Norwegian literature

Norwegian literature is literature composed in Norway or by Norwegian people. The history of Norwegian literature starts with the pagan Eddaic poems and skaldic verse of the 9th and 10th centuries with poets such as Bragi Boddason and Eyvindr Skáldaspillir. The arrival of Christianity around the year 1000 brought Norway into contact with European medieval learning, hagiography and history writing. Merged with native oral tradition and Icelandic influence, this was to flower into an active period of literature production in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Major works of that period include Historia Norwegie, Thidreks saga and Konungs skuggsjá.

The period from the 14th century to the 19th is considered a Dark Age in the nation's literature though Norwegian-born writers such as Peder Claussøn Friis, Dorothe Engelbretsdatter and Ludvig Holberg contributed to the common literature of Denmark–Norway. With the advent of nationalism and the struggle for independence in the early 19th century, a new period of national literature emerged. In a flood of nationalistic romanticism, the great four emerged: Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Alexander Kielland, and Jonas Lie. The dramatist Henrik Wergeland was the most-influential author of the period while the later works of Henrik Ibsen were to earn Norway a key place in Western European literature.

Modernist literature was introduced to Norway through the literature of Knut Hamsun and Sigbjørn Obstfelder in the 1890s. In the 1930s Emil Boyson, Gunnar Larsen, Haakon Bugge Mahrt, Rolf Stenersen and Edith Øberg were among the Norwegian authors who experimented with prose modernism. The literature in the first years after the Second World War was characterized by a long series of documentary reports from people who had been in German custody, or who had participated in the resistance efforts during the occupation. In the 20th century notable Norwegian writers include the two Nobel Prize-winning authors, Knut Hamsun and Sigrid Undset. The period after 1965 represented a sharp expansion of market for Norwegian fiction and the 1970s produced both politicization and empowerment of Norwegian authors. The 1980s has been labeled the "fantasy decade" in Norwegian literature.

Medieval poetry

The earliest preserved examples of Old Norse literature are the Eddic poems, the oldest of which may have been composed in early 9th century Norway drawing on the common Germanic tradition of alliterative verse. In the 9th century the first instances of skaldic poetry also appear with the skalds Bragi Boddason, Þjóðólfr of Hvinir and the court poets of Harald Fairhair. This tradition continued through the 10th century with the major Norwegian poet being Eyvindr skáldaspillir. By the late 10th century the tradition of skaldic verse had increasingly moved to Iceland and Norwegian rulers such as Eiríkr Hákonarson and St. Olaf employed mostly Icelandic poets.

Medieval prose

In pagan times the runic alphabet was the only one used in Norway. The preserved inscriptions from that time are mostly short memorial dedications or magical formulas. One of the longest inscriptions is that on the 8th century Eggjum stone, containing cryptic religious or magical allusions. Around the years 1000 to 1030, Christianity became established in Norway, bringing with it the Latin alphabet. The oldest preserved Norwegian prose works are from the mid-12th century, the earliest are Latin hagiographical and historical texts such as Passio Olavi, Acta sanctorum in Selio, Historia Norwegie and Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium. At the end of the 12th century, historical writing expanded to the vernacular with Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum followed by the Legendary Saga of St. Olaf and Fagrskinna.

Medieval Norwegian literature is closely tied with medieval Icelandic literature, and together, they are considered Old Norse literature. The greatest Norse author of the 13th century was the Icelander Snorri Sturluson. He recorded Norse mythology in the form of the Prose Edda, a book of poetic language providing an important understanding of Norse culture prior to Christianity. He was also the author of the Heimskringla, a detailed history of the Norwegian kings that begins in the legendary Ynglinga saga and continues to document much of early Norwegian history.

The period of common Old Norse literature continued up through the 13th century with Norwegian contributions such as Thidreks saga and Konungs skuggsjá but by the 14th century saga writing was no longer cultivated in Norway and Icelandic literature became increasingly isolated.

"Four Hundred Years of Darkness"

Norwegian literature was virtually nonexistent during the period of the Scandinavian Union and the subsequent Dano-Norwegian union (1387–1814). Ibsen characterized this period as "Four Hundred Years of Darkness". During the period of union with Denmark, Danish replaced Norwegian. The university and cultural center of Denmark–Norway was Copenhagen, where young men went to study.

The reformation was imposed on Norway in 1537 and the Dano-Norwegian rulers used it to also impose Danish culture; this was effected through the pulpit as well as through written records, as pastors were trained in Copenhagen. Thus, written Norwegian became closely related to Danish, causing the literature to become essentially Danish. Geble Pedersson (1490–1557) was the first Lutheran Bishop of Bergen and a man of broad humanistic views; his adopted son, Absalon Pederssøn Beyer (1528–1575), followed in his footsteps as a humanist and a nationalist, writing an important historical work, Concerning the Kingdom of Norway (1567). Peder Claussøn Friis (1545–1615) was also a humanist who both revived the Heimskringla by translating it into the language of the period and wrote the first natural history of Norway as well as an important topographic study of Norway.

Comics

Norway has a distinct comic strip and single-panel comic culture that it shares with Sweden.

Story-driven comics with local themes were popular in the postwar years, including Vangsgutane, Jens von Bustenskjold and Smørbukk. However, they gradually faded out of popularity, leading to several decades with no major locally produced comics (with the partial exception of Pyton). Starting in the early 1990s, a large number of strip comics were born from the local hype that had surrounded such US strip comics as Calvin & Hobbes, Piranha Club and Beetle Bailey. Significant names include Frode Øverli (Pondus, Rutetid), Lars Lauvik (Eon, Wildlife), Mads Eriksen (M), Lise Myhre (Nemi), Øyvind Sagosen (Radio Gaga), and the duo Emberland & Sveen (Sleivdal IL).

Starting out with a focus on slapstick comedy, Norwegian comic strips gradually focused more on relationships and family life from the late 2000s onwards, leading to the creation of additional comic strips made by names like Hanne Sigbjørnsen (Tegnehanne) and Nils Axle Kanten (Hjalmar).

Electronic literature

Hans Kristian Rustad's book Digital litteratur (2012) provides an overview of early Norwegian electronic literature. See also the Nordic Electronic Literature Collection in the ELMCIP Electronic Literature Knowledge Base. Significant authors include Ottar Ormstad and Anne Bang Steinsvik.

Notes

References

Blankner, Frederika (1938). A History of the Scandinavian Literatures. Dial Press Inc., New York.
Clough, Ethlyn T. (editor) (1909). Norwegian Life. Bay View Reading Club.
Gjerset, Knut (1915). The History of the Norwegian People. MacMillan.
Griffiths, Tony (2004). Scandinavia; at War with Trolls. Palgrave MacMillan.
Grøndahl, Carl Henrik and Nina Tjomsland (editors) (1978). The Literary Masters of Norway, with Samples of Their Works. Tanum-Norli, Oslo.
Larson, Karen (1948). A History of Norway. Princeton University Press.
Naess, Harald S. (1993). A History of Norwegian Literature. University of Nebraska Press.

External links

Norwegian literature Columbia Encyclopedia article
Norwegian literature A short overview
Trends in contemporary Norwegian literature Article by Janneken Øverland
Norwegian children's literature: Word games, earnestness – diversity of genre and experiment in form Article by Karin Beate Vold
Norway Cultural Profile - national cultural portal for Norway in English