Mikael Van Reis
Sandra Ballif Straubhaar Gustav Storm’s 1899 Heimskringla as a Norwegian Nationalist Genesis Narrative hile the construction of national identity in various European nations has been of great interest in the last two decades,1 the Wengagement of the Nordic countries in that process has been cited less often in the overview literature. However, considerable atten- tion has lately been given to the topic within Norden,2 particularly in Norway.3 For instance, in the Winter 1995 issue of Scandinavian Studies (67:1), a flagship essay by John Lindow and Timothy Tangherlini asks: “How do people express their identity? What role does storytelling ... play in the negotiation of identity?”4 Edward Said’s questions are analo- 1 See, for instance, Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (London and New York: Verso, 1991); Eric J. Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, eds., The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1983); Eric J. Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1780 (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990); Homi Bhabha, Nation and Narration (London: Routledge, 1993); Doris Sommer, Foundational Fictions: The National Romances of Latin America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991). 2 “Norden” is perhaps the most satisfactory and inclusive term for Denmark- Finland-Iceland-Norway-Sweden. “Scandinavia” is sometimes constructed as excluding Finland (for reasons of language) and/or excluding Iceland (for reasons of geography). The reader is referred to the discussion on this topic at the FAQ website: http://www.lysator.liu.se/nordic/scn/faq21.html#2.1 3 Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Typisk norsk (Oslo: C. Huitfeldt forlag, 1993) and Et langt, kaldt land nesten uten mennesker (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1998); Anne Cohen Kiel, ed., Continuity and Change: Aspects of Contemporary Norway (Oslo: Scandinavian University Press, 1993); Steinar Bryn, The Americanization of Norwegian Culture (Diss., University of Minnesota, 1993).
[Show full text]