804 Norwegian Studies

IV. NORWEGIAN STUDIES*

LITERATURE SINCE THE REFORMATION By Øystein Rottem, Cand. phil., Copenhagen

1. General Harald Gaski, Skriftbilder. Samisk litteraturhistorie, Karasjok, Davvi girji, 1998, 69 pp. Id., ‘ ‘‘The secretive text’’: Yoik lyrics as literature and tradition’, Nordlit, Tromsø, 5 :3–28. Kaisa Lindbach, ‘Skjønnlittera- tur — et etnisk speil?’, ib., 55–72. Riita Kontio, ‘ ‘‘Midtimellom- fenomen’’ i Nordkalottens litteratur: Forfatteren ba˚de inne i og utenfor sentrum og marginal’, ib., 73–94. The contributions in Naturhistorier. Naturoppfatning, menneskesyn og poetikk i skandinavisk litteratur, ed. I. Lærkesen, H. Bache-Wiig, and A. Lombnæs, LNU–Cappelen Akademiske, 384 pp., track the view on and function of nature in Scandinavian literature from early folk tales up to the poems of Olav H. Hauge. The role of nature in the national mythography is very well examined by Gudleiv Bø, and in an article on the poetry of Romanticism, Alvhild Dvergsdal shows how inanimate nature is transformed into spiritual poetry. Included are also articles on Maurits Hansen, Bjørnson, and Skram (by Per Bache), Jonas Lie (by H. Bache-Wiig), Hamsun (by H. H. Wærp), and Olav Aukrust and Tarjei Vesaas (by Ole M. Høystad).

2. The Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries general Liv Bliksrud, Den smilende makten. Norske Selskab i København og Johan Herman Wessel, Aschehoug, 292 pp., is a popular, but nevertheless penetrating study of the ideology and aesthetics of the Norske Selskab in which B. takes a stand against an earlier understanding of the association as a predecessor of the patriotism of the 19th century. Of special interest is her examination of the relationship between love for the mother country and erotic motives in the writings of the society’s members.

* The place of publication of books is Oslo unless otherwise indicated. Literature since the Reformation 805 3. The Nineteenth Century general Jorunn Hareide, Skrivefryd og penneskrekk, LNU–Cappelen Akademiske, 213 pp., sheds light on autobiography as genre, focusing on five female writers, Camilla Collett, Hanna Winsnes, Gustava Kielland, Magdalene Thoresen, and Marie Wexelsen, and the psychological barriers they have to overcome to be able to express and understand themselves as writers. individual authors bjørnson. Aldo Keel, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. En biografi. 1880–1910, Gyldendal, 653 pp., is an excellent portrayal of the national hero par excellence of Norwegian literature. His private life, his public activities, the literary works, and not at least his political commitment are thoroughly examined and presented in a very readable way. The work provides much new information about the author and will be of great interest both to an academic audience and to a wider public, and must be considered as the standard work of Bjørnson scholarship. collett. Skrift, kropp og selv. Nytt lys pa˚ Camilla Collett, ed. J. Hareide, Emilia, 1998, 240 pp. hamsun. In Martin Humpa´l, The Roots of Modernist Narrative: Knut Hamsun’s Novels ‘Hunger’, ‘Mysteries’ and ‘Pan’, Solum, 1998, H.’s first great novels are analysed from a narratological point of view. The main point is that H. must be considered as an early forerunner of Modernism. Harald Næss, Knut Hamsuns brev 1925–1933, Gyldendal, 560 pp. The collection of articles in ‘Alles nur Kunst?’ Knut Hamsun zwischen A¨sthetik und Politik, ed. R. Wolfert, Berlin, Arno Spitz, 149 pp., stems from a symposium in Berlin in 1997. The most interesting contributions deal with the well-known issue concerning the relation- ship between the ideology and the aesthetics of H., and are written by such Hamsun experts as W. Baumgartner, H. Detering, G. Gumbert, and H. Uecker. Agora, 17:1–2, is a special issue dedicated to the work of H. It presents new and valuable readings of individual works as well as overall views on H.’s literary method and ideological points of view and contains: A. Linneberg, ‘Avantgardens andre ansikt: Ham- suns poetikk’ (4–20); H. H. Wærp, ‘Knut Hamsun som lyriker’ (21–38); B. Jager, ‘Melankoliska krypteringar i Sult’(39–66); E. B. Hansen, ‘Frihet, spatialitet og tekstualitet i Hamsun. Noen spekulas- joner om ‘‘Dronningen av Saba’’ ’, Børn av Tiden og Ringen sluttet’ (67–95); O. Synnes, ‘Mottakinga av Mysterier i samtida i Danmark og Noreg’ (96–124); A. Skaftun, ‘Nabobyen som diskursivt topos. Omkring Hamsuns sosialt situerte fortellerposisjon’ (125–50); L. H. Nesby, ‘Ironi og metafiksjonalitet i Siste Kapitel’(151–78); S. Dingstad,