Preliminary Course Plan and Reading List 2020 Norwegian Literature

Course Code: ISSN 1320

Course Leader: Melissa Gjellstad

This course plan and reading list are subject to changes.

Date Topic Readings/Curriculum

Week 1

Topic: Introduction and Course Themes: Gender, Knirk: «Old Norwegian June 22 Place, History in Norwegian Literature Literature» Read: «Rigsthula» and «Hávamál»

Topic: National Romanticism & Folktales Read: Asbjørnsen & Moe «The Ash Lad Who Had Tønnessen: «Trends in Norwegian an Eating Match with a Troll,» «The Princess Who June 23 Literature» Always Had to Have the Last Word,» «White-Bear-

King Valemon,» «The Old Woman Against the Stream,» «Gudbrand of the Hillside» Topic: The Modern Breakthrough & Henrik Ibsen June 24 Boeninger: «Teacups and Butter» Read: A Doll’s House

June 25 Topic: Ibsen’s Christiania Topic: Realism; Ibsen & Gender Moi: «First and Foremost a Human June 26 Read: A Doll’s House Being» Week 2

Topic: Naturalism & Modernism June Solbakken «Women in Norwegian Read: Skram «Karen’s Christmas» and Sandel «A 29 Literature and Society» Mystery»

Topic: Sexuality I Barkve: «Writing Community in June 30 Read: Shakar T.U.V. excerpt Contemporary Norway»

Topic: Sexuality II Sabo: «The Status of Sexuality, July 01 Read: Marstein «Deep Need-Instant Nausea» and Pornography, and Morality» Ullmann Before You Sleep excerpt

July 02 Student Presentations: Gender & Literature

Guest Lecture: July 03 Erik Skuggevik on Translation Nunnally: «Removing the Grime» Read: Obstfelder

Week 3

Topic: Landscape in Poetry Greenwald: «Introduction to Rolf July 06 Read: Jacobsen Jacobsen» Topic: Modernism & the City July 07 Sandberg: «Writing on the Wall» Read: Hamsun Hunger excerpt

www.summerschool.uio.no

Topic: YA & Nature Nikolajeva: «Recent trends in July 08 Read: Parr Astrid the Unstoppable excerpt Children’s Literature Research» July 09 Long Weekend July 10

Week 4

Topic: Primitivism July 13 Hermundsgård: «Child of the Earth» Read: Vesaas Birds Topic: Language July 14 Wilson: «Capability and Language» Read: Vesaas Birds; selected poems by Vesaas Topic: Historical July 15 Berguson: «Arrested in Parody» Read: Undset The Wreath excerp Topic: Dramatic landscapes July 16 Read: Jon Fosse «Waves of Stone» and Someone Rees: «By the Open Sea» Is Going to Come excerpt

July 17 Student Presentations: Nature & the City

Week 5

Topic: Integration Kuokkanen: «‘Survivance’ in Sami July 20 Read: Vars «Boarding School» and Hjorth A House Boarding School Narratives» in Norway excerpt Topic: WWII and Resistance Oxfeldt, Nestingen, & Simonsen: «The July 21 Read: Petterson Out Stealing Horses Happiest People on Earth?» Topic: War and Men Simonson: «Fictions of Old Age Well- July 22 Read: Petterson Out Stealing Horses Being» Topic: Crime Fiction Meyhoff: «Digging into Secrets of the July 23 Read: Jo Nesbø The Redbreast excerpt Past» July 24 Student Presentations: History & Literature

Week 6 July Topic: WWII – Hjemmefrontsmuseum 27 July 28 Topic: Course summary and review O’Leary: «Language & Literature»

July 29 Final Exam

Reading List

Course books:

Students will read three texts in full – one play and two novels. These are:

 Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. (1879) o Translations by Erik Skuggevik are preferred – Penguin Classics, 2016 [ISBN 978- 0141194561] – but other English translations acceptable.  Petterson, Per. Out Stealing Horses. (2003) o Vintage Press, 2006 [ISBN 978-0099506133 (UK edition)] or Picador Press, 2008 [978- 0312427085 (US edition)]

www.summerschool.uio.no

 Vesaas, Tarjei. The Birds. o Peter Owen Publishers [ISBN 978-0720614947 (UK edition)] or Archipelago Books, 2016 [ISBN 978-0914671206 (US edition)]

Students must procure the three texts before classes begin. All students must have the course texts at the start of the course.

Compendium (required – ISS provides digital copy):

Course readers (compendia) consisting of selected poems, short stories, excerpts, and articles will be available on the first day of class, free of charge. The course compendium includes these texts:

Fosse, Jon. “Waves of Stone.” Best European Fiction Trans. Kerri A. Pierce. Ed. Aleksandar Hemon. London: Dalkey Archive Press, 2010. 213-221

Fosse, Jon. Someone Is Going to Come. Trans. Gregory Motton. London: Oberon Books, 2002. 11-36

Greenwald, Roger. “Introduction.” North in the World. Selected Poems of Rolf Jacobsen. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002. 13-28

Hamsun, Knut. Hunger. New York: Penguin, 1998. 3-29

Hermundsgård, Frode. Child of the Earth. Terjei Vesaas and Scandinavian Primitivism. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1989. 82-97

Hjorth, Vigdis. A House in Norway. Trans. Charlotte Barslund. London: Norvik Press, 2017. 9-34

Jacobsen, Rolf. “Poems”. The Silence Afterwards. Selected Poems of Rolf Jacobsen. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985. 19, 45, 113, 193, 227, 243

Knirk, James E. “Chapter 1: Old Norwegian Literature” A History of Norwegian Literature. Ed. Harald Næss. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993. 7-16.

Marstein, Trude. “Deep Need – Instant Nausea.” The Norwegian Feeling for Real. London: Harvill Press, 2005. 177-180

Meyhoff, Karsten Wind. “Digging into the Secrets of the Past: Rewriting History in the Modern Scandinavian Police Procedural.” Scandinavian Crime Fiction Ed. Andrew Nestingen & Paula Arvas. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2011. 62-73

Moe, Jørgen & Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen. “Folktales” Norwegian Folk Tales. From the Collection of Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe. Oslo: Dreyers forlag, 1960. 1-26.

Nesbø, Jo. The Redbreast. New York: Harper, 2000. 45-85

Obstfelder, Sigbjørn. “Jeg ser. / I look.” Anthology of Norwegian Lyrics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1942. 1-2

Parr, Maria. Astrid the Unstoppable. London: Walker Books, 2017. 11-53

Sandel, Cora. “A Mystery.” Selected Short Stories Seattle: Seal Press, 1985. 114-129

Shakar, Zeshan. “Excerpt from T.U.V.”. Trans. David M. Smith. Europe Now, 2018. 1-18.

Skram, Amalie. “Karen’s Christmas.” Slaves of Love and Other Norwegian Short Stories. Ed. James McFarland & Janet Garton. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. 9-15.

Solbakken, Elisabeth. “Women in Norwegian Literature and Society.” Redefining Integrity. Bern: Peter Lang, 1992. 37-43.

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Sturlasson, Snorre. “Hávamál” i Elder Edda. 13-27.

Sturlasson, Snorre. “Rigsthula” Elder Edda. 1-4.

Tønnessen, Elise Seip. “Except from Chapter 5: Trends in Norwegian Literature” Norway: Society and Culture. Ed. Eva Maagerø & Birte Simonsen. Kristiansand: Portal forlag, 2005. 78-94.

Ullmann, Linn. Before You Sleep. Trans. Tiina Nunnally. New York: Penguin, 1999. 1-37.

Undset, Sigrid. Kristin Lavransdatter. Trans. Tiina Nunnally. New York: Penguin Books, 2005. 1-2, 5-21, 1125-1126

Vars, Ellen Marie. “Boarding School.” Echo: Scandinavian Stories about Girls. Seattle: Women in Translation, 2000. 134-142

Vesaas, Terjei. Through Naked Branches. Selected Poems of Tarjei Vesaas. Ed. Roger Greenwald. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. 65, 89, 101, 115

Articles: Students will have access to articles when they have a UiO username and password.

Barkve, Marit. The Other Mother: Motherhood Tropes in Norwegian Diaspora Literature. Dissertation, U Wisconsin-Madison, 2018.

Berguson, Claudia. “Arrested in Parody: The Performance of Erlend Nikulaussøn in Kristin Lavransdatter.” Scandinavian Studies 83.1 (Spring 2011): 117-142. (article) http://www.jstor.org/stable/23075437

Boeninger, Stephanie Pocock. “Teacups and Butter: The Importance of Eating in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and The Wild Duck” Modern Drama 57.4 (Winter 2014): 451-468. (article) https://doi.org/10.3138/CART.0666

Kuokkanen, Rauna. “‘Survivance’ in Sami and First Nations Boarding School Narratives: Reading Novels by Kerttu Vuolab and Shirley Sterling.” American Indian Quarterly 27.3-7 (Summer-Autumn 2003): 697-726. (article) http://www.jstor.org/stable/4138969

Moi, Toril. “‘First and Foremost a Human Being”: Idealism, Theatre, and Gender in A Doll’s House” Modern Drama 49.3 (Fall 2006): 256-284. (article) https://doi.org/10.1353/mdr.2006.0083

Nikolajeva, Maria. “Recent Trends in Children's Literature Research: Return to the Body.” International Research in Children's Literature. 9.2 (2016): 132-145. (article) https://doi.org/10.3366/ircl.2016.0198

Nunnally, Tiina. “Removing the Grime from Scandinavian Classics: Translation as art restoration.” World Literature Today 80.5 (Sept-Oct 2006): 38-42. (article)

O’Leary, Margaret Hayford. «Chapter 7: Language and Literature» Culture and Customs of Norway. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2010. 97-120. (e-book) https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/oslo/reader.action?docID=678365&ppg=116

Oxfeldt, Elisabeth, Andrew Nestingen, Peter Simonsen. “The Happiest People on Earth?: Scandinavian Narratives of Guilt and Discontent.” Scandinavian Studies 89.4 (Winter 2017): 429-446. (article) https://muse.jhu.edu/article/693842

Rees, Ellen. “By the Open Sea: Ibsen’s Fruen fra havet and Fosse’s Nokon kjem til å komme.” Ibsen Studies 11.2 (2011): 192-222. (article) https://doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2011.610592

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Sabo, Anne. “The Status of Sexuality, Pornography, and Morality in Norway Today: Are the Critics Ready for Bjørneboe’s Joyful Inversion of Mykle’s Guilt Trip?” NORA – Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research 13.1 (2005): 36-47. (article) https://doi.org/10.1080/08038740510030407

Sandberg, Mark. “Writing on the Wall: The Language of Advertising in Knut Hamsun’s Sult” Scandinavian Studies 71.3 (Fall 1999): 265-296. (article) http://www.jstor.org/stable/40920148

Simonsen, Peter. “Per Petterson and Kirsten Thorup’s Fictions of Old Age Well-Being in the Welfare State.” Scandinavica: An International Journal of Scandinavian Studies 50.1 (2011): 27-46. (article)

Wilson, Catherine. “Capability and Language in the Novels of Tarjei Vesaas.” Philosophy and Literature 27.1 (April 2003): 21-39. (article) https://doi.org/10.1353/phl.2003.0034

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