Nordic and European Modernisms

A special issue of Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 October 2018) | Viewed by 39554

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Special Issue Editor

Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, P.O. Box 1003 Blindern, University of Oslo, NO-0315 Oslo, Norway
Interests: English literature, especially modernism and the latter part of the 19th century. Narrative theory and analysis, fiction and film, narrative ethics, Holocaust and memory studies, relations between Nordic and European literature.

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will explore the growth and development of Nordic modernisms in a European context. Modernism is a truly international movement that cuts across many boundaries—geographical, cultural, and linguistic. Modernism involves the literatures of several countries, including the Nordic countries; cross-fertilization is a prerequisite for its very existence. Moreover, the diverse forms of modernism that emerged in the Nordic countries at widely differing moments are not limited to literature, but also include other art forms such as the visual arts and film. Concentrating on and yet not limiting itself to the study of literary texts, the Special Issue will demonstrate that the emergence of modernism in the Nordic countries is closely linked to, and inspired by, the modernizing works in early twentieth-century Europe. Presenting Nordic art as multi-dimensional and dynamic, it will also show that, while responding to a growing influence of internationalization, Nordic modernism itself contributed to international trends. Starting from the premise that significant aspects of art and aesthetics complicate an understanding of “the Nordic” as a concept that is either “self-evident” or “important”, the Special Issue aims to provide a venue for sharing, elaborating and refining our understanding of the Nordic in relation to European modernism. Seen in this light, literary studies as practiced in this Special Issue will include discussions of literary translation in the cultural and historical context of the Nordic countries, investigating the interdependence of and interrelationships between translation, literature, literary history and literary culture. A further premise is that although the focus of the issue is on individual works and authors, we also need to pay attention to “translation” as an inevitable element in forms of writing and art. This includes not only the presence of the “foreign” in original writing but also the transnational element in any discussion of foreign literature and culture. The use of the plural form “modernisms” invites contributors to adopt an understanding of modernism that, while recognizing the importance of the modernist movement between circa 1890 and 1940, is sufficiently elastic to include various forms of extension and continuation of Nordic modernisms in the post-war period.

Prof. Dr. Jakob Lothe
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Humanities is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • modernisms
  • Nordic
  • European
  • cross-fertilization
  • literature
  • translation

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 164 KiB  
Editorial
Editorial Special Issue: “Nordic and European Modernisms”
by Jakob Lothe
Humanities 2021, 10(2), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/h10020079 - 27 May 2021
Viewed by 1970
Abstract
This Special Issue of Humanities explores the growth and development of Nordic modernisms in a European context [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nordic and European Modernisms)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

27 pages, 328 KiB  
Article
Modernism—Borders and Crises
by Ástráður Eysteinsson
Humanities 2021, 10(2), 76; https://doi.org/10.3390/h10020076 - 17 May 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3326
Abstract
This article discusses the concept of modernism, as reflected for instance in attempts to find a manageable narrative frame for the history of literary modernism. The article argues that this attempt is complicated by modernism as an unruly and complex trend that manifests [...] Read more.
This article discusses the concept of modernism, as reflected for instance in attempts to find a manageable narrative frame for the history of literary modernism. The article argues that this attempt is complicated by modernism as an unruly and complex trend that manifests itself in different ways, and at different moments, as it enters into a complex dialogue with other trends within various linguistic communities. These different times and places of modernism also turn out to interact with one another through translations and other forms of reception that sometimes entail renewed modernist creativity. Discussing these significant aspects of modernism, the article also considers the problems critics of modernism face as they attempt to come up with a narrative framework for the history of modernism and its ongoing relationship with realism. A key point argued in the article is that to come to terms with both these trends we need to appreciate the ways in which modernism is linked to historical crises and traumas of our time, including the first and the second world wars. Paying particular attention to the interplay of Nordic and European modernisms, the article discusses how aspects of modernism have manifested themselves in Iceland, a Nordic island which may seem doubly removed from the European centres of modernism in cities such as London and Paris. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nordic and European Modernisms)
17 pages, 435 KiB  
Article
Exile, Pistols, and Promised Lands: Ibsen and Israeli Modernist Writers
by Irina Ruppo
Humanities 2019, 8(3), 151; https://doi.org/10.3390/h8030151 - 17 Sep 2019
Viewed by 3374
Abstract
Allusions to Henrik Ibsen’s plays in the works of two prominent Israeli modernist writers, Amos Oz’s autobiographical A Tale of Love and Darkness (2004) and David Grossman’s The Zigzag Kid (1994) examined in the context of the Israeli reception of Ibsen in the [...] Read more.
Allusions to Henrik Ibsen’s plays in the works of two prominent Israeli modernist writers, Amos Oz’s autobiographical A Tale of Love and Darkness (2004) and David Grossman’s The Zigzag Kid (1994) examined in the context of the Israeli reception of Ibsen in the 1950s and 1960s. To establish the variety of meanings Ibsen’s plays had for the audiences of the Habimah production of Peer Gynt in 1952 and The Kameri production of Hedda Gabler in 1966, this article draws on newspaper reviews and actors’ memoirs, as well as providing an analysis of Leah Goldberg’s translation of Peer Gynt. It emerges that both authors enlisted Ibsen in their exploration of the myths surrounding the formation of Israeli nationhood and identity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nordic and European Modernisms)
16 pages, 266 KiB  
Article
The Reception of the Swedish Retranslation of James Joyce’s Ulysses (2012)
by Elisabeth Bladh
Humanities 2019, 8(3), 146; https://doi.org/10.3390/h8030146 - 30 Aug 2019
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2963
Abstract
This article focuses on how the second Swedish translation of James Joyce’s novel Ulysses (2012) was received by Swedish critics. The discussion of the translation is limited to a number of paratextual features that are present in the translation, including a lengthy postscript, [...] Read more.
This article focuses on how the second Swedish translation of James Joyce’s novel Ulysses (2012) was received by Swedish critics. The discussion of the translation is limited to a number of paratextual features that are present in the translation, including a lengthy postscript, and to the translation’s reviews in the daily press. The release of the second Swedish translation was a major literary event and was widely covered in national and local press. Literary critics unanimously welcomed the retranslation; praising the translator’s raw, vulgar and physical language, his humour, and the musicality of his expression. Regarding its layout, title, and style, the new translation is closer to the original than the first translation from 1946 (revised in 1993). The postscript above all emphasizes the humanistic value of Joyce’s novel and its praise of the ordinary. It also addresses postcolonial perspectives and stresses the novel’s treatment of love and pacifism. These aspects were also positively received by the reviewers. For many reviewers, the main merit of the novel is found in its tribute to sensuality and the author’s joyful play with words. Negative comments tended to relate to the novel’s well-known reputation of being difficult to read. One reviewer, however, strongly questioned the current value of the experimental nature of the novel. Opinions also diverged on whether the retranslation replaces or merely supplements the first Swedish translation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nordic and European Modernisms)
13 pages, 241 KiB  
Article
Agents of Secularisation—Ibsen and the Narrative of Secular Modernity
by Joachim Schiedermair
Humanities 2019, 8(2), 111; https://doi.org/10.3390/h8020111 - 03 Jun 2019
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3102
Abstract
In sociology, modernisation is often identified with secularisation. How can secularisation in the texts of modernism around 1900 be analysed? Literary history books tell us that the modernist authors were lucid analysts of their time who portrayed the process of secularisation going on [...] Read more.
In sociology, modernisation is often identified with secularisation. How can secularisation in the texts of modernism around 1900 be analysed? Literary history books tell us that the modernist authors were lucid analysts of their time who portrayed the process of secularisation going on around them in their dramas, novels or short stories. The article tries out a different approach: By conceptualizing secularisation as a cultural narrative, the perspective on the literary material changes fundamentally. The modernist authors were involved in shaping the idea of secularisation in the first place, in propagating it and in working on its implementation. They did not react to the process of secularisation with their texts. Instead, they were involved in the creation and shaping of the interpretative category ‘secularisation’. The article exemplifies this change in approach using a pivotal text of Nordic literary modernism, Ibsen’s Rosmersholm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nordic and European Modernisms)
14 pages, 204 KiB  
Article
The Future Modernism of No-Oil Norway: Øyvind Rimbereid’s “Solaris Corrected”
by Per Thomas Andersen
Humanities 2019, 8(2), 78; https://doi.org/10.3390/h8020078 - 17 Apr 2019
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2517
Abstract
The article is a literary analysis of the poem “Solaris Corrected” by the Norwegian poet Øyvind Rimbereid. The work is a poetical science fiction where the oil industry in the North Sea is seen from a retrospective point of view, conveyed in a [...] Read more.
The article is a literary analysis of the poem “Solaris Corrected” by the Norwegian poet Øyvind Rimbereid. The work is a poetical science fiction where the oil industry in the North Sea is seen from a retrospective point of view, conveyed in a future language. As a part of the modernist tradition in Scandinavian literature, Rimbereid’s work can be read as a significant renewal of the poetic heritage from among others Rolf Jacobsen and Harry Martinson. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nordic and European Modernisms)
22 pages, 304 KiB  
Article
Urban Space and Gender Performativity in Knut Hamsun’s Hunger and Cora Sandel’s Alberta and Freedom
by Unni Langås
Humanities 2018, 7(4), 128; https://doi.org/10.3390/h7040128 - 04 Dec 2018
Viewed by 4827
Abstract
In this article, I discuss the combination of city life and gender performativity in two Norwegian classics, Knut Hamsun’s Hunger (2016) [Sult, 1890] and Cora Sandel’s Alberta and Freedom (1984) [Alberte og friheten, 1931]. These are modernist novels depicting [...] Read more.
In this article, I discuss the combination of city life and gender performativity in two Norwegian classics, Knut Hamsun’s Hunger (2016) [Sult, 1890] and Cora Sandel’s Alberta and Freedom (1984) [Alberte og friheten, 1931]. These are modernist novels depicting lonely human subjects in an urban space, the first one featuring a man in Kristiania (now Oslo) in the 1880s, the second one a woman and her female acquaintances in Paris in the 1920s. I interpret and compare the two novels by focusing on their intertwined construction of gender performativity and urban space. Gender norms of the city life are critical premises for how the subjects manage to negotiate with different options and obstacles through their modern existences. To both protagonists, inferior femininity is a constant option and threat, but their responses and actions are different. The strategy of the male subject in Hunger is to fight his way up from humiliation by humiliating the female other; the strategy of the female subject in Alberta and Freedom is instead to seek solidarity with persons who have experiences similar to her own. Hamsun’s man and Sandel’s woman both perceive their own bodies as crucial to the interpretation of their physical surroundings. However, while the hero in Hunger must deal with a body falling apart and a confrontation with the world that depends on a totally fragmented bodily experience, the heroine in Alberta and Freedom instead sees herself as a body divided between outer appearance and inner inclinations. Both novels stage a person with writing proclivities in a city setting where the success or failure of artistic work is subjected to the mechanisms of a market economy. Their artistic ambitions are to a large extent decided by their material conditions, which seem to manipulate Hamsun’s hero out of the whole business, and Sandel’s heroine to stay calm and not give up. Yet the novels share the belief in the body’s basis as a denominator for the perception and interpretation of sensual and cognitive impressions of the world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nordic and European Modernisms)
15 pages, 248 KiB  
Article
Dream Poems. The Surreal Conditions of Modernism
by Louise Mønster
Humanities 2018, 7(4), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/h7040112 - 07 Nov 2018
Viewed by 3909
Abstract
The article discusses three Swedish dream poems: Artur Lundkvist’s “Om natten älskar jag någon…” from Nattens broar (1936), Gunnar Ekelöf’s “Monolog med dess hustru” from Strountes (1955), and Tomas Tranströmer’s “Drömseminarium” from Det vilda torget (1983). These authors and their poems all relate [...] Read more.
The article discusses three Swedish dream poems: Artur Lundkvist’s “Om natten älskar jag någon…” from Nattens broar (1936), Gunnar Ekelöf’s “Monolog med dess hustru” from Strountes (1955), and Tomas Tranströmer’s “Drömseminarium” from Det vilda torget (1983). These authors and their poems all relate to European Surrealism. However, they do not only support the fundamental ideas of the Surrealist movement, they also represent reservations about, and corrections to, this movement. The article illuminates different aspects of dream poems and discusses the status of this poetic genre and its relation to Surrealism throughout the twentieth century. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nordic and European Modernisms)
11 pages, 241 KiB  
Article
Nordic Modernists in the Circus. On the Aesthetic Reflection of a Transcultural Institution
by Annegret Heitmann
Humanities 2018, 7(4), 111; https://doi.org/10.3390/h7040111 - 06 Nov 2018
Viewed by 2569
Abstract
Around 1900 the circus was not only an important and highly popular cultural phenomenon all over Europe, but also an inspiration to writers and artists at the onset of Modernism. As an intrinsically intermedial form with international performers, it can be seen as [...] Read more.
Around 1900 the circus was not only an important and highly popular cultural phenomenon all over Europe, but also an inspiration to writers and artists at the onset of Modernism. As an intrinsically intermedial form with international performers, it can be seen as an expression of certain important characteristics of modern life like innovation, mobility, dynamics, speed and vigor. Its displays of color and excitement, of bodies in motion and often provocative gender relations were experienced by authors as a challenge to create new aesthetic forms. However, the circus does not only figure prominently in well-known works by Kafka and Thomas Mann and paintings by Degas, Macke or Leger, it is also thematized in texts by Scandinavian authors. When writers like Henrik Ibsen, Herman Bang, Ola Hansson and Johannes V. Jensen referred to the circus in their works, they represented it as an experience of modernity and addressed themes like alterity, mobility, voyeurism, new gender relations and ambivalent emotions. As a self-reflexive sign, the circus even served to represent the fragile status of art in modernity and thus made an important contribution to the development of Modernism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nordic and European Modernisms)
10 pages, 209 KiB  
Article
The Montage Rhetoric of Nordahl Grieg’s Interwar Drama
by Dean Krouk
Humanities 2018, 7(4), 99; https://doi.org/10.3390/h7040099 - 15 Oct 2018
Viewed by 2442
Abstract
This essay explains the modernist montage rhetoric of Nordahl Grieg’s 1935 drama Vår ære og vår makt in the context of the playwright’s interest in Soviet theater and his Communist sympathies. After considering the historical background for the play’s depiction of war profiteers [...] Read more.
This essay explains the modernist montage rhetoric of Nordahl Grieg’s 1935 drama Vår ære og vår makt in the context of the playwright’s interest in Soviet theater and his Communist sympathies. After considering the historical background for the play’s depiction of war profiteers in Bergen, Norway, during the First World War, the article analyzes Grieg’s use of a montage rhetoric consisting of grotesque juxtapositions and abrupt scenic shifts. Attention is also given to the play’s use of incongruous musical styles and its revolutionary political message. In the second part, the article discusses Grieg’s writings on Soviet theater from the mid-1930s. Grieg embraced innovative aspects of Soviet theater at a time when the greatest period of experimentation in post-revolutionary theater was already ending, and Socialist Realism was being imposed. The article briefly discusses Grieg’s controversial pro-Stalinist, anti-fascist position, before concluding that Vår ære og vår makt represents an important instance of Norwegian appropriation of international modernist and avant-garde theater. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nordic and European Modernisms)
22 pages, 306 KiB  
Article
In the Traces of Modernism: William Faulkner in Swedish Criticism 1932–1950
by Mats Jansson
Humanities 2018, 7(4), 96; https://doi.org/10.3390/h7040096 - 04 Oct 2018
Viewed by 4335
Abstract
This article focusses the reception of William Faulkner in Sweden from the first introduction in 1932 until the Nobel Prize announcement in 1950. Through reviews, introductory articles, book chapters, forewords, and translations, the critical evaluation of Faulkner’s particular brand of modernism is traced [...] Read more.
This article focusses the reception of William Faulkner in Sweden from the first introduction in 1932 until the Nobel Prize announcement in 1950. Through reviews, introductory articles, book chapters, forewords, and translations, the critical evaluation of Faulkner’s particular brand of modernism is traced and analyzed. The analysis takes theoretical support from Hans Robert Jauss’ notion of ‘horizon of expectations’, Gérard Genette’s concept of ‘paratext’, and E.D. Hirsh’s distinction between ‘meaning’ and ‘significance’. To pinpoint the biographical and psychologizing tendency in Swedish criticism, Roland Barthes’s notion of ‘biographeme’ is introduced. The analysis furthermore shows that the critical discussion of Faulkner’s modernism could be ordered along an axis where the basic parameters are form and content, aesthetics and ideology, narrator and author, and writer and reader. The problematics adhering to these fundamental aspects are more or less relevant for the modernist novel in general. Thus, it could be argued that the reception of Faulkner in Sweden and Swedish Faulkner criticism epitomize and highlight the fundamental features pertaining to the notion of ‘modernism’, both with regard to its formal and content-based characteristics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nordic and European Modernisms)
12 pages, 244 KiB  
Article
Nordic Modernism for Beginners
by Susan C. Brantly
Humanities 2018, 7(4), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/h7040090 - 20 Sep 2018
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3344
Abstract
This essay proposes a narrative of the Nordic countries’ relationship to modernism and other major literary trends of the late 19th and 20th centuries, that situates them in conjunction with the rest of Europe. “Masterpieces of Scandinavian Literature: the 20th Century” is a [...] Read more.
This essay proposes a narrative of the Nordic countries’ relationship to modernism and other major literary trends of the late 19th and 20th centuries, that situates them in conjunction with the rest of Europe. “Masterpieces of Scandinavian Literature: the 20th Century” is a course that has been taught to American college students without expertise in literature or Scandinavia for three decades. This article describes the content and methodologies of the course and how Nordic modernisms are explained to this particular audience of beginners. Simple definitions of modernism and other related literary movements are provided. By focusing on this unified literary historical narrative and highlighting the pioneers of Scandinavian literature, the Nordic countries are presented as solid participants in European literary and cultural history. Further, the social realism of the Modern Breakthrough emerges as one of the Nordic countries distinct contributions to world literature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nordic and European Modernisms)
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