1350 – 1550: Offical letters, ballads, tales
16th century: Topographical and historical literature
17thcentury: Peter Dass: The Trumpet of Norland and baroque poetry
18th century: Ludvig Holberg, historical literature and comedies (The Enlightenment and Classicism)
«Felleslitteraturen» — the literary tradition common to Norway and Denmark
1814: The Constitution and the New Nation
Romanticism
Henrik Wergeland (1808 – 1845), Norway’s national poet and a symbol of Norway’s independence
Johan Sebastian Welhaven (1807 – 1873) wrote poems that were classicist in form but romantic in content. With his interest in folk poetry and Norwegian history he is an early representative of Norwegian romantic nationalism
1840 –1860: Norwegian romantic nationalism (Nasjonalromantikken)
Norwegian fairy tales, folk songs and folk tunes systematically collected and published for the first time
The rediscovery of Norway’s golden Middle Ages, the Old Norse tradition as our own antiquity, idealization of the free Norwegian peasant
Ivar Aasen (1813 – 1896), the autodidact philologist who with his Grammar og the Norwegian Dialects (Det Norske Folkesprogs Grammatik, 1848) and Dictionary of the Norwegian Dialects (Ordbog over det Norske Folkesprog, 1850) created a new literary language «Landsmål», the forerunner of today’s «Nynorsk». Aasen was himself a distinguished poet. In his collection Symra he used his new language in order to praise Norwegian nature and history
New tendencies in Norwegian prose, pointing towards the Age of Realism
Camilla Collett (1813 – 1895), Wergeland’s sister and «Norway’s first feminist», published what came to be regarded as the first genuine novel in Norwegian literature:The District Governor’s daughters(Amtmannens døtre, 1855), a sharp critique of bourgeois society, forced marriage and marriages based on social conventions, which she opposes to the idea of romantic love and a marriage based on mutual respect and the freedom of women through personal emancipation.
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832 – 1910) wrote his peasant novels — Synnøve Solbakken (1877), Arne (1859) and En glad gutt (A Happy Boy, !860) — and his historical dramas just as the romantic nationalism was coming to an end.
Henrik Ibsen (1828 – 1906), likewise, wrote historical dramas such as Fru Inger til Østeraad (Lady Inger of Oestraat, 1854), Hærmændene på Helgeland (The Vikings at Helgeland, 1858) and Kongsemnerne (The Pretenders, 1863) inspired by romantic nationalism, whereas in his dramatic poems Brand (1866) and Peer Gynt (1867) he takes a critical stand against romantic nationalism.
Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (1818 – 1870): Written in Aasen’s new Landsmål, his poetry, his travelogue Ferdaminni fraa Sumaren 1860 (Memories of a journey in the Summer of 1860), published in his own landsmål weekly Dølen in 1861, as well as his own contributions to the paper, clearly points beyond romantic nationalism towards Realism
Realism: The 1870s and 1880s
In 1871 Georg Brandes (1848 – 1927), the Danish theorist and scholar gave a series of lectures, Main Currents in 19th-century Literature (Hovedstrømninger I det 19. Aarhundredes Litteratur, 1871 –), in which he defined what became known as the «Modern Breakthrough» (Det Moderne Gennembrud). The function of literature should now be «to take social problems up as topics for discussion» («Det, at en litteratur i vore dage lever, viser seg i, at den sætter problemer under debat».
Main genres in Norwegian Realism: The realistic theatre and the realistic novel.
Henrik Ibsen’s plays: Et Dukkehjem (A Doll’s House, 1879), Vildanden (The Wild Duck, 1884), Hedda Gabler (1890).
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson’s plays: En Fallit (A Bankruptcy, 1875), Redaktøren (Redaktøren, 1874).
Alexander L. Kielland (1849 – 1906) with hisNovelletter (Short Stories, 1879), and with novels such asGarman & Worse (1880), Gift (Poison, 1883).
Jonas Lie (1833 – 1908) with his novel Familien paa Gilje (the Family at Gilje: A Domestic story of the Forties, 1883).
The Naturalism of the 1880s
The term Naturalism describes a literature and an ideologyin which human beings are seen as products of heredity and environment, with very little free will. That implies that the literary universe of Naturalism is governed by determinism and fatalism.
Among the most important writers of Norwegian Naturalism are:
Amalie Skram (1846 – 1905) with novels such as Constance Ring (1855) and Forraadt (Betrayed, 1992), and her short story «Karens jul» (Karen’s Christmas, 1885).
Arne Garborg (1851 – 1924), whose novels Bondestudentar (Farmer Students, 1883) and Mannfolk (Menfolk, 1886) are clearly influenced by Naturalism.
Henrik Ibsen’s Gengangere (Ghosts, 1881) was inspired by Naturalism.
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson’s Over Ævne I (Beyond Human Power I, 1883) is based on Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Hans Jæger (1854 – 1910) Fra Kristiania-Bohêmen I – II (The Kristiana Bohemians, 1885), a defence of free love and public brothels for both sexes. The book was confiscated by the police and the author had to go to jail.
The Neo-romanticism of the 1890s
Knut Hamsun (1859 – 1952): His novel Sult (Hunger, 1990) together with his article «Fra det ubevisste sjeleliv» (From the Unconscious Life of the Mind) from the same year became the manifesto of Norwegian Neo-romanticism.
Hans E. Kinck (1865 – 1926) and Trygve Andersen (1866 – 1920) are two other important neoromantic prose writers, whereas Ragnhild Jølsen (1875 – 1908) is a distinguished female writer of the period.
A great neoromantic poet is Sigbjørn Obstfelder (1866 – 1900), a forerunner of the Modernism that became predominant after World War I.
In drama, Henrik Ibsen anticipated the symbolism and the psychological preoccupations of Neo-romanticism in Ghosts and The Wild Duck, and his last play, Naar vi døde vaagner (When we dead awaken, 1999), these features have become predominant.
The Neo-Realism of the first decades of the twentieth century
The historical novel and homestead literature, multi-volume novels, epic in scope and centred on ethical issues.
Knut Hamsun’s Markens grøde (Growth of the Soil, 1917), an idealization of the old agrarian world that is described in contrast to the modern, industrialized life in the city.
Sigrid Undset (1882 – 1949): When she wrote her major work, Kristin Lavransdatter (1920 – 1922), a trilogy set in the 14th century, Undset was a consummate medievalist and the historical background against which the story unfolds is precise and realistic. But into this framework she projects the human emotions and problems
that she knows from her own life and experience into the distant past, enabling the reader to identify with her characters.
Olav Duun (1876 – 1939): In Juvikfolke (The People of Juvik, 1918 – 1923), a sequence novel in six volumes, the reader follows the story of four generations of peasant landowners. Duun wrote in Landsmål (an earlier form of Nynorsk), with a strong element of his native dialect.
The 1930s: Political radicalism and Psychoanalysis — Psychological Realism
Cora Sandel (1880 – 1974): Her trilogy about Alberte (1926 – 1939) describes the protagonist in search of her identity and shows how difficult it is for an woman to combine her role as woman and mother with her vocation as an artist.
The radical poets of the thirties:
Rudolf Nilsen (1901 – 1919) used his melodious poetry to express his political protest against capitalism and the modern capitalist society.
Arnulf Øverland (1889 – 1929) began as a convinced communist, but turned his back on communism after Stalin’s mock trials. In his poem «Du må ikke sove» (You must not sleep, 1936), he sees already the dangers of Nazism.
World War II and after: Post-war literature marked by the war experience and the German Occupation
Sigurd Hoel (1890 1960): Møte ved milepelen (Meeting at the Millstone, 1947), his settling og accounts with Nazism, in which he seeks to find a psychological explanation of who became a Nazi and who joined the resistance during the war.
Tarjei Vesaas (1897 – 1970) wrote his poetic novel Fuglane (The Birds, 1957).
Johan Borgen (1902 – 1979): A master of the short story, whose novel Lillelord (Little Lord, 1955) is regarded as his major achievement.
Olav H. Hauge (1908 – 1994), who wrote in Nynorsk, is regarded as the most important poet of the period.
Other poets of the period are Rolf Jacobsen (1907 1994), Paal Brekke (1923 – 1993), Gunnvor Hoffmo (1921 – 1995), Stein Mehren (1935 –).
The 1960s: New theoretical orientation followed by political engagement, issues of literature and society, ideological implications, feminist literature
Dag Solstad (1942 –), an important writer from the late 1960s up to the present.
Bjørg Vik (1935 –), one of the leaders of feminist literature, together with Liv Køltzov (1945 –), Cecilie Løveid (1951 –) and others.
Kjartan Fløgstad (1944 –): In his novels he follows the development of twentieth-century Norwegian society, mixing realism and fantasy.
Into the 1980s
A new interest in literary form, experimentation, meta-literature, and a wide variety of themes. Jan Kjærstad (1953 –) a major novelist of the 1980s and ‘90s.
A marked interest in literary biographies.
The 1990s
Erling Loe (1969 –) with Naïve Super (1996).
Jostein Gaarder (1952 –) with Sofies verden(Sophies World, 1991).
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