Simonsen Faroese Literature

Home , Faroese literature, Faroese orthography, Faroe Islands

Networks in the Making of Faroese Literature

-Hammersheimb, Schrøter and Lyngbye - mapping the dynamics of social ambience, institutional infrastructure and cultural practice around the publication of “Færøiske Qvæder om Sigurd Fafnersbane” in 1822.

Kim Simonsen, University of Roskilde (The figures attached to this paper can be found in an additional Pdf file)

This paper deals with three clerics of the early 19th Century, and their roles in regards to, the creation of Faroese language and literature. The main argument - and theoretical outline of this paper - is on the construction of a 19th Century cultural saint in the Faroese priest Hammersheimb, that large networks of early philologists and clergymen are overlooked by Faroese memory politics – following the master narrative of the Faroese nationbuilding, starting with 1846, when Hammersheimb ‘created’ 2 the Faroese written language. But we need to put on another frame of perspectives to explain and map the dynamics of the rediscovery of Faroese letters and language brought about by early networks of cultural nationalists, most of them clerics. Here I will go back to the case of the 1822 publication of the “The Sigurd Ballads”, because as we know with the Kalevala epic from Finland and the Icelandic sagas, that these became a political force in this time. The creation of Finishness was also connected to the publication of oral epic by first Swedish scholars – later the Swedish-speaking romantics were sidelined in Finnish memory. My argument is that this is also the case of the early networks of cultural nationalists, many of these Danish clerics created the institutional infrastructure and social ambience that gave birth to Faroese letters in Copenhagen. But Hammersheimb is still the one commemorated on banknotes, monuments, stamps and in official commemorative events as a true cultural saint, by leading poets like J.H.O. Djurhuus while still alive. But he had help from prior network of mainly clerics that paved the way.

(Figure 1) When looking at the time around the 1820's, the Danish student of theology, Hans Christian Lyngbye (1782-1837) came to the Faroe Islands to investigate seaweeds in 1817 i. He met the Faroe scholar J.C. Svabo (1746-1824) ii who taught him some Faroese. This helped Lyngbye to write down folk ballads. He showed this material to Peter Erasmus Müller (1776-1834) bishop and professor of theology at Copenhagen University where they were a great sensation. As many a clergyman of his time, Müller was

1 © SPIN and the author www.spinnet.eu Do not quote without interested in the study of ancient Scandinavian literature, and he was able to see, that they contained The Völsungasaga iii in a hitherto unknown sung form iv . Müller was as a leading clergyman in Denmark, a remarkable great scholar of ancient Scandinavian literature. Between 1817-20 he published the Saga Library: “ Sagabibliothek med Anmærkninger og indledende Afhandlinger” 1-3.vol. He made Lyngbye publish these, with the help from the publisher, activist, cultural nationalist and professor Carl Christian Rafn (1795-1864). The clergyman Amtsprovst Peter Hentze in the Faroes was also involved after Müller contacted him. Later we can read in a letter written by the priest H.R.L. Jensen of Sandoy on Hentze: ”When he undertok the job to collect folksongs, this man did it, because he had such a respect for the ”republic of letters”. (From: Dansk Folkemindesamling (1871- 76)). The ballad collector, priest and translator Johan Henrik Schrøter from Suðuroy was also involved. (Figure 2) Prof. Müller in Copenhagen made the way for this book by gettig 500 rigsbanksdaler from a Royal Grant (Grundtvig, 1882, p. 362). It was printed by Rafn.

The Deep Freezer of Literature

(Figure 3)

In 1822, the world saw the publication of ” Færøiske Qvæder om Sigurd Fafnersbane og hans Æt”. (Faroese Folk Ballads about Sigurd, Bane of Fafner, and his Family).This book was the first book printed in Faroese. It is also the most important book and it has had the most influence on establishing Faroese letters in the first place. Here the Faroe Islands get a part of the same status as Iceland, as being a deep freezer of language and older oral literature. What happened here, can not be explained, as we see Faroese historians and Literary scholars and other scholars do v as just an early account and interest in Faroese antiquarianism and language as a by-product of a Danish national romantic awareness not leading to the later emergence of Faroese literature later in 1888. Because Faroese Nationalism is often dated to the 25th of December 1888 where a meeting took place in the courthouse of Torshavn, that later was termed The Christmas Meeting. This meeting has also been made synonymous with the beginning of Faroese Literature (Debes, 1983).

(Figure 4)

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It is a complex notion involving many actors (as we already have seen, with different agencies and agendas that lies behind the social importance of the invention of the ballads of Sigurd as a later Faroese national treasure and the (full) notion of these ballads as the flagship of the Faroese literature. Therefore we first must look into some definitions of cultural nationalism. Following Hroch and more so, Leerssen and his methodological unique use of comparative literary studies to be able to make very general models of dynamics, transfer and exchange in order to explain the range of for example the publication of the vernacular literatures in Europe and see these as a part of the nation-building process. In many cases these nation-building processes, in a time when Europe was witnessing the break up of the ancient regime and its reconstruction into a system of nations, lead to new nationalist or autonomist separatist movements (Leerseen, p. 22, 2008). And new power elites – sometimes fighting over the right to define the culture, language and the new more national version of the republic of letters – as we see in the Faroese case. (Figure 5)

Leerssen has proposed a matrix – which details I can not go into: (Figure 6) This matrix is useful in order to differentiate and situate our ideas concerning cultural nationalism in Europe vi . The dynamics of the model can be understood as in for example folksong or saga collecting in one country like Iceland or in Scotland (Ossian) can be positioned against language revivalism or Faroese publications of ballads. It is useful to rescue the topic of cultural nationalism from a vague “all that sort of background stuff” status. We can actually trace developments, influences and networks across cultural fields and across the European map.

Social Ambience and Institutional Infrastructure

If we go back to the institutional infrastructure of the Sigurd ballads (I). Müller himself led the work and found the money for the edition of the Sigurd ballads. Lyngbye somehow got to much credit for it – his greatest work was in his Famous book on Faroese Seaweeds. An according to many scholars, his manuscript to the Sigurd Ballads collection are written and collected by the priest Schrøter (Matras, 1935).

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(Figure 7)

The priest Schrøter is worth a couple of notes. He was of German and Faroese decent. In his childhood in Torshavn, he spoke German, English, Faroese and Dano-faroese. He was the priest of Suðuroy, but was soon to be relieved from duty as a younger man with a full pension – probably because of his conduct as a servant of the state was not always in the realms of what was accepted. He had a child out of wedlock, and he used more time as a trader on the black marked, than as a priest. He was educated in Copenhagen and throughout his life; he maintained a network of scholars in many countries. The latter part of his life he was an eager farmer experimenting with new forms of vegetables and cultivating great parts of the lands around the Capital. He is most famous for his translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew published in 1823 (but on its way from 1815) – that was rejected by the linguistic elites of the latter so powerful historical etymological school of language in Scandinavia – people as P.A. Munch, Ivar Aasen, Svend Grundtvig and V.U. Hammersheimb). The book was printed in 1500 copies and the 1300 of them were distributed to Faroese households, but the common man felt uneasy with the everyday language and the use of known idioms. Some talked about sacrilege of the holy word. People were only used to getting the Bible in Danish. Schrøter was inspired by a sense of practicality that belonged to the prior enlightenment era. He read Rasks book on Icelandic and Faroese, but did not agree with Rask, that Faroese was an Icelandic dialect – and here Schrøter was right. People like Hammersheimb reacted strongly against a Danish politician calling the Faroese language a Danish Dialect, while he had no problem with Rask calling it an Icelandic dialect, because Iceland – in the eyes of a national romantic – was a nation of noble Vikings with an authentic language as pure and old as the latin of the North. Schrøters predecessor was the great Faroese enlightment era scholar J.C. Svabo, that made a orthography, that was straight forward and more phonetically founded, that the one Hammersheimb has been credited for making later in 1846.

(Figure 8)

Schrøter was criticised for the Bible translation, but he was a strong spirit of a pioneer and an impulsive man. He Talked to The Danish Bible Company about publishing more translations, so he did not believe in his critics – even if they were the elites of that time in Scandinavia.

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Later he also undertook a great number of tasks, which were to cultivate Faroese culture and letters. In Faroese memory, he is mostly remembered for recording ballads and for the work on sagas and other stories – and also for being a somewhat of a fool, but here we also see the historiography of the romantic nationalists like Hammersheimb and the historical etymological paradigm come out of the battles over Faroese as winners. After Hammersheimb put forward the first official Faroese orthography in 1846 – with nationalists and linguists like Rask, Aasen and other prominent scholars leading the pen – people like Svabo and Schrøter – and the early networks that worked on Faroese lost their place in the coming Faroese Pantheon of men of letters – therefore these networks are still overlooked and a mere footnote in Faroese history and letters. Svabo has had the same misfortune – even if his dictionary is by far the best one in Faroese history and his topography and collections of ballads are among the most important work on Faroese letters ever. Svabo was caught in-between the old regime and the new emerging romantic one. He did for example not believe in the survival of the Faroese language and saw his work as recording something that was going to perish.

Hammersheimb

(Figure 9)

Hammersheimbs life and work is well described – even most of the accounts are hagiographical. He came from a leading and an elite Faroese family- his father was the last real Lagmand – or Bailiff on the Faroes. After Denmark dissembled the Lagting – the Faroese Parliament. So the family went from greatness to more modest means, that hurt Hammersheimb – so he writes in his memoires. He studies theology, but saw Scandinavian philology as his true interest. Theology for Hammersheimb seems to have been more a source of status and income. He lived at the Royal Collegium in Copenhagen, where he became friends with leading Icelandic cultural nationalists as well as Svend Grundtvig. After making a new etymological orthography for Faroese, he published a great number of oral literature and translated or re-translated the Faroe Saga and the Sigurd Ballads as well as making the first anthology of Faroese Letters – this with the help of the younger Dr. Jacobsen – the first Faroese doctor of Scandinavian philology.

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Social ambience – Rask and Rafn

At the level of social ambience (S) we see great associations and publishing ventures as well as reading societies emerge. If we for example look at the publisher of the Sigurd ballads professor Rafn. He founded important publications like Annaler for nordisk Oldkyndighed and Antiquarisk Tidskrift and many others. He worked together with the most important scientists, scholars and philologists in Scandinavia as Rask. Rask was interested in Icelandic from his youth. In 1816 he helped forming the Icelandic Literary Union (Hið íslenska Bókmentafélag) and in 1818 the Library in Reykjavik (later Landsbókasafn Islands).

(Figure 10)

He helped form Literary Societies on London, Iceland and in Copenhagen. His interest in Faroese inspired and helped create the written Faroese language of 1846. He helped Rafn in the translation of Faroe Saga. He was one of the leading inspirations behind the Faroese Library (Thorshavns Læsebibliothek – Later Færo Amts Bibliotek –later Landsbókasavnið in the 1820ies) – helping the Faroese Davidsen with many gifts of books. Jákup Nolsøe the brother of the poet Nólsoyar Páll was central to creating a living environment around the publication of Faroese Antiquarian Texts in the 1820ies. He is mentioned and admired by Svend Grundtvig (Grundtvig, 1845, s. 73). He wrote “Færøsk Sproglære”, that never was published, but was well known by Rask. Rafn also worked with Finn Magnusen, Hammersheimb and others on Icelandic, old Nordic, Faroese and even Greelandic culture and language. He worked with Rask during the publication of important translations, text editions and publication of oral literature and sagas. Rafn was also a founder of the Icelandic and the Faroese National Libraries. Later other important scholars as Svend Grundtvig and J. Bloch worked great parts of their lives on publishing Faroese ballads. vii Rafn was a eminent example of a 19th Century cultural nationalist working on many fronts at the same time viii in many languages and creating strings of a global networks. Rafn published the edition of the Sigurd ballads – it is fair to say that this book led to publications of other editions and thereby a creation of a national discourse started not only in the realms of salvage, retrieval or inventory (1), but also in (2) cultivation and (3) propagandation in the public sphere.

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The Problem of Language

The publication also made it clear, that there was a need for a standardization of orthography (L2). Or at least the etymologically inclined nationalists thought so. Svabo created the first form of written Faroese, that later was used partly by Lyngbye in “Færoyiske Qvæder…” and by Schrøter. These publications also drew Svabos dictionary and life work out of the darkness, and later both Rask, Grundtvig and Bloch worked on his manuscripts. The Sigurd ballads edition also created a growing interest in other editions of older texts (D1). The same team, with Rask onboard, but without Müller and Lyngbye, published old Faroese historical documents – like the Faro Saga in 1832. The publication activated more than a salvage paradigm, but also cultivation and later has lead to proclations in the public space –as for example monuments, names of public spaces, sports and folklore.

(Figure 11)

If we look at the ballads in the light of the republic of letters. Why became the 1822 edition of the Sigurd ballads so important? The ballads were not so unknown as the romantic’s later clamed - but it is a part of the romantic idea, to try to salvage ‘the last of its kind’, and something ‘lost’ or ‘dying’ or forgotten. Svabo had submitted his manuscripts to the Royal Library in the 18th Century and Lyngbye and Müller both mention his work in the preface to the Sigurd ballads. Faroese ballads were published before (Rask, Lyngbye, Worm 9, Peder Syv and others, and they are mentioned by other Danish and Faroese clergimen as Debes, 1664, Tarnovius, Landt and others). When I use the word ‘discovery’, I mean rediscovery, because Faroese literature was not in itself invented around 1820. There were important publications prior to this, as the relative large number of travel writing, scientific expeditions and their reports and Danish Royal Funded topographies ix . We need to put on another frame of perspectives to explain this. The Sigurd Ballads, as other epic tales, sagas or mystic tales known from for example Finland as the Kalevala, the Icelandic sagas became a political force in this time. The creation of Finishness was for example connected to the publication of oral epic by first Sweedish scholars – later the Sweedish speaking romantics were sidelined – some moved back to Sweeden. The publication and use of the legend Kalevala was inspired by romantic philology, and its mythical material became the Finnish national epic and its

7 © SPIN and the author www.spinnet.eu Do not quote without meaning for the Finns was like Homer to the Greek or Nibelungenlied for the Germans (Leerssen 2004, p. 168-169). Due to the 19th Century’s explosive interest in the Icelandic sagas, Iceland became a place of interest, not any more the ”end of the world” or a place for devils, Iceland became a magnet, a new Jerusalem, Athens or Rome a place of pilgrimage (Ísleifson, 2009 & http://www.inor.is/ (09.04.2010)). In many ways it is possible to say, that the Faroese nationalism is a copy-cat invention or a spin off from all these areas and previous colonies of Denmark. But in other ways we need to consider and understand, what Benedict Anderson has called the “philological-lexigraphic revolution” as a golden age of vernacularizing lexicographers, grammarians, philologists and litterateurs (Anderson, p. 71, 1984). At this point the theories of Herder (1744-1803) formulated in the late 18th Century were rapidly disseminated. According to Casanova, Herder did not only propose a new way to put aside the French hegemony in order to increase the value of German literature, but at the time his activities enlarged literary space to include the European continent as a whole (Casanova, 2004, p. 75). Casanova sees the dynamics of the republic of letters as a competition and a fight over cultural capital - much as Bourdieu defines a cultural field (Ibid. p. 358). The clerics were men of letters – even though many of them more in the classical languages of the old regime– many of them like Schrøter were reluctant to go all the way unborard the new romantic etymological and historical school – while others as Hammersheimb saw their chance to benefit of these new currents.

Conclusion

Overthrowing the ‘ancient regime’ gave the theoretical basis for politically dominated territories to move towards independence, here the link between language and nation, and literature and the spirit of the people became the key to political existence in the ‘long nineteen Century’ – so it is fair to say, that the publication and the whole social ambience of cultural nationalism and philology created – not only Faroese letters and literature as we know it today – but the bases of the Faroese nationalism. The romantic historicist use of history and memory of ancient times (middle ages) – and the rediscovery and edition of oral literature, can be understood as a part of a battle over literary status in the new republic of letters and as a part of the programme to create a new start for emerging literatures. Even though the orthography of Svabo and the one

8 © SPIN and the author www.spinnet.eu Do not quote without later used by Lyngbye and Schrøter became victims of vicious attacks from the romantic organism paradigm, that lies within the historical etymological romantic language theory. For smaller nations and postcolonial nations this programme is still a political factor seen in national literary histories. Here we see that literature becomes a prime source of national self-definition. This can also explain why Svabos collections of ballads were never published and probably also why he lived a life of poverty. His timing was not right – he made most of his work in the 1780ies x. Schrøters timing was not right for the Bible translation. There was not the social ambience nor the institutional infrastructure, because the Sigurd ballads needed to be lifted out of their context of origin by a Danish professionalising philological intelligentsia –that mostly were clerics - that recontextualised them for a more modern need inspired by the international movement of cultural nationalism. They needed to get this new status and be recognized as a part of the national symbolism of the herderian dynamics of cultural nationalism xi . The Faroese nationalism did not just fall out as a separate political-national movement – it was created through cultural nationalism and the cultivation of culture, most of all the publication of oral literature and sagas that was undertaken mostly by clerics. The notion, that Faroese Literature and nationalism was created in the Faroe Islands in the period from 1876-1888 was created much later and used and performed as an ideological master narrative creating coherence in the later ongoing construction of Faroese Nation Building and Anti-Danish Memory Politics in the late 19th Century and beyond as well as the idea that Faroese letters start with the codification of language and Hammersheimb. Later Hammersheimb republished a new translation of both the Sigurd ballads and the Faroese Saga in his own orthography, saying very little positive about Lyngbye, Schrøter and his network. But he himself was later challenged by the younger scholar Dr. Jacobsen, that made up a different phonetic orthography plunging Faroese letters into a language war, that lasted over a 100 years. Confirming, what the American- Norwegian scholar Haugen stated, that language is the evil spirit of nation building – here he probably thought of Norway? The construction of long lasting masternarratives followed the same system as in Finland, where Finnish literature and nationalism was created by Swedish networks of scholars, later sidelined in Finish memory. When we see an institutional infrastructure emerge we may see a social ambience lead to cultural practices as for example collections

9 © SPIN and the author www.spinnet.eu Do not quote without and edition of oral literature, that again can lead to a grater palate of cultural cultivation, salvage, inventory and assertion in the public sphere xii . What has been understudied and overlooked in the every aspect of the literary history on the Faroe Islands is the social importance of the collection of oral literature and collections and edition of old texts. There has never been made an attempt to map the whole picture – or as here more of it - and the range of actors from university chairs, libraries, academies to associations, publishing ventures, reading societies, periodicals and to put all these together in a more complex map that can explain, visualize and put in perspective the cultivation of culture in cultural nationalism and how the cultivation of culture works, from one area to another. That these were these were a network of cross- border intellectuals creating a unique intellectual traffic that follows a chronology and a dynamics of its own. Cultural nationalism is much more free floating and expansive field, than later national movements in for example the Faroe Islands have suggested and by doing so these traditions of nationalism have marginalized the true and genuine transnational dynamics of the early 19th Century cultural nationalism. To establish a standard language and a literature was therefore a way to claim legitimacy of a nation and for a new state. Here literary deprived or nearly non existing nations – as in the Faroese case - were given a new start in the competition over literary space and prestige following the ‘Herder effect’. This programme was the tool for invention of new literatures into the world republic of letters. In this way the herderian notion of the genius of the people became a political weapon emphasising the soulfulness of a people, where literary texts express the founding principle of the nation. i Lyngbye on the Faroes: Lyngbye, H. C. 1820: Noget om Færøerne, især om de der brugelige Bryllupsskikke. Magasin for Rejseiagttagelser bd. 1. Here Lyngbye had the idea to let the Faroese language “rent uddøe” (to die). See also Lyngbye, H. C. 1822: Færøiske ývæder om Sigurd Fofnersbane og hans Æt. Med en Anhang . Samlede og oversatte af Hans Christian Lyngbye. Med en Indledning af P. E. Müller. Randers. ii On Svabo: Svabo, J. C. 1939: Svabos færøske visehåndskrifter . Red. Chr. Matras. København. Svabo, J. Chr. 1959: Indberetninger fra en Reise i Færøe 1781 og 1782 . Red. N. Djurhuus. København. His great contribution to Faroese letters come in tree: his dictionary, his scientific topography on the Faroes and his many manuscripts of handwriting in his collections of ballads.

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iii There are several differences in the plot of the Faroese Sigurd-ballads, compared to, for example, the Icelandic Edda-lays and the German Niebelungen-lays. It is difficult to say, why these differences appear, but there are indications, that the Faroese materials come from a different source than the others. In Brynhilds Ballad and Högne’s Ballad, an ancient lay called "Bragdar táttur", "The Lay of the Heroes", is mentioned as source for some of the informations. It has been suggested, that this original lay was brought to the islands by the first Norwegian settlers. Due to the isolated position of the islands, this ancient lay may have survived until the middle of the thirteenth century, long after it had been forgotten in the rest of the Norse countries. iv Se also his scholarly foreword to “Færøiske Qvæder…” Om de færøiske ývæders Beskaffenhed og Ælde. I: Lyngbye 1822. v Jacobsen 1924, Matras 1935, Gaard 1991, Sigurdardóttir 1987, Debes, 1982 and others. There should be reason to believe that everything has been written and studied around these ballads, but no one has put them into a more literary sociological and historiographical perspective. The literature on these ballads – the flagship of the Faroese literature by far - is very excessive and comes from many scholarly disciplines and in many languages and has its own bibliography (see my bibliography). vi But Leerssen stresses that these models are not in itself the framework of research, or an total version where we can fill in our knowledge and get one result. But a facilitating instrument. vii Some of the 19 th Centuries famous publications of Faroese ballads after Lyngbye: Hammershaimb, V. U. 1847: Meddelelser fra en Rejse på Færøerne i 1847-48. Antiýuarisk Tidsskrift, udgivet af Det kongelige nordiske Oldskrift-Selskab . 1846-1848. Kjøbenhavn. Hammershaimb, V. U. 1851-55: Færöiske Kvæder, samlede og besørgede ved V. U. Hammershaimb, udgivne af det nordiske Litteratur-Samfund . I-II. Kjøbenhavn. Hammershaimb, V. U. 1847: Olufas Kvad. I: Antiýuarisk Tidsskrift udgivet af Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskrift-Selskab 1846-48 . København, s. 279-304. Hammershaimb, V. U. 1851: Færöiske Kvæder . København. Hammershaimb, V. U. 1852: Færøske Kvæder, henhørende til Hervarar Saga. I: Antiýuarisk Tidsskrift udgivet af Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskrift- Selskab . København. 57-96. (Genoptrykt i 73-112 I: V. U. Hammershaimb: Savn . Emil Thomsen 1969. Hammershaimb, V. U. 1891. 1969: Færøsk Anthologi I. Tekst samt historisk og grammatisk Indledning . København. 2. útgáva. Tórshavn 1969. All (known) Faroese ballads are to be found in: Corpus Carminum Færoensium.

viii We can see this in the book ”Breve fra og til Carl Christian Rafn, med en Biografi”. From 1869, where some of his correspondence with scholars and writers from many parts of the world is published. ix The most famous ones are Spjellerup (1665), Tarnovius (1669), Debes (1673, 1675 (English) and 1757 (German)), Torfæus (1695, 1770), Svabo (1781-82), Landt (1800) and some smaller ones. The most Famous traveller goint to the Faroe Islands were the Stanley- ekspedition from 1789. They went to Iceland and to the Faroes Island. The German Lawyer Graba was in the Faroes, and in 1828 the book ”Reise nach Färö” was published. There are some French as well - Charles Frédéric Martins ”Essai sur la végétation de l´archipel des Féröe, comparée à celles des Shetland et de I´Islande meridionale, I: Voyages de la commission scientifique du nord, en Scandinavie, en Laponie, au Spitzberg, et af Féröe, pendant les années 1838, 1839, et 1840 sur la corvette la Recherche, commandée par m. Fabvre”, published by Paul Gaimard in 12 volumes from 1842-55. George Claytons ”Journal of an Expedition to the Feroe and Westman Islands and Iceland 1833 ” and the american James Nicoll ”An historical and descriptive account of Island, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, with illustrations of their natural history ” were published in Edinburgh in 1860. From 1883 to 1888. Two French geographical expeditions were led by Jules Leclercq ”La terre de glace: Féroe –Islande: les geysers – le mont Hekla” (Paris, 1883) and from 1888 the French: ”L’Islande et L’archipel des Færaeer” by Lebonne. Of later travel writing worth to mention are Elisabeth Taylors ”The Far Islands and Other Cold Places – Travel Essays of a Victorian Lady”, she travelled in The Faroes in 1895 (Taylor, 1997). x Jørgen Landts book ”Forsøg til en Beskrivelse over Færøerne” was published in 1800. His work is mostly stolen from Svabo and Debes. Abouts Svabo he said:: ” A student Jens Svabo has given some written notes on Faroe”, when he actually had taken most of his work from the unpublished works of Svabo, that he had access to at the Royal Library in Copenhagen. xi This may also be the explanation, on why the Faroese nationalist, sailor and poet Nólsoyar Páll (1766-1808) did not get the same attention from the Danish philologists, when he wrote allegorical and anti-Danish ballads like “Fuglakvæði” from 1806 (The Bird Ballad) – much later he became a Faroese national hero. But this I will explore in another paper. xii The ballads were not new or the knowledge of them. Svabo and Debes all wrote about the Faroese ballads. In 1639 Ole Worm wrote down five Faroese ballads. These have not survived and are only known today through Peder Syv (1631-1702) (Hansen, 2006, s. 24). Before the publication it was very well known that the Faroese scholar Svabo spendt all his

life collecting ballads and his dictionary written in the spirit of the 18. Century enlightment philosophy later was very important and still is.

Selected bibliography :

Aberbach, David:“The Poetry of Nationalism”. In: Nations and Nationalism , 9 (2), 2003. Adriansen, Inge: Nationale symboler i det danske rige 1830-2000 . Copenhagen, 2003. Anderson, Benedict: Imagined Communities . Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London, 1983. Andreassen, Eyðun 1979: Dansens og arbejdets vise - samme vise med forskellig form? Sumlen. Årsbok för vis- och folkmusikforskning . Stockholm. 39-50. Andreassen, Eyðun 1980: Folkekulturen i nasjonalromantisk og nasjonalistisk tolkning. In: Honko, Lauri (ritstj). Folklore och nationsbyggande i Norden . Åbo. 65-73 Andreassen, Eyðun 1992: Folkelig offentlighed. En undersøgelse av kulturelle former på Færøerne i 100 år . Copenhagen. Assmann, Aleida: Erinnerungsräume: Formen und Wandlungen des kulturellen Gedächtnisses. München: Beck, 1999. At formidle historie . Bryld, Claus (red.) m.fl. Roskilde, 1999. Barnes, Michael 1978: Grammatical instability in Faroese ballads and written Faroese. In: Kolsrud, Knut et al. (ritstj). Tradisjon og samfunn. Festskrift til Olav Bø på 60-års dagen 19. mai 1978 . Oslo. 209-235 Berger, Stefan: ”Towards Global Perspectives on the Writing of National History”. In: Representations of the Past: The Writing of National Histories in the Nineteenth and Twentieth- Century Europe (NHIST). News Letter 2, 2006. Bryld, Claus og Anette Warring: Besættelsestiden som kollektiv erindring. Historie- og traditionsforvaltning af krig og besættelse, 1945-1997 . Roskilde, 1995. Burke, Peter: “History as Social Memory”. In: Memory: History, Culture and the Mind . Thomas Butler (red.), Oxford, 1989. Caldicott, Edric & Anne Fuchs (eds.): Cultural Memory: Essays on European Literature and History. Oxford et al.: Lang, 2003. CCF = Føroya kvæði. Corpus Carminum Færoensium. Chesnutt, Michael 1992: Aspects of the Faroese Traditional Ballad in the Nineteenth Century. In: Arv. Scandinavian Yearbook of Folklore 1992 . Stockholm. 247-260.

Chesnutt, Michael og Larsen, Kaj 1991: De ældste færøske kvadhåndskrifter. Del 1. In: UNIFOL. Årsberetning 1990 . Copenhagen. 23-49. Clementsen, Ólavur 1994: Jóannes í Króki - liv og virke. In: Fróðskaparrit 42 . Torshavn. 9-14. Connerton. Paul: ”Seven types of forgetting”. In: Memory Studies, 2008 1 , 59-7. Conroy, Patricia 1994: Min gode ven Jóannes í Króki. In: Fróðskaparrit 42 . Torshavn. 15- 20. Dahl, Árni: Bókmentasøga I . Torshavn, 1980. Dahl, Árni: Bókmentasøga II . Torshavn, 1981. Dahl, Árni: Bókmentasøga III . Torshavn, 1983. Dal, Erik 1956: Nordisk folkeviseforskning siden 1800 . Copenhagen. 227-240 Dal, Erik 1970: Tyske, danske og engelske oversættelser af Færøkvæder. In: Fróðskaparrit 18 . Torshavn. 77-92. Debes, Hans J.: Nú er tann stundin… Tjóðskaparrørsla og sjálvstýrispolitikkur til 1906 við søguligum baksýni . Torshavn, 1982. Debes, Lucas Jacobsøn 1673 (1903, 1950, 1963 og 1963). Færoæ & Færoa reserata. Det er Færøernis og Færøeske Indbyggeris Beskrifvelse . Copenhagen. Djurhuus, N. 1958: Dansen. I: Færøerne . Udg. af Dansk-Færøsk Samfund, Bd, 1, Copenhagen. 392-399. Færeyinga saga eller Færøboernes historie i den islandske grundtext med færøisk og dansk oversættelse . Oversat af C.C. Rafn. Copenhagen, 1832. Føroysk og íslendsk kvæðir. IN: Snædal, Magnús og Sigurðardóttir, Turið (ritstj). In: Frændafundu r. Fyrilestrar frá íslendsk-føroyskari ráðstevnu í Reykjavík 20-21. august 1992 . Reykjavík. 78-89 Gellner, Ernest: Nations and Nationalism . London, 1983. Grimm, W. 1927: (Wilhelm Grimm): (Review of) Färöiske ýuäder om Sigurd Fofnersbane og hans Æt. In: Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen , bd. III, Stück, 4. september 1824, p. 1417-1428. Grøndal, Benedict: Breve fra og til Carl Christian Rafn med en biografi . 1869 Halbwachs, Maurice: On Collective Memory . Chicago,1992.

Hammershaimb, V. U. 1847: Meddelelser fra en Rejse på Færøerne i 1847-48. In: Antiýuarisk Tidsskrift , udgivet af Det kongelige nordiske Oldskrift-Selskab . 1846-1848. Kjøbenhavn. Hammershaimb, V. U. 1847: Olufas Kvad. In: Antiýuarisk Tidsskrift udgivet af Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskrift-Selskab 1846-48 . Copenhagen, s. 279-304. Hammershaimb, V. U. 1851-55: Færöiske Kvæder, samlede og besørgede ved V. U. Hammershaimb, udgivne af det nordiske Litteratur-Samfund. I-II . Kjøbenhavn. Hammershaimb, V. U. 1851: Færöiske Kvæder . Copenhagen. Hammershaimb, V. U. 1852: Færøske Kvæder, henhørende til Hervarar Saga. I: Antiýuarisk Tidsskrift udgivet af Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskrift-Selskab . Copenhagen. 57-96. (Reprinted in: V. U. Hammershaimb: Savn. Emil Thomsen 1969. Hammershaimb, V. U. 1891. 1969: Færøsk Anthologi I. Tekst samt historisk og grammatisk Indledning . Copenhagen. 2. edition. Torshavn 1969. Hammershaimb, V.U.: Færøsk Antologi . Copenhagen, 1891. Helgason, Jón 1924: Færøske studier. In: Maal og Minne . Kristiania. I: Den ældste optegnelse af færøiske kvad, s. 29-37. II: Ljómur paa Færøiene, p. 37-48. Hervieu-Léger, D.: Religion as a Chain of Memory. Oxford, 2000. Hettne, Björn, Sverker Sörlin og Uffe Østergård: Den globala nationalismen: nationalstatens historia och framtid . Stockholm, 1998. Hobsbawm, E og T. Ranger (red.): The Invention of Tradition . London, 1983. Hroch, Miroslav: Die Vorkampfer der nationalen Bewegung bei den kleinen Völkern Europas. Eine vergleichende Analyse zur gesellschaftlichen Schichtung der patriotischen Gruppen . Prag, 1968. Hutchinson, John og Anthony D. Smith (red.): Nationalism . Oxford, 1994. Hutchinson, John: Myth against myth: the nation as ethnic overlay. In: Nations and Nationalism . Vol. 10, 1-2, 2004. Hutchinson, John: The Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism , London, 2003. Huyssen, Andreas: Present Pasts: Urban Palimpsests and the Politics of Memory (Cultural Memory in the Present). Stanford, 2003. Huyssen, Andreas: Twilight Memories . London, 1995. Høj, Chr., Søga okkara I. Torshavn, 1970.

Ísleifsson, Sumarliði R.: Icelandic National Images in the 19th and 20th Centuries. In:Images of the North – Histories – Identities – Ideas. (Ed. Sverrir Jakobsson), Amsterdam, 2009. Jacobsen, M. A. 1921: Úr bókmentasøgu okkara . Torshavn 1921 Jacobsen, M. A. 1926: Sunnbiarbók . In: Varðin 6. 114-118. Jacobsen, M. A. 1929: Jóhannes Klæmintsson í Króki. In: Varðin I‹. Joensen, J. P. 1978: Føroysk fólkamentan. Bókmentir og gransking. In: Fróðskaparrit 26. Joensen, Jóan Pauli: ”At finna ella uppfinna tað føroyska”. In: Fróðskaparrit , 36-37. Torshavn, 1988-1989. Kitzmann, Andreas, Conny Mithander, John Sundholm (red.): Memory Work : The Theory and Practice of Memory. New York, 2005. Króki, Jóannes: Sandoyarbók 2 . (Red.) Rikard Long. Torshavn Halbwachs, Maurice: On Collective Memory . Chicago, 1992. Landt, Jørgen 1800. 1965: Forsøg til en Beskrivelse over Færøerne . Copenhagen 1800. (2. edition: Torshavn 1965). Larsen, Kaj 1994: Kvæðauppskriftir Jóannesar í Króki. Jóannes í Króki. In: Fróðskaparrit 42 . Torshavn. 29-35. Leerssen, Joep: “Nationalism and the Cultivation of Culture.” In: Nations and Nationalism , 12 (4), 2006. Leerssen, Joep: 1998 "Nation, Volk und Vaterland zwischen Aufklärung und Romantik", In: Volk – Nation – Europa. Zur Romantisierung und Entromantisierung politischer Begriffe , ed. A. von Bormann (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann), 171-178. Leerssen, Joep: 2002 "Primitive orality and archaic heroism: The romantic conception of epic", In: Romanticna pesnitev. Ob 200. obletni rojstva Franceta Preerna. Mednarodni simpozij Obdobja - Metode in zvrsti , Ljubljana, 4.-6. december 2000 , ed. M. Juvan (Ljubljana: Universa v Ljubljani): 19-32. Leerssen, Joep: 2004 "Literary historicism: Romanticism, philologists, and the presence of the past", In: Modern language quarterly , 65: 221-243. Leerssen, Joep: 2004B "Ossian and the rise of literary historicism", In: The Reception of Ossian in Europe , ed. H. Gaskill (London: Continuum): 109-125. Leerssen, Joep: 2006 National Thought in Europe: A Cultural History (Amsterdam University Press, 312 pp.).

Leerssen, Joep:1988 "Anglo-Irish Patriotism and its European context: Notes towards a reassessment", In: Eighteenth-Century Ireland , 3: 7-24. Leerssen, Joep:1991 (with Menno Spiering) National identity: Symbol and representation (Amsterdam: Rodopi), 255 pp. ( Yearbook of European Studies , 4). Liestøl, Knut 1917: Færøyske og norske folkevisor. In: Maal og minne . Oslo. 81-110. Lyngbye, H. C. 1820: Noget om Færøerne, især om de der brugelige Bryllupsskikke. In: Magasin for Rejseiagttagelser bd. 1. Lyngbye, H. C. 1822: Færøiske ývæder om Sigurd Fofnersbane og hans Æt. Med en Anhang. Samlede og oversatte af Hans Christian Lyngbye. Med en Indledning af P. E. Müller . Randers Marnersdóttir, Malan: “Narrative and Ideological Form in the Writing of Faroese Literary History”. In: Borders and Communities . (Red. Michael P. Barnes, Tom Lundskær-Nielsen, Tom Munch-Petersen). Matras , Chr. 1939: Svabos færøske visehaandskrifter. Udg. for Samfund til udgivelse af gammel nordisk litteratur ved Chr. Matras . Copenhagen. Matras 1951-53: J. H. Schrøter optegnelser af Sjúrðar kvæði. Copenhagen 1951-53. In: Færoensia III. Matras, Chr. 1935: Norðmenninir í Danmørk. Chr. Matras greiddi til prentingar. In: Varðin 15 . 237-239. Matras, Chr.: Føroysk bókmentasøga . Copenhagen, 1935. Matras, Christian 1973: Nøkur mentafólk. Greinir og røður . Torshavn. Misztal, Barbara: Theories of social remembering . Maidenhead, 2003. Müller, Peder Erasmus 1817-20: Sagabibliothek med Anmærkninger og indledende Afhandlinger 1-3. bind . Copenhagen. Müller, Peder Erasmus 1822: Om de færøiske ývæders Beskaffenhed og Ælde. In: Innledning til Lyngbye 1822 . 3-42. Nauerby, Tom: No Nation is an Island - Language, Culture and National Identity in the Faroe Islands . Århus, 1996. Nolsøe, Mortan 1968: Innsamling av fiske- og folkevisetradisjon på Færøyene. 151-159 In: Vento , Urpo. Fältarbetet. Synpunkter på etnofolkloristisk fältforskning. Helsingfors. Nora, Pierre:”Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Memoire”. In: Representations ,26,1989. Nora, Pierre (red.): Realms of Memory: Rethinking the French Past . Vol. 1. New York, 1996.

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