1 Arv Nordic Yearbook of Folklore 2018 2 3 ARVARV Nordic Yearbook of Folklore Vol. 74 Editor ARNE BUGGE AMUNDSEN OSLO, NORWAY Editorial Board Lene Halskov Hansen, København; Fredrik Skott, Göteborg; Suzanne Österlund-Poetzsch, Helsingfors (Helsinki); Terry Gunnell, Reykjavík Published by THE ROYAL GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS ACADEMY UPPSALA, SWEDEN Distributed by eddy.se ab VISBY, SWEDEN 4 © 2018 by The Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy, Uppsala ISSN 0066-8176 All rights reserved Articles appearing in this yearbook are abstracted and indexed in European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences ERIH PLUS 2011– Editorial address: Prof. Arne Bugge Amundsen Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages University of Oslo Box 1010 Blindern NO–0315 Oslo, Norway phone + 4792244774 fax + 4722854828 e-mail: [email protected] http://www.hf.uio.no/ikos/forskning/publikasjoner/tidsskrifter/arv/index.html Cover: Kirsten Berrum For index of earlier volumes, see http://www.gustavadolfsakademien.se/a Distributor eddy.se ab e-post:[email protected] Box 1310, 621 24 Visby Telefon 0498-25 39 00 http://kgaa.bokorder.se Printed in Sweden Textgruppen i Uppsala AB, Uppsala 2018 5 Contents Articles Line Esborg & Katrine Watz Thorsen: Editorial. New Perspectives on Scandinavian Skillingstrykk . 7 Siv Gøril Brandtzæg: Singing the News in the Eighteenth Century. A Media Perspective on Norwegian Skilling Ballads . 17 Astrid Nora Ressem: From Crowded Streets and Seasonal Fisheries to Remote Paths and Kitchens. The Trade in Skillingstrykk . 45 Kristiina Savin: Paintings in the Heart. Early Modern Swedish Broadside Ballads of Wonders and Accidents . 71 Östen Hedin: Songs in Swedish Volksbücher and Chapbook Stories . 87 Hans-Hinrich Thedens: Broadside Ballads and Singing Styles. Examples from the Norwegian Collection of Folk Music . 105 Karin Strand: With a Rough Piece of Twine. Skilling ballads on Malefactors: The Case of Brita Christina Wanselius 1827 . 123 Knut Aukrust: Life Prisoner and Master Thief: Constructions of a National Hero . 149 Book Reviews Andersson, Matts: Farbror Otto (Gunnar Ternhag) . 181 Bartens, Hans-Hermann: Tschuden und andere Feinde/Sagen aus Lapland (Ulrika Wolf-Knuts) . 183 Eriksson-Aras, Karin: Ljudrum (Dan Lundberg) . 184 Granbom-Herranen, Liisa: Proverbs in SMS messages (Wolfgang Mieder) . 189 Gustavsson, Anders: Folkloristic Studies in Scandinavia (Ulrika Wolf-Knuts) . 196 Havsteen-Mikkelsen, Mette Eriksen: Sømandskoner i Marstal (Anders Gustavsson) . 197 Hodne, Ørnulf: Påskefeiring i Norge (Anders Gustavsson) . 198 Jakobsson, Ármann: The Troll Inside You (Camilla Asplund Ingemark) . 201 Koudal, Jens Henrik: Skæbnesymfoni og krokodillepolka (Sigbjørn Apeland) . 202 6 Kristoffersen, Eirik: Kampen om folkeminnesamlingen (Göran Sjögård) . 205 Löfgren, Jakob: …And Death proclaimed (Tuomas Hovi) . 207 MacNeil, Kristina Sehlin: Extractive Violence (Trude Fonneland) . 211 Malmstedt, Göran: En förtrollad värld (Anders Gustavsson) . 212 Resløkken, Åmund Norum: ”Ein lut av det nære levande livet” (Anders Gustavsson) . 214 Röhrich, Lutz: Begegnungen (Bengt af Klintberg) . 216 Saarinen, Jukka: Runonlaulun poetiikka (Pekka Hakamies) . 217 Vahlo, Jukka: In Gameplay (Simon J. Bronner) . 219 Zachrisson, Terese: Mellan fromhet och vidskepelse (Anders Gustavsson) . 222 Editorial 7 Editorial New Perspectives on Scandinavian Skillingstrykk Line Esborg & Katrine Watz Thorsen Skillingstrykk are attracting renewed scholarly interest in contemporary Scandinavia, from a range of different disciplines (see Kjus 2010; Savin 2011; Nilsson 2012; Ramsten et al. 2015; Brandzæg 2018, Thorsen 2018). In the autumn of 2015, a collection of seemingly omitted prints was redis- covered in the Norwegian Folklore Archives1 at the University of Oslo; two shelf metres of Norwegian and other Scandinavian skillingstrykk, never fully catalogued or contextualized, waiting to be put to use anew. Implemented in the cultural history curriculum the following spring term, a whole range of new cultural history perspectives emerged through the BA student papers.2 At the same time the National Library initiated col- laboration on cataloguing the corpus of both institutions, sharing our re- newed interest in this valuable but long-neglected genre of popular printed songs. The institutional collaboration resulted in a seminar entitled “News and Entertainment, Gossip and Emotion” at the National Library, co- hosted by the Norwegian Folklore Archives on 15 March 2017.3 This spe- cial edition of Arv is a result of the interdisciplinary conversations emerg- ing from this seminar. Between Print and Oral Traditions As David Atkinson and Steve Roud have pointed out, the genre is an inter- face between print and oral traditions (Atkinson & Roud 2016), formerly disregarded as a popular genre by musicology and literary scholarship, while folklorists collecting folk poetry favoured age (epic medieval ballads) and orality. It could even be argued that “the potential dichotomy of oral vs. print goes to the very heart of folk song scholarship” (Roud 2016:5). The in- stitutional archival care during the centuries has varied, often labelled as ephemera or haphazard parts of other small print collections. The definition or name regarding this genre of folk songs is not straightforward. Skill- ingstrykk is a distinctive Scandinavian term which does not easily translate, whether in concept or format, in relation to the Anglophone tradition (broad- 8 Editorial side ballad). This edition of Arv is the first to address the problem of trans- lation. As a generic term, the Scandinavian skillingstrykk, refers to printed popu- lar narratives in verse, often in the form of sentimental and sensational songs (Strand in Ramsten et al. 2015:10). They are small printed pamphlets, often a folded single sheet of inexpensive paper with printed texts on each side. It would contain one or more often several songs, sometimes accompanied by a prose text describing the theme of the song in more depth. They were in circulation from the seventeenth century until the mid-twentieth century, al- though the bulk of preserved prints stems from 1870 to 1910. Although no longer in print, they are still sung. The title page often had a characteristic look. It would list how many bal- lads the pamphlet contained, often including long narrative titles that give a detailed impression of the themes of the ballads. They often took up a lot of the space on the title page, and could also contain an illustration. Especially prints concerning a news story have these more fact-based prose texts ac- companying the ballads. It is clear that these front pages are meant to double as a tool for advertising, and to underline the association with a news story (Nilsson 2012:34; Brandtzæg 2018:101–102). Another common feature is that each text is introduced by directions to a tune, instead of musical notes giving reference to a contemporary and famil- iar melody. This could also be a melody from a ballad that had proved es- pecially popular. The pamphlets were sold cheap, and the name skillingstrykk comes from this, they were sold for one or a few skilling.4 All texts that could be sold could become skillingstrykk; hence the wide range of themes within the gen- re. Skillingstrykk would offer news, entertainment, frightening tales, emo- tions and drama. The only common denominator is the way it was distribut- ed. They could be sold at markets, in the streets, and by travelling salesmen. The texts would describe crimes and royal weddings, clever crooks and regretful sinners. They were a source of news, as well as entertainment and educational messages. They could also offer love stories, religious mes- sages, convey moralizing thoughts and they could – often cautiously – pro- mote political satire, debate and societal criticism. The large editions and the growing purchasing public from the seven- teenth century onwards indicate that “amidst the story-telling and the folk- songs, reading and writing had entered the fabric of popular culture” (David Vincent in Roud 2016:3; see also Fet 1995; Briggs & Baumann 2009). Editorial 9 Heritage from Below As a genre and a medium, skillingstrykk made news, information, entertain- ment and gossip circulate within a society. The prints could move between centre and periphery, between high and low in society. They were objects of commodification, and at the same time being rewritten, collected, shared and borrowed. The form of the ballads made them easy to remember. They rhyme, there is a rhythm to them, a clear narrative and a schematic form. These factors made it easy to adapt them to different themes and topics, and to create different variants. The person selling would sing it, at the same time personalizing it, and underlining the performative aspects of this tradition. Skillingstrykk are arguably a source of great historic value, although ne- glected as historical documents (Thorsen 2018; Brandtzæg 2018). The songs they contain is part of the history of our musical heritage, but the prints are further more sources of knowledge on social and cultural history, the history of mentalities and of piety. They are a part of book and print his- tory, and at the same time providing historical knowledge about new forms of media of communication like “the digital revolution”. Yet these prints have been marginalized as an insignificant popular culture. The language is simple, the wording unsophisticated, sometimes with last-resort rhymes and awkward lyrics. The theme often filled with drama and emotions.