Literature Jens Lohfert Jørgensen, Aalborg University

Literature Jens Lohfert Jørgensen, Aalborg University This survey covers the years 2010 and 2011 1. General Anne-Marie Mai, Hvor litteraturen finder sted, i: Fra Guds tid til menneskets tid 1000–1800, 2010, ii: Længslens tidsaldre 1800–1900, 2010, iii: Moderne tider 1900–2010, Gyldendal, 473, 294, 496 pp., presents an innovative approach to Danish literary history. It is structured around (some of) the sites where literature has historically taken place, in and outside the country: the cathedral, exemplified by Ribe cathedral; the manor house and the court, exemplified by Anne Krabbe’s Jutland manor Stenalt, and Frederik II’s and Christian IV’s courts respectively; the academy, exemplified by Sorø Academy; the vicarage and the salon, by Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundvig’s vicarage in Udby and Friederike Brun’s salon on Sophienholm; the newspaper office, by Politikens hus in Copenhagen; the metropolis, by New York; and finally the virtual site constituted by the internet, exemplified by www.afsnit.dk, which is the oldest Danish literary site on the internet. Though Ribe Cathedral and Sorø Academy, in particular, are cultural centres that connect the literature of different historical periods, in M.’s depiction each site represents one particular period: from the Middle Ages to the present day. This brings literature alive. The analysis of the cathedral, for instance, is introduced by a description of how the phenomenological perception of time and space changes when one steps inside. M. thereby presents the reader with a somatic experience of Danish literary history, which no critic has previously achieved. Hvor litteraturen finder sted stands apart from its predecessors by the theoretical level of reflection that characterizes it. In a separate chapter that concludes the second vol., M. gives an account of the development of Danish literary history writing, discusses innovations in international literary history in recent years; and explains the theoretical and methodological choices she has made. She finds inspiration for a new understanding of the relationship between literature and history in Paul Ricœur’s thesis that the human being needs the narrative to appropriate history, and in Mario Valdés’s attempt to operationalize this thesis in relation to literary history. In order to perceive the differences between the literary sites that have been dominant in shifting periods of history, she analyses them against the backdrop of various notions of place. She thus makes use of Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopias in relation to the discussion of the cathedral of the Middle Ages, of Edward S. Casey’s understanding of the Place-World in relation to the discussion of the manor houses and courts of the Renaissance, of Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of chronotopes in relation to the discussion the academy of the Enlightenment, and of Franco Moretti’s attempt, literally speaking, to map out literature in relation to the discussion of the vicarages and salons of the Romantic period. Such a level of theoretical reflection constitutes an inspiring challenge to coming literary historians. Hvor litteraturen finder sted must, however, be criticized in some respects. It is characterized by some odd choices, such as the positioning of the chapter on theoretical and methodological reflections at the end of the second vol., instead of at the beginning of the first vol. where it would be of more use to the reader. Certain site categories that have been of particular importance to generations of Danish authors are lacking, such as the Grand Tour through Europe. The most serious objection to the publication is that it presents Literature 409 the reader with a collection of exemplary readings that may be representative of Danish literary history, but that are far from comprehensive. Hvor litteraturen finder sted is too big an assignment for one person, and anyone but M. would have failed it. Dan Ringgaard, Stedssans, Aarhus U.P., 2010, 301 pp., displays a similar interest in the relationship between literature and place, but the form this interest takes differs significantly from M.’s work. In a personal, essayistic style that seeks to pose questions rather than answer them, R. investigates what we can learn about place from literature, in contrast, for instance, to the role of place in literature or literary places. The 18 short chapters of the book are structured around two discussions. The first takes the form of a critique of the anti-modern conception of place as immutable native soil, as formulated by Martin Heidegger in a lecture from 1954. By contrast, R. discusses place as a product, firstly, of historical changes; secondly, of the body’s sensory perception of it; and thirdly, of the forms of representation that it is mediated by. The second, structuring discussion is informed by the phenomenological philosopher Edward S. Casey’s differentiation between three ways of taking possession of a place: by becoming a part of it, by mapping it out, or by travelling to and from it. These discussions are the focus of the book, and the literary examples R. draws on inform them, rather than being the subject of them. These examples include works by Henrik Stangerup (98–112), Morten Søndergaard and Inger Christensen (140–52), Camilla Christensen, Niels Frank, Adda Djørup, Klaus Høeck and Lone Hørslev (153–69), Thomas Boberg (183–94), Carsten Jensen, Jens Martin Eriksen and Kristian Ditlev Jensen (195–210), Lars Frost (238–50), and Henrik Pontoppidan (251–65). The book, untraditionally, concludes with ten theses about place that sum up the plethora of literary and theoretical references it presents its reader with. 2. The Middle Ages General. Pil Dahlerup, Sanselig Senmiddelalder. Litterære perspektiver på danske tekster 1482–1523, Aarhus U.P., 2010, 560 pp., is a richly illustrated publication, dealing with the period that ended the Middle Ages and started the modern ages in Denmark: a period framed by two major cultural-political events, namely the publication of the first printed book in 1482, and King Christian II’s escape to the Netherlands in 1523, which kicked off religious debate. While socio-political historians, ecclesiastical historians, art historians and archaeologists have carried out extensive research in this period, it has only been dealt with superficially by literary historians owing to the dominance of religious and general educational writing. But if, in D.’s words, literature is defined loosely as ‘art made up of words’, the period boasts a plethora of interesting material. This is laid out in the introductory chapter ‘Genreprofil 1482–1523’ (19–47), in which the texts are divided into three general categories, namely genres of the church, genres of humanism (the debatable character of which D. addresses explicity) and genres of general piety and education. Based in the point of view that the Late Middle Ages are characterized by a high degree of mediation compared to the High Middle Ages — that is, an emphasis on the experience of divinity through concrete and down-to-earth manifestation, which involves all the senses — D. explores, in the following chapters, specific works and themes that have not hitherto been subject to in-depth analysis, and looks frequently to international examples. The book includes chapters on ‘Utopia’ conceived as a literary genre (48–91), historiographical texts (142–96), sermons, confessions, indulgences and Ars moriendi (198–266), intercessions (268–301), different varieties of prayers (302–44), so-called rosary texts (346–403), writings on saints, taking depictions of the life of St George as an example (404–42), and the many texts in various genres inspired by the myth of Mary Magdalene (444–81)..

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