Norwegian Literature Einar Vannebo, 16. 07. 02 Pre Viking Age

Norwegian Literature Einar Vannebo, 16.07.02

• Pre Viking Age (3000BC-750AD)

• Viking Age (750-1050)

• Middle Ages – Literary Old Norse (1050-1370)

• Reformation/Humanism (1500s)

• Baroque (1600s)

• Enlightenment (1700s)

• Romanticism (1830s-1870)

• Realism (1870s)

• Naturalism (1880s)

• Neo-Romanticism/Symbolism (1890s)

• Neo-Realism (1905-40)

• Political radicalism/psychological realism (1920-40)

• Post-World War II(1945-2002)

Pre-Viking Age (3000BC-750AD)

• Rock carvings

• Runes: Futhark

• older version 24 letters (200 inscriptions)

• younger version 16 letters (65 inscriptions)

Viking Age (750-1050)

• Christianity

• National kingdom (Saint Olav)

• Norwegian/Icelandic common heritage

Middle Ages –Literary Old Norse (1050-1370)

• Eddic poetry (written down after 1270)

• Hàvamàl - practical morality

• Voluspà – cosmology

• Skaldic poetry – courtly poetry

• Literature in the service of the Church

• - Religious verse

• - Saints’ lives

• - Sermons

• Laws

Literary Old Norse ct

• Historical literature

• - Kings’ sagas Snorri Sturluson: Heimskringla

• - Family sagas (approx 30)

Medieval oral literature

• Ballads

• - Dream Ballad

• Legends

• Folk tales

Reformation/Humanism (1500s)

• Church under the sovereignty of the King

• Service in the vernacular

• Bible

• Hymns

Baroque (1600s)

• Hymns

• Ministers submitted reports to the King about the conditions in their district

• Petter Dass (1647-1707)

Enlightenment (1700s)

• Belief in reason, science, progress

• Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754)

• - Poet, novelist, moral philosopher

• - playwright 26 comedies

• (Molière of the North)

• - Jeppe on the Hill

Romanticism (1830s-1870)

• Idealism

• Artist – genius

• History – growth

• ”Soul of the nation”

• 1814: National independence

• - Henrik Wergeland (1808-45)

• Creation, Man and Messiah

National Romanticism 1840-1870

• Quest for national identity

• Orientation to the past

• - National history: P.A. Munch

• - Folk tradition: Asbjørnsen and Moe

• - Language: Ivar Aasen

• National breakthrough

• History and folk tradition repository of motifs for contemporary authors

• - Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832-1910)

• - Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)

Realism 1870s

• Modern breakthrough

• Take up contemporary problems for discussion

• Social, representative types

• Plays, novels

• The four great authors:

• Bjørnson, Ibsen, Alexander Kielland, Jonas Lie

• Poetocracy

Naturalism 1880s

• Heredity and environment

• - Amalie Skram (1846-1905)

• The People of Hellemyr

• - Arne Garborg (1852-1928)

• Peasant Students

Neo-Romaticism/Symbolism 1890s

• Complex characters rather than social types

• Irrationality, the unconscious

• New style: poetic, break with normal syntax

• - Knut Hamsun (1859-1952)

• Hunger, Pan, Growth of the Soil

Neo-Realism (1905-40)

• Interaction social setting/human psychology

• Local setting, literary mapping of Norway

• Quest for national identity: 1905

• Emphasis on moral and religious values

• Epic literature; historical novels

• - Sigrid Undset (1882-1949)

• Kristin Lavransdatter

• - Olav Duun (1876-1939)

• The People of Juvik

Political radicalism/psychological realism 1920s -

• Inspired by Freudianism and Marxism

• - Sigurd Hoel (1890-1960)

Post World War II

• Psychological realism (1945-65)

• - Sigurd Hoel Meeting at the Milestone

• - Johan Borgen Lillelord-trilogy

• Modernism (mid 1960s -)

• Profile group: Dag Solstad

• Social Realism

• Feminist literature (1970s -)

• - Dag Solstad

• - Bjørg Vik

Post World War II

• Fantastic literature

• Language conscious literature (1980s)

• - Kjartan Fløgstad

• - Jan Kjærstad

• The eternal life of the narrative (1990s -)

• - Biographies

• - Novels exploring roots and cultural traditions

• Herbjørg Wassmo, Roy Jacobsen,

• Lars Saabye Christensen