Norwegian Studies

LITERATURE SINCE THE REFORMATION By MARIE WELLS, UniversityojCambridge

I. GENERAL S. Aa. Aarnes, Preveboringer i norsk litteratur. En litteraturhistorisk hjelpebok (U niv. i Bergen Nordisk lnstitutts Skriftserie, I 2), 0vre Ervik, Alvheim & Eide, I33 pp. (abbrev. Preveboringer). The I4 essays in this collection are unified, according to Aa., by an attempt to find a middle way between the literary-critical tradition in which he grew up and the approaches of the past 20 years. In opposition to the general trend in Norwegian literary criticism at the moment, many of the articles reflect Aa.'s interest in the writer behind the work, several more his desire to move beyond the nationalistic approach to literary criticism inherited from the I 9th c., while yet others reflect his interest in, and critical attitude towards, the division of literary history into periods which have now become established. T. Sverre, 'The barrenness of silence: the difficult heritage of mothers and daughters in Norwegian women's literature', Edda, 83:329-38, surveys the negative relation between mothers and daughters in ten novels from I854 to I974, and discovers that the main emphasis is on the daughters' attempts to free themselves from the roles imposed by their mothers.

2. THE SIXTEENTH TO NINETEENTH CENTURIES *Fra gamle dage. Memoarer, dagbeker, salmer og dikt av kvinner ca. I66o• I8oo, ed. E. Aasen, OBTUP, 392 pp. S. Aa. Aarnes, 'Omkring den dansk-norske felleslitteraturen', Preveboringer, pp. I g-24.

3· THE NINETEENTH CENTURY GENERAL Annegret Heitmann, *Noras Schwestem. Weibliche Hauptpersonen in Romanen miinnlicher Autoren des modernen Durchbruchs. Eine Untersuchung des Entwicklungsaspekts (EH, I, 534), I982, 202 pp., deals inter alia with Bj0rnson's Magnhild, Chr. Krohg's Albertine, Garborg's Hjaa ho mor and jonas Lie's Maisajons. I. Iversen, 'Kvinnelige litteraturkritikere og etableringen av en kvinneoffentlighet i I88o-ara', Norskrifl, 38: I- 83, describes how women critics of the I88os (most of whom had a radical or liberal orientation) assumed they were writing for women and thus angled their reviews to stress aspects relevant to female emancipation. I. then goes on to discuss their norms, their negative attitude to naturalism, and the reasons for this. Norwegian Studies

INDIVIDUAL AUTHORS BJ0RNSON, B. S. Aa. Aarnes, 'Bjernsons kritikerdebut', Preveboringer, pp. 3I-36, deals with his famous review of En Nytarsbog. A. Abret, 'U nveroffentliche Briefe von Albert Langen an B.B.', Skandinavistik, I3: I 23-38. I. Iversen, 'B.B. og kvinnens frigjering. Det skremmende og det pirrende', Vinduet, 37, no. 3:65-77, is an attempt to account for B.'s volte-face on the matter of women and sex, from advocating free love to requiring equal chastity of men and women before marriage. I. sees part of the reason for the about turn in the influence of the women's movements and their rejection of anything that could increase the danger of disease and illegitimate children, but part also in a possible castration complex. CHRISTENSEN, H. R. Eide, 'H. C. Doktordisputas ved Univ. i Oslo, november Ig8I', Edda, 83: I2~6, contains the contributions of the first opponent, Willy Dahl, and the second opponent, E. Steen, as well as Eide's reply. COLLETT, c. G. Myklebost, 'Er litteratur "spegling" eller "skap• ing"? Tanker kring omtalen av Amtmandens Dettre i Willy Dahls litteraturhistorie', NLA: 204-20. Dahl replies, ib., 22 I-23. GARBORG, A. P. T. Andersen, '"Alt er tomhed og en svimlende afgrund." Dekadense-problemet i A.Gs TrtEtte mtEnd', Edda, 83: 2 I 5-26. In opposition to P. Buvik's postscript to the novel in the new edition of G.'s collected works ( Ig8o), A. argues that TrtEtte mtEnd is a novel about decadence and is unique not only in G.'s fEUvre, but also in Norwegian literature. It is, he argues, decadent not only structurally and in plot (in that all the relationships break up), but also stylistically in that the all-pervasive irony is closely related to the breakdown ofbeliefin values that could bring coherence and meaning to life. J. Sjavik, 'Hulda Bergersen, A. G. and the rhetoric of Hjaa ho mor', ScSt, 55: I34-48, examines the part played by G.'s wife in the origins of the novel and then looks at the rhetoric - the means Margrethe uses to achieve security in her life, and then, aided and abetted by religion, her conditioning of Fanny to achieve the same ends. HAMSUN, K. J. Haganres, Nu god Nat min Ven. Pa Hs gjengrodde stier i Aurdal, Gmndahl, I g82, I 28 pp., gives a picture of the people and the district which H. visited in I885 and where he stayed when he wrote Viktoria. H. Dahl, Samtiden, 92, no. 3: 6I-65, prints hitherto unpub• lished letters from H. to Alf Mjeen. K. von See, 'Segen der Erde• Idylle oder Utopie', Skandinavistik, I3: I-8. 0. Rottem, 'Utopi pa leirf0tter', Norskrifl, 4I: I2-64, argues that H. is just as ambivalent in Markens grede as in his works from the I8gos, the ambivalence being shown in the pity he often shows towards lsak and his project, and