Latest Contributions

2024/12/04 articles

Frederike Felcht & Katie Ritson

abstract:

A few highlights are enough to reveal the importance of the sea for the history of the North. The literature of the North shows that the sea also permeates the stories that were and are told in this region. Our Special Issue is dedicated to this relationship between the sea and Scandinavian literature, which emerged from a working group at the Arbeitstagung der Skandinavistik in Munich in 2022.

Marlene Hastenplug

abstract:

To this day, Hans Kirk's novel Fiskerne (1928, The Fishermen, 1999) is very popular in Denmark. It has also repeatedly aroused interest in literary studies: While it was read against the background of psychoanalysis and criticism of religion in the 1930s, Marxist literary criticism of the 1970s received it as an example of socialist literature. These two approaches focus on the inner life and social interaction of the characters ...

Jorge Ernesto Centeno Vilca

abstract:

Alexander Kielland’s first novel, Garman & Worse (1880), is considered today part of the Norwegian literary canon. Although the role of the ocean in this novel has already been analysed, most discussions limit themselves to its metaphorical dimension. This paper proposes a Marxist ecological reading of the novel.

Brandon Kaaz

abstract:

In this contribution, in the spirit of Blue Ecocriticism, the ocean in August Strindberg’s I havsbandet (1890, »By the Open Sea«) is given the space it claims in the novel. The contribution examines how the novel blurs the boundaries between the supposedly dichotomous categories of nature and culture. 

Radka Stahr

abstract:

This article examines the sea as a space for artistic performance in Karen Blixen's short stories, focusing on theatrical performances on the maritime stage.

Philipp Wagner

abstract:

The article presents Rakel Haslund Gjerrild’s novel Alle himlens fugle (2020) as a Scandinavian example of flood fiction, a genre that has been attracting scholarly attention in recent years.

Christine Hamm

abstract:

This article explores women’s relationship to the sea and contributes with a gender perspective to Humanistic Ocean studies. In Swedish author Sara Stridsberg’s novel Happy Sally (2004) and Norwegian author Inger Bråtveit’s Dette er også vatn (2018), the themes of motherhood and marriage are connected to the motif of swimming in the sea.

Guðrun í Jákupsstovu

abstract:

This article engages with discussion on literary imaginaries and Anthropocene scales, by examining the Norwegian narrative nonfiction text Shark Drunk: The Art of Catching a Large Shark in a Tiny Rubber Dinghy in a Big Ocean (2017), by Morten Strøksnes. 

Sissel Furuseth

abstract:

Based on a literary analysis of Marit Eikemo’s reportage essay Alt søkk i havet (»Everything sinks into the Sea«), the article shows how Norwegian sources might be valuable for international research on urbanized seascapes.

2024/11/08 Report

Hannah Michalla, Laura Schönhärl & Marie-L. Westfeld

The workshop “Queer\ing Scandinavia: Traditional Topics, Recent Research and Current Concerns”, which took place from November 27-28 2023 in Greifswald, was aimed at students and researchers alike and aimed to address queer topics in Scandinavia. With a focus on current research projects and discussions on theoretical perspectives and challenges, the aim of the workshop was to facilitate encounters.

2024/11/08 reviews

Yohann Aucante: The Swedish Experiment. The COVID-19 Response and its Controversies. Bristol: Bristol UP 2022, 184 S. // Sigurd Bergmann, Martin Lindström (eds): Sweden’s Pandemic Experiment. London/New York: Routledge 2022, 332 S. // SOU 2022:10: Sverige

Sven Jochem

Michael Paul: Der Kampf um den Nordpol. Die Arktis, der Klimawandel und die Rivalität der Großmächte. Freiburg: Herder 2022, 288 S.

Nikolas Sellheim

2024/11/08 article

Antje Wischmann

abstract:

This article examines the library architecture of the Deichman Bjørvika Library (DBO, 2020) in Oslo, with a particular focus on the structural effects on user behaviour and social interactions. The marvelling visitors are asked to position
themselves both in the concrete experience of the place and in terms of social space. The library’s offerings are structurally similar to those of a shopping mall, and visitors’ usage behavior is ...

2024/04/25 reviews

Fabrizio Tassinari: The Pursuit of Governance. Nordic Dispatches on a New Middle Way. Newcastle upon Tyne: Agenda Publishing 2022, 185 S.

Sven Jochem

Anna Bohlin, Tiina Kinnunen, Heidi Grönstrand (Hgg.): Nineteenth-Century Nationalisms and Emotions in the Baltic Sea Region. The Production of Loss. National Cultivation of Culture, Vol. 25. Leiden: Brill 2021, 382 S.

Judith Meurer-Bongardt

Dörte Linke: Reflexionen und Verwebungen. Wechselwirkungen von ›Natur‹ und ›Mensch‹ in der deutschen und dänischen Gegenwartsliteratur. Berliner Beiträge zur Skandinavistik, Band 30. Berlin: Nordeuropa- Institut 2021, 530 S.

Frederike Felcht

Jolanta Aidukaite, Sven E. O. Hort & Stein Kuhnle (Hgg.): Challenges to the Welfare State. Family and Pension Policies in the Baltic and Nordic Countries. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 2021, 320 S.

Sven Jochem

Robert von Lucius: Max Tau. Schildknappe der Literatur – Erster Friedenspreisträger. Jüdische Miniaturen, Band 308. Berlin/Leipzig: Hentrich & Hentrich 2023, 88 S.

Ulrich Brömmling

Philip Kraut: Die Arbeitsweise der Brüder Grimm. Stuttgart: S. Hirzel Verlag 2023, 353 S.

Tim Lüthi

Mathilde Fasting, Øystein Sørensen: The Norwegian Exception? Norway’s Liberal Democracy Since 1814, London: Hurst Publishers 2021, 278 S.

Sven Jochem

2024/04/25 article

Joachim Schiedermair

abstract:

In the 2024 editorial, Joachim Schiedermair looks at contemporary iconoclasm and compares icons of literature and activism: Norwegian Nobel Prize winner Jon Fosse and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg

2023/12/31 annotation

Bernd Henningsen (Hg.): Nordeuropa. Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Studium. Baden- Baden: Nomos 2023, 947 S.

Marie-Theres Federhofer

2023/12/31 article

Fanny Ambjörnsson

abstract:

This essay is an attempt to critically and carefully discuss the concept of development. Drawing on a personal biography written about my little sister Nadja, severely disabled since birth but gifted with skills seldomly counted as important in our contemporary society, I use queer temporality theory to investigate what a life like Nadja’s can teach us about growing sideways rather than up, living in circles rather than fast forward and ...

2023/10/04 Report

Balduin Landolt, Eline Elmiger, Madita Knöpfle, Nora Kauffeldt & Sven Kraus

The workshop »Digital Research in Old Norse Studies: Data Management and Infrastructure Needs« was held at the University of Basel from 5th to 8th October 2022, bringing together renowned experts in Digital Old Norse Studies and research institutions to discuss the potential and challenges of the field’s digitization. The workshop aimed to identify common problems and discuss possible future collaborations. Discussions focused on various ...

2023/10/04 annotations

Marie-Theres Federhofer, Sabine Meyer (Hgg.): Mit dem Buch in der Hand. Beiträge zur deutsch-skandinavischen Buch- und Bibliotheksgeschichte. / A Book in Hand. German- Scandinavian Book and Library History. Berliner Beiträge zur Skandinavistik, Band 31. Berlin: Nordeuropa-Institut 2021, 327 S.

Sarah Timme

Patrick Ledderose: Dramatische Zeiten. Zeitkonzepte in skandinavischen Theatertexten um 1900 und 2000. Nordica, Band 28. Baden-Baden: Rombach Wissenschaft 2021, 391 S.

Knut Ove Arntzen

2023/10/04 review

Mattias Legnér: Värden att värna. Kulturminnesvård som statsintresse i Norden vid tiden för andra världskriget. Göteborg/Stockholm: Makadam 2022, 450 S.

Arne Segelke

2023/07/24 annotation

Clemens Räthel (Hg.): Den Ädelmodiga Abbedissan / Die edelmütige Äbtissin. Berliner Beiträge zur Skandinavistik, Band 28. Berlin: Nordeuropa-Institut 2021, 245 S.

Patrizia Huber

2023/07/24 reviews

Philipp Wagner: Chronotopische Insularitäten. Zur Inseldarstellung in den skandinavischsprachigen Literaturen um 1900 und der Gegenwart. Wien: Praesens 2022, 253 S.

Judith Meurer-Bongardt

Katharina Bock: Philosemitische Schwärmereien: Jüdische Figuren in der dänischen Erzählliteratur des 19. Jahrhunderts. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto 2021, 264 S.

Helena Březinová

Tim van Gerven: Scandinavism: Overlapping and Competing Identities in the Nordic World, 1770–1919. Leiden/Boston: Brill 2022, 427 S.

Bernd Henningsen

Andreas Klein: Early Modern Knowledge about the Sámi. A History of Johannes Schefferusʼ Lapponia (1673). Hannover: Wehrhahn 2023, 388 S.

Solveig Marie Wang

2023/04/29 Reports

Valerie Broustin & Kathrin Dreymüller

The Überregionale Promovierendentagung der Skandinavistik offers doctoral candidates at any stage of their doctoral studies a protected space in which their own projects can be presented and discussed. The lectures come from of the field and thus also offer the opportunity to gain insight into topics outside of one's own focus. In addition, the conference also serves as an opportunity to learn about working and research ...

Sebastian Schindlbeck

Like its predecessors, this year's DACH-Studierendentagung der Skandinavistik aimed to promote exchange between the various institutes and departments within German-speaking Scandinavian Studies. For this reason, and in order to offer the participants of the conference as broad a stage as possible for their current projects and interests, it was deliberately decided not to prescribe a general conference theme. This goal of a free ...

2023/04/29 reviews

Jani Marjanen, Johan Strang, Mary Hilson (eds.): Contesting Nordicness. From Scandinavism to the Nordic Brand. Berlin & Boston: de Gruyter Oldenbourg 2021, 254 S. // Haldor Byrkjeflot, Lars Mjøset, Mads Mordhorst, Klaus Petersen (eds): The Making and Circulation of Nordic Models, Ideas and Images. Abingdon & New York: Routledge 2022, 290 S.

Sven Jochem

Rasmus Glenthøj, Morten Nordhagen Ottosen: Union eller undergang. Kampen for et forenet Skandinavien. København: Gads Forlag 2021, 631 S.

Sven Jochem

2023/04/29 articles

Frederike Felcht & Clemens Räthel

abstract:

NORDEUROPAforum celebrates its 25th anniversary as a scholarly journal in 2023. Frederike Felcht and Clemens Räthel look back at the beginnings and summarize current editorial developments.

Steffen Werther

abstract:

This article analyses knowledge production about itinerant groups such as Nightmen, Roma and Travellers in Denmark between 1800 and 1950. It puts forward the thesis of a Danish Sonderweg in this regard, not only compared with Germany, but also the Scandinavian neighbours. This Sonderweg was characterized by an underdeveloped interest of science and state authorities for respective groups and culminated into a rejection of forced ...

2022/11/30 review

Annegret Heitmann: »The Whole World«. Globalität und Weltbezug im Werk Karen Blixens / Isak Dinesens. Baden-Baden: Rombach Wissenschaft 2021, 258 S.

Frederike Felcht

2022/08/29 annotations

Hanna Eglinger: Nomadisch-Ekstatisch-Magisch. Skandinavischer Arktisprimitivismus im ausgehenden 19. und beginnenden 20. Jahrhundert, Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink 2021, 354 S.

Dag Heede

Frank Decker, Bernd Henningsen, Marcel Lewandowsky, Philipp Adorf (Hrsg.): Aufstand der Außenseiter. Die Herausforderungen der europäischen Politik durch den neuen Populismus, Baden-Baden: Nomos 2022, 690 S.

Sven Jochem

2022/06/08 articles

Toni Lahtinen & Juha Raipola

abstract:

The five research articles published in this special issue of NORDEUROPAforum were originally presented as papers at the third workshop of the Ecocritical Network for Scandinavian Studies (ENSCAN), which had the overarching theme of »Environmental Change in Nordic Fiction«. Held in Tampere, Finland, in November 2019, the workshop provided a platform for scholars to discuss how environmental issues are represented in Nordic ...

Daniel Chartier

abstract:

Indigenous cultures have an integrated relationship with nature, and do not view it in opposition to culture, nor do they consider humans as separate from the environment. For example, the concepts of nuna and sila and the figure of Sedna, at the basis of the traditional Inuit thought, decenter the role of humans in the living world. In 2009, Greenlandic author Lana Hansen published a »tale about climate change«, Sila . ...

Henning Howlid Wærp

abstract:

The novels of the Norwegian Nobel Prize winner Knut Hamsun can be seen as an ongoing discussion with modernity. In some parts his critique is reactionary, in other parts worth listening to. This article deals with his Segelfoss novels, Hamsun’s satirical representation of the commodity trade within the emerging capitalist market and the role of the consumer. The novels may be read as early and thought-provoking contributions to the ...

Markku Lehtimäki

abstract:

The essay studies Ulla-Lena Lundberg’s novel Ice , the story of which depicts the changing seasons and the formation of sea ice in the Åland archipelago. In the narrative, ice takes both mental and physical dimensions, and the analysis focuses on the workings of fictional minds in their specific natural and social environments. It is argued that nature both inspires and informs human experience and meaning making, even as it resists ...

Per Esben Myren-Svelstad

abstract:

The article presents an analysis of Urd by Ruth Lillegraven and Heime mellom istidene by Guri Sørumgård Botheim. These two works of poetry are studied from an ecocritical perspective primarily inspired by Timothy Morton’s concept of dark ecology and Timothy Clark’s idea of the Anthropocene. The main focus of the analysis is how the poems depict feelings of familiarity between modern humans, their ancestors, and ...

Thorunn Gullaksen Endreson

abstract:

Norwegian contemporary climate fiction often portrays humans as in denial of climate change. In Erlend Nødtvedt’s transgressive novel Vestlandet (2017), an alternative story is presented. In contrast to conventional climate change denial, the two protagonists turn the situation upside down and literally celebrate death and climate change and the exceptional Western Norwegian »sublime« landscape. Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s ...

2022/04/01 review

Birgitta Almgren: Inte bara spioner. Stasi-infiltration i Sverige under kalla kriget. Stockholm: Carlsson Bokförlag 2021, 384 S.

Alexander Muschik

2022/04/01 articles

Øystein Sjåstad

abstract:

This article is about the Swedish daily comic strip Rocky by Martin Kellerman. The article views Rocky as an example of autofiction due to Kellerman’s use of an anthropomorphic cartoon self and the daily comic strip’s narrative structure. One of the article’s goals is to show how the daily comic strip as a medium creates an original day-to-day space for exploring a life story.

Anna Sandberg

abstract:

Anna Sandberg from the University of Copenhagen looks back at 2021 and the formative events in Danish education policy: society debates the need for German and German language skills, there are to be cuts at universities as part of reforms, and the international community protests against the proposal to cut the Danish »Lectureship Scheme«.

2021/12/30 articles

Marie-Theres Federhofer & Dörte Linke

abstract:

»It’s still a question of whether it’s a kind of crime – reading so much human into nature. Whether it’s our fate to do so.« In these lines from her novel Om mørke (2013), the Danish author Josefine Klougart alludes to one of the most important questions of our time: how might a responsible relationship be shaped between humans and nature? Is it possible to correct and rethink anthropocentric points of view that subjugate ...

Reinhard Hennig

abstract:

The notion that through human activity, the earth has entered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, is increas- ingly recognized in science and the public sphere. This article asks by what aesthetic means literary fiction, against the backdrop of this transition, contributes to a rethinking of the relations between non-human nature and human culture, human biological and geological time, the human individual and the human species, and ...

Dörte Linke

abstract:

The following essay examines the idea of »interconnectedness«, which plays an important role particularly where new relationships between people and natural phenomena and an embedding of humans in complex life-nexuses are at stake. The approaches of two thinkers from posthumanist feminist theory, Rosi Braidotti and Donna Haraway, are discussed in relation to their thinking about interconnectedness and subjectivity. Some problematic issues ...

Sissel Furuseth

abstract:

The article calls attention to how snow and ice are embodied as grievable entities in Nordic 21st century climate  change fiction, arguing that contemporary fiction is a valuable apparatus for processing ecological mourning. The  author draws theoretically on Ashlee Cunsolo’s work on ecological grief, while the overarching research question  is how scientific warnings about global warming and shrinking cryosphere are dealt ...

Maike Teubner

abstract:

The series Svalbard (2014) by Norwegian photographer Mette Tronvoll (*1965) consists of analogue portrait and landscape photographs taken in Ny-Ålesund – an international research base on Spitsbergen (Norwegian: Svalbard). By means of art-historical, single-work analysis, this article examines the sequence of twenty large-format colour photographs, which has received little scholarly attention to date. Background information about ...

Anna Christina Harms

abstract:

Nature and closeness to nature are two motifs that are often used in literary depictions or descriptions of the Sámi. This article researches the question of whether, in the book Zeichen der Zerstörung by Sámi author Kirsti Paltto, nature as a literary means is used to create or support a certain public image of the Sámi. The article will focus on  the elements of duottar (fell), sieidegeađgi (sieidi stone), ...

2021/12/14 review

Bernd Henningsen: Die Welt des Nordens – Zwischen Ragnarök und Wohlfahrtsutopie: Eine kulturhistorische Dekonstruktion. Berlin: Berliner Wissenschaftsverlag 2021, 504 S.

Sten Berglund

2021/12/14 article

Antje Wischmann

abstract:

This contribution presents Gunnar Björling’s method style and proposes this term as a reasonable alternative to the terms author’s, personal or signature style. It emphasises that the writing styles and themes of Björling’s complete lyrical oeuvre cannot be examined separately. Rather, the how and what of the presentation permeate one another. Björling’s poems form a comprehensive oeuvre. They are famous for their expressive ...

2021/11/01 article

Parasitäres Text-Theater - Peter Høegs Rejse ind i et mørkt hjerte als poetologische Reflexion

Patrick Ledderose

abstract:

Rejse ind i et mørkt hjerte is probably one of Peter Høeg’s most extensively analysed stories. In addition to post-colonial readings, intertextual analyses have so far predominated. This essay chooses a novel approach by reading Høeg’s text as a poetological reflection. It focuses on a key metaphor of the story that shapes the metafictional discourse: the theatre. The aim is to show that the text »parasitically« uses the theatre to ...

2021/10/21 review

Jana Rüegg: Nobelbanor: Svenska förlags utgivning av översatta Nobelpristagare i litteratur sedan 1970. Uppsala: Uppsala universitet, avdelningen för litteratursociologi 2021, 281 S.

Elisabeth Böker

2021/10/12 reviews

Aasta M.B. Bjørkøy, Rut Hemstad, Aina Nøding, Anne Birgitte Rønning (Red.): Litterære verdensborgere. Transnasjonale perspektiver på norsk bokhistorie 1519–1850. Oslo: Nasjonalbibliotek 2019, 243 S.

Schmidt, Michael

Benedikt Jager: Seehundspeck und Hundeschlitten. Alfred Otto Schwede als Übersetzer des skandinavischen Nordens. Skandinavistik. Sprache – Literatur – Kultur. Bd. 13. Münster/Berlin: LIT-Verlag 2019, 256 S.

Hastenplug, Marlene

Kathrin Hubli: Kunstprojekt (Mumin-)Buch. Tove Janssons prozessuale Ästhetik und materielle Transmission. Beiträge zur Nordischen Philologie. Tübingen: Narr/Francke/Attempto 2019, 183 S.

Antje Wischmann

Bernd Brunner: Die Erfindung des Nordens. Kulturgeschichte einer Himmelsrichtung. Berlin: Galiani 2019, 318 S.

Christian Berrenberg

Torsten Graap, Auður H. Ingólfsdóttir, Lau Øfjord Blaxekjær (eds.): The Future of the North – Sustainability in Nordic Countries. Analysis and Critical Comparison. Marburg: Metropolis 2020, 441 S.

Sven Jochem

2021/07/13 Report

Paul Greiner & Clemens Räthel

Der Wunsch, das hundertjährige Jubiläum der Grenzrevision zwischen Deutschland und Dänemark – abseits von Festakten – für eine interdisziplinäre Auseinandersetzung mit Grenzfragen zu nutzen, bildete den Ausgangspunkt der von der Fritz Thyssen Stiftung geförderten Tagung »Grenz\Raum – Grænse\Region«. Dass diese dreitägige Konferenz, als Start in ein Jahr voller geplanter Jubiläums- und Gedenkveranstaltungen, Kongresse und ...

2021/07/13 reviews

Rudolf Tempsch: Aus den böhmischen Ländern ins skandinavische Volksheim. Sudetendeutsche Auswanderung nach Schweden 1938–1955. Herausgegeben von Krister Hanne und Stefan Troebst. Moderne europäische Geschichte, Bd. 6. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2018

Izabela A. Dahl

Astrid Hansen: Flensburg. Kleine Stadtgeschichte. Regensburg: Verlag Anton Pustet 2020, 160 S.

Manfred Henningsen

Jan Alexander van Nahl, Astrid van Nahl: Skandinavistische Mediävistik. Einführung in die altwestnordische Sprach- und Literaturgeschichte. Hamburg: Buske 2019, 234 S.

Tim Lüthi

Bent Holm: Ludvig Holberg – A Danish Playwright on the European Stage. Masquerade, Comedy, Satire. Wien: Hollitzer Verlag 2019, 265 S.

Clemens Räthel

2021/07/13 article

Ralph Tuchtenhagen

abstract:

Anniversary dates and centenary years carry a slight smack of atavism. Not even humanities scholars, situated as they are between faith in the Creator of time and, in the modern era especially, a heightened reverence for human calendarisation, are wholly free from the magic of historical commemorations; after all, these offer common ground for meeting the wider community where it feels at ease, namely to greet the regulated Return of the ...

2020/12/30 articles

Courtney Marie Burrell

abstract:

Otto Höfler’s research on Männerbünde (men’s bands or men’s societies) has stimulated critical scholarly discussion on not only the existence of Germanic Männerbünde but also the concept of cultural continuity, the relationship between ritual and myth and historical representations of masculinity. Höfler’s research has also found resonance, though, in facets of ...

Andreas Schmidt

abstract:

The article analyses the reception of Old Norse motifs in the literary concept of the Black Metal band Helrunar, which differs greatly from the usual adaptations in Metal culture. Helrunar understand Old Norse myth as a culturally grounded net of metaphorical modes of speaking, the myths becoming the working ground of an artistic programme aimed at borrowing and re-arranging ...

Christine Amling

abstract:

Unarguably, Robert E. Howard's Conan-stories are products of popular culture. They are part of a pulp series that focuses on mass production and economic sales strategy. Taking this into account, it becomes obvious that Howard’s fictional space of the North as Conan's place of origin refers to known clichés and concepts in order to attract a large body of readers. The North ...

Helene Peterbauer

abstract:

The following article provides a contribution to the discussion about the Arctic identity of Norway and the Norwegian identity of Svalbard – which is already at an advanced stage in other research areas – through a comparative-chronological review of prose literature presenting a protagonist on Svalbard and mainly written by Norwegian authors. The article will furthermore ...

Jennifer Grünewald

abstract:

On the German book market, Scandinavian crime novels are seemingly the only publications that are presented and marketed as a homogenous, geographically defined category. As it grows increasingly obvious that this category, rather than being constituted by its content, is produced artificially, this article analyses the marketing tools on the book jacket: title and cover ...

Niels Penke

abstract:

This article envisages discussing the popularity and the persistency of dominant images of the sublime North. While media and their capabilities have undergone severe changes in the two decades since 2000, the number of images is increasing and the possibilities of their distribution has become more accessible. Nevertheless, the contemporary imagery of the North, its underlying ...

Niels Penke

abstract:

North is everywhere. This applies both to navigation and to the cultural phantasm of the »North«. Whether Nordic myths or specifically »Nordic« landscapes and their semantization - they are globally widespread. In heavy metal texts and fantasy novels, computer games and Netflix series, crime novels and comics, in lifestyle guidebooks and on advertising posters, images of the North are shaped and sometimes attract a great deal of ...

Daniela Hahn

abstract:

This article compares two audiobooks, (re)published in 2011, based on the Old Norse Brennu-Njáls saga. An overview of the various audio editions of Old Norse material in the German audiobook market will be given, along with a brief insight into the field of audiobook research. Afterwards, the inquiry will turn to the means by which the two very different audiobooks approach the medieval saga. While the first project is a strictly arranged ...

2020/10/05 review

Edvard Munch gesehen von Karl Ove Knausgård. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein- Westfalen, Düsseldorf 2019. 183 S. Karl Ove Knausgård: So viel Sehnsucht auf so kleiner Fläche. Edvard Munch und seine Bilder. Aus dem Norwegischen von Paul Berf. München 2019. 286 S.

Ulrich Brömmling

2020/10/04 Report

Janke Klok

The seminar was conceived as a prelude to the celebration of the 250th birthday of Henrik Steffens (1773-1845) in Stavanger in 2023 and took place within the framework of Kapittel, Stavanger's annual international festival of literature and freedom of expression (September 18-22, 2019).

2020/04/09 Report

Esha Sil

This report offers an analytical overview of the interdisciplinary conference »The ›Great White North‹? Critical Perspectives on Whiteness in the Nordics and its Neighbours«, held at the University of Helsinki in August 2019. It considers how the conference scrutinised the relational dynamic of »whiteness and otherness« in the Nordics, engaging with complex questions of ...

2020/04/09 annotation

Marco L. Petersen (Hg.): Sønderjylland – Schleswig. Kolonialismens kulturelle arv i regionen mellem Kongeåen og Ejderen. Das kulturelle Erbe des Kolonialismus in der Region zwischen Eider und Königsau. Syddansk Universitetsforlag, Odense 2018, 483 S.

Bernd Henningsen

2020/04/09 review

Katharina Fürholzer: Das Ethos des Pathographen. Literatur- und medizinethische Dimensionen von Krankenbiographien. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter 2019, 286 S.

Merle Weßel

2020/04/09 articles

Marie-Theres Federhofer

abstract:

Henrik Steffens’ first scientific book publication, Udkast til en Lærebog i Botaniken (1794), was the translation of a botanical classic of the late 18th and early 19th century, Carl Ludwig Willdenow’s Grundriss der Kräuterkunde (1792). Based on this translation, the present article explores Steffens’ position as natural scientist between Enlightenment and Early Romanticism. On the one hand, Steffens is indebted to the scientific ...

Joachim Grage

abstract:

Collective remembering is enacted, as we know, in the rhythm of chronological time. Anniversaries and landmark jubilees are needed for the collective commemoration of important historical events or of figures feted as special by a given community or culture. In Germany, 2020 is not only the year of Beethoven, Hölderlin and Hegel (marking the 250th birthday of each), but also the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration ...

2019/12/23 articles

Rebecca Merkelbach

abstract:

Monsters have always been recognised as transgressive boundary-walkers, whose hybrid bodies combine things that are normally kept separate: formed of human and animal parts, of nature and culture, they operate at the intersection of seemingly opposing forces. The Sagas of Icelanders, however, focus less on hybrid bodies, instead foregrounding socially transgressive and ...

Andreas Schmidt

abstract:

The article subjects the so-called Færeyinga saga to a reading on the grounds of the theory of »the third«, arguing that this concept can help elucidate narrative ambiguity in Saga literature. It can be shown that in Færeyinga saga, »third« elements cross the binarisms of its outer structure, which have been in the focus of scholars up to now. Adverse figures show ...

Mathias Kruse

abstract:

Being part of the ›Third‹, the »Half-giant« (hálfrisi, hálftrǫll) or »mixed-blood« (blendingr) for which Old Norse has a puzzling variety of expressions appears in many Icelandic tales. It is not only part of the ancestry of Scandinavian rulers but characterizes – as an ally or as a villain – the storyline of many a saga by taking a role he is qualified for by ...

Anita Sauckel & Jan Alexander van Nahl

abstract:

The model of the "Threeness" has been constantly changing throughout history, and in the 20th century it led to a plurality of "the third", which is of great importance for society and culture. In Scandinavian medieval studies, this perspective of the "third" was previously limited to the ambivalent figure of the "trickster", but an interest developed in expanding this perspective as in modern literature. This question was discussed at the ...

2019/11/13 review

Marjaliisa Hentilä, Seppo Hentilä: 1918 – Das deutsche Finnland. Die Rolle der Deutschen im finnischen Bürgerkrieg. Scoventa 2018, 430 S.

Merle Weßel

2019/05/15 annotation

Clemens Räthel: Wie viel Bart darf sein? Jüdische Figuren im skandinavischen Theater. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto 2016, 389 S.

Frederike Felcht

2019/04/26 reviews

Ulla Carlsson, David Goldberg (Hgg.): The legacy of Peter Forsskål. 250 years of freedom of expression. Göteborg: Nordicom 2017, 149 S.

Bernd Henningsen

Jana Sinram: Pressefreiheit oder Fremdenfeindlichkeit? Der Streit um die Mohammed-Karikaturen und die dänische Einwanderungspolitik. Frankfurt am Main: Campus 2015, 380 S.

Bernd Henningsen

2019/04/18 article

Hanna Eglinger

abstract:

The visibility of Scandinavia is manifested in various forms. We were well aware that Denmark was one of the world’s happiest countries, featuring in first place in theWorld Happiness Report for years (even though it has since been topped by Norway), but last year was Sweden’s turn for special visibility – although not under the sign of thehygge or lagom cult, of contentment or of happiness, but rather in connection with the government ...

2018/12/31 review

Henrik Rosengren: Fünf Musiker im Schwedischen Exil. Nazismus – Kalter Krieg – Demokratie (Musik im Dritten Reich und im Exil), Neumünster: Bockel Verlag 2016, 439 S.

Ulrich Wilker

2018/11/06 article

Matthias Egeler

abstract:

The contribution analyses how the late medieval Harðar saga uses place-names as literary devices. It proposes that toponyms are employed not only to locate plot elements, but also for purposes of subversion, the dropping of keywords then taken up by the narrative in an often grotesque and ironic fashion, the creation of an (again, typically ironic) subtext, and the evocation of physical topographies and their visual appearance in the context ...

2018/11/05 review

Über die nordischen Demokratien: David Arter: Scandinavian Politics Today / Oddbjørn Knutsen (ed.): The Nordic Models in Political Science. Challenged but still Viable? / Peter Nedergaard, Anders Wivel: The Routledge Handbook of Scandinavian Politics

Sven Jochem

2018/11/05 article

Judith Meurer-Bongardt

abstract:

In the first part of this article the concept of utopia and the field of bio-politics are brought together from a historical and a theoretical perspective. In addition to that, two terms are discussed: »heterotopia« and »the figure of the third«. With help of these terms, it is possible to show how recent utopian / dystopian literature succeeds not only to criticise its own time but also to reveal a positive potential for the future. In ...

2018/09/06 reviews

Marjatta Hietala: Finnisch-deutsche Wissenschaftskontakte. Zusammenarbeit in Ausbil-dung, Forschung und Praxis im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, Berliner Wissenschaftsverlag, 2017, 308 S.

Malte Gasche

Marit Bergner: Henrich Steffens. Ein politischer Professor in Umbruchzeiten 1806-1819, Frankfurt am Main: PL Academic Research 2016, 414 S.

Clemens Räthel

2018/06/05 review

Klaus Müller-Wille: Sezierte Bücher. Hans Christian Andersens Materialästhetik, Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink 2017, 373 S.

Frederike Felcht

2018/06/05 article

Reinhard Henning

abstract:

Knut Hamsun’s novel Markens grødehas been interpreted as advocating a simple and sustainable life in harmony with nature. However, when read retrospectively against the background of human-made environmental changes that have brought the planet into a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, Markens grødecannot be considered an ecological text. What the novel actually delivers is a narrative of constant progress and growth, without ...

2018/04/03 review

Andreas Bergh, Gissur Ó. Erlingsson, Richard Öhrvall, Mats Sjölin: A Clean House? Studies of Corruption in Sweden, Lund: Nordic Academic Press 2016, 160 S.

Sven Jochem

2018/04/03 article

Bernd Henningsen

abstract:

I was recently brought up short by this sentence: »The people of the North have a great talent for music.«

Well now, who would wish to dispute that – or the staggering banality of the statement, for that matter. I shall make no secret of its source, for it carries considerable and substantial explanatory weight: it is a sentence from a pamphlet issued by the High Command of the Wehrmacht and distributed to German soldiers from 1941: ...

2017/12/29 review

Tuula Karjalainen: Tove Jansson. Die Biografie, Stuttgart: Urachhaus 2014, 352 S.

Inken Dose

2017/10/22 article

Bo Petersson & Lena Kainz

abstract:

Migration-related events have received overwhelming attention in mainstream media coverage within Europe in recent years. This study investigates the metaphorical framing of migration issues by comparing dominant discursive patterns from two national and two regional daily newspapers in Sweden and Germany. Applying a corpus-based critical metaphor analysis, the spotlight falls on metaphors prevalent in media articles published during the EU ...

2017/10/02 review

Valur Ingimundarson, Philippe Urfalino, Irma Erlingsdóttir (eds.): Iceland’s Financial Crisis. The Politics of Blame, Protest, and Recon-struction, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group 2016, 278 S.

Sven Jochem

2017/09/22 review

Bo Lidegaard: Landsmænd. De danske jøders flugt i oktober 1943, Kopenhagen: Politikens Forlag 2013, 506 S.

Doreen Reinhold

2017/07/31 reviews

Agnes Schindler: Icelandic National Cinema. Film- und Rezensionsanalysen nationaler Identität, Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier 2015 (=Filmgeschichte International 22), 357 S.

Berit Glanz

Carly Elizabeth Schall: The Rise and Fall of the Miraculous Welfare Machine. Immigration and Social Democracy in Twentieth-Century Sweden, Ithaca (NY): Cornell University Press 2016, 245 S.

Sven Jochem

2017/03/17 annotation

Christian Rebhan: North Atlantic Euroscepticism. The Rejection of EU membership in the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Tórshávn: Fróđskapur Faroe University Press 2016, 230 S.

Sven Jochem

2017/03/17 reviews

Tomi Mäkelä: Friedrich Pacius. Ein deutscher Komponist in Finnland. Mit einer Edition der Tagebücher, Briefe und Arbeitsmaterialien von Silke Bruns, Hildesheim/Zürich/New York: Olms und Helsinki: Schwedische Literaturgesellschaft in Finnland 2014, 552 S.

Ulrich Wilker

Christian Rebhan: North Atlantic Euroscepticism. The Rejection of EU membership in the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Tórshávn: Fróđskapur Faroe University Press 2016, 230 S.

Sven Jochem

2017/03/17 article

Lena Rohrbach

abstract:

It is an annual ritual: not only has the time come for a new editorial but traditionally, around the turn of the year, various countries also select their ›words of the year‹. These selections crystallise and establish the dominant contemporary discourses and key concepts in equal measure. The year 2016 marked the rise of post-truth to unarguable pre-eminence, as confirmed and enacted by nothing so much as the choice of post-truth as word ...

2016/12/30 articles

Dörte Linke

abstract:

This contribution investigates how biopolitics comes into effect within society. It focuses on two Scandinavian novels, namely LoveStar by Andri Snær Magnason and Die Entbehrlichen by Ninni Holmqvist. Both novels map fictitious societies, which are based on biopolitical concepts. First, I will show how the respective society works. A special focus will be placed on the question how biopolitical concepts undermine the idea of human beings as ...

Frederike Felcht

abstract:

The contribution delves into the history of the term "biopolitics" and explains main features of the concept, focusing on the 'government of life#. An exemplary reading of August Strindberg’s I havsbandet ("By the Open Sea", 1890) illuminates the potentials of biopolitical perspectives on literary texts. Strindberg’s novel negotiates the possibilities and boundaries of the government of life in particular, including the government of ...

abstract:

Part one gives an outline of Foucault’s notion of biopolitics and its further development by Deleuze, Negri/Hardt, and Agamben. The second part takes Swedish architecture of the 1930’s (funkis; short for functionalism) and the impact of social engineering as a specific form of Scandinavian biopolitics under scrutiny. Two literary examples serve as an illustration: a short story by Karin Boye and the Villa Villekulla in Astrid Lindgren’s ...

2016/12/29 article

Fechner-Smarsly, Thomas und Felcht, Frederike

abstract:

(In German only)

2016/03/24 annotation

Lill-Ann Körber, Ebbe Volquardsen (Hgg.): ThePostcolonial North Atlantic. Iceland, Greenlandand the Faroe Islands. Berlin: Nordeuropa-Institut, 2014 (Berliner Beiträge zur Skandinavistik20), 422 S.

Hanna Eglinger

2015/01/08 annotations

Ebbe Volquardsen: Die Anfänge des grönländischen Romans. Nation, Identität und subalterne Artikulation in einer arktischen Kolonie. Marburg: Tectum 2012, 191 S.

Lill-Ann Körber

Joachim Grage, Stephan Michael Schröder (Hgg.): Milieus, Akteure, Medien. Zur Vielfalt literarischer Praktiken um 1900. Würzburg: Ergon 2013 (Literarische Praktiken in Skandinavien; 2), 261 S.

Christina Just

Open Access

2024/10/16 - NEW BLOG ENTRY

In Memoriam Sten Berglund 1947–2024

Bernd Henningsen

Prof. Dr. Bernd Henningsen remembers Sten Berglund, who held the Dag Hammarskjöld Professorship from 2005 to 2008 at Nordeuropa-Institut at Humboldt University in Berlin.

2024/07/16 - NEW BLOG ENTRY

Ein Ende des Rechtsrucks? Die Europawahlen in Nordeuropa

Tobias Etzold

In the recent European election, the shift to the right in Northern Europe has bucked the European trend. However, the poor performance of the right-wing populists in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, for which there are good reasons, is only a snapshot. The influence of right-wing parties at national and EU level remains strong.

2024/05/11 - NEW BLOG ENTRY

»Diggi-loo diggi-ley, alla tittar på mig« — Darstellungen Schwedens im Eurovision Song Contest

David Engh-Bongers

Today it’s “Good evening Europe!” all over again! Following last year’s victory by Swedish singer Loreen, the 68th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Malmö on May 11, 2024.