SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE

the body of written works produced in the group of languages spoken by the inhabitants of Denmark, the Faeroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Scandinavian literature may be said to have originated in the Middle Ages, when the most distinguished works were Icelandic and Norwegian, consisting of heroic and mythological lays, skaldic poetry, and sagas. Other notable medieval writings included the late 12th- and early 13th-century Danish writer Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum (written between 1185 and 1222; The Deeds of the Danes); a wealth of ballads common to Scandinavia but particularly well-represented in Denmark; and Eufemiavisorna (The Songs of Euphemia), a work of chivalric poetry written in Swedish between 1303 and 1312. Norway and Denmark entered into a political union in 1397, and the Danish language served as the literary medium for both countries during the next few centuries. The Lutheran Reformation had a major impact on the various Scandinavian literatures. The Bible was translated into the Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic vernaculars in the mid-16th century and was supplemented by a wealth of scholarly polemics supporting or attacking the Reformation, as well as by early Lutheran hymns and sermons. The 17th-century lyrics and hymns of the Dane Thomas Kingo and the poetic works of the Swede Georg Stiernhielm, particularly his allegorical epic Hercules (1658), reflect the delayed influence of continental Neoclassicism on Scandinavian letters. The Enlightenment flowered in 18th-century Denmark with the comedies of the Norwegian-born Ludvig Holberg and in Sweden with Olof von Dalin's journal, Then swnska Argus (173234; The Swedish Argus), which played a major role in popularizing French and English ideas and literary forms. The Scandinavian Romantic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries derived its inspiration partly from 18th-century British sourcessuch as the verses that James Macpherson attributed to Ossian, and the poems of Thomas Gray and Edward Youngbut mostly from German ones, particularly Goethe, Schiller, the folkloristic school of Heidelberg (the Brothers Grimm), and the philosophical school of Jena (Friedrich Schelling and the brothers August and Friedrich von Schlegel). Humiliating political events (the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807 and Sweden's loss of Finland to the Russians) led both Denmark and Sweden to cultivate national romanticism (the celebration of a nebulous past of legendary greatness). The Danes Johannes Ewald and Adam Oehlenschlger both chose legendary-mythological themes. In Sweden this tendency found exponents in Esaias Tegnr and Erik Gustaf Geijer, while the leading metaphysical Romantics were Per Daniel Atterbom and Erik Johan Stagnelius. Swedish for a long time continued to be the literary language of Finland after the country was ceded to Russia in 1809; two outstanding Finno-Swedish writers of the age were the poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg and the writer-scholar Zacharias Topelius. The Romantic movement was central to the literary and linguistic revival that occurred in Iceland during the early 1800s. Its leading representative was Bjarni Thorarensen, who produced a nationalistic poetry that became a model for much of the lyrical verse written during the rest of the century. After Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden in 1814, Henrik Wergeland and other prominent Norwegian men of letters saw an opportunity to develop an independent culture and insisted on the complete rejection of all existing Danish elements in Norwegian literature. During the ascendancy of national Romanticism in Norway, Ivar Aasen led a movement to establish a literary language based on rural dialects linked with Old Norse, and many writers of the time turned to Norway's heroic past and to contemporary life for inspiration. Toward the end of the 19th century the Danish critic Georg Brandes encouraged the emergence of a modern school of literature that would deal with social realities instead of romantic ideals. His compatriot, the novelist and poet Jens Peter Jacobsen, responded, as did such Norwegian writers as Bjrnstjerne Bjrnson and Henrik Ibsen, as well as the Swedish playwright August Strindberg, who had originally been drawn to national-historical themes but whose subsequent works spearheaded the modern breakthrough that Brandes had urged. Ibsen's most famous plays unmask the hypocrisy of conventional morality, while his late ones have strong Symbolist elements. Strindberg's work followed a similar development, moving from Realism to a mode anticipating Symbolism and Expressionism. Both Ibsen and Strindberg met with opposition in their native countries and lived abroad before finally gaining recognition at home. The 1890s saw a reaction against Social Realism. The Dane Johannes Jrgensen was typical of the Neoromantic poetic revival and return to religious faith; the Norwegian Knut Hamsun explored the individual's subjective experiences; and their Swedish contemporaries Verner von Heidenstam and Selma Lagerlf exploited myth and fantasy once more. Outstanding writers of the first half of the 20th century were the Danes Henrik Pontoppidan and Isak Dinesen (pseudonym of Karen Christence Dinesen, Baroness Blixen-Finecke), the Swede Hjalmar Bergman, and the Norwegian Sigrid Undset. The period also saw the emergence of many powerful talents from working-class backgrounds: the Dane Martin Andersen Nex; the Swedes Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson (joint recipients of the Nobel Prize for Literature for 1974) and Vilhelm Moberg; and the Norwegians Aksel Sandemose, Kristofer Uppdal, and Oskar Braaten, who were deeply marked by their early experience of life's struggles. Modernism in poetry was pioneered by Finno-Swedish writers such as Edith Sdergran and Gunnar Bjrling; by the Swedes Gunnar Ekelf, Birger Sjberg, and Pr Lagerkvist (also a novelist and dramatist); the Danes Emil Bnnelycke and Gustaf Munch-Petersen; and the Norwegian Rolf Jacobsen. World Wars I and II focussed the attention of dramatists on moral and existential issues, as in the plays of Kaj Munk and Kjeld Abell of Denmark and of Nordahl Grieg of Norway. These issues were also explored in the novels of the Swede Stig Dagerman, the Faeroese Hein Br (pseudonym of Hans Jakob Jacobsen), and the Icelander Halldr Laxness, who won the 1955 Nobel Prize for Literature. Much of the literature produced in Scandinavia from the mid-1960s through the late 1970s was that of social and political protest. Dissatisfaction with the capitalist system, concern for Third World poverty, and revulsion against the Vietnam War led to a belief in the need to heighten the public's awareness by means of documentaries and politically committed works. By the 1980s, however, imaginative literature had begun to reemerge. Present-day Scandinavian literature, as exemplified by some of its leading authors (e.g., Sven Lindqvist, Klaus Rifbjerg, Tove Jansson, and Steinbjrn B. Jacobsen), shows a more philosophical approach to the problems of contemporary society, an upsurge of interest in myth and fantasy, and an increased experimentation with technique and style. Additional reading Broad coverage of Scandinavian literature is found in Elias Bredsdorff, Brita Mortensen, and Ronald Popperwell, An Introduction to Scandinavian Literature, from the Earliest Time to Our Day (1951, reissued 1970), offering a useful short survey; Frederick J. Marker and Lise-Lone Marker, The Scandinavian Theatre: A Short History (1975); and Virpi Zuck (ed.), Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature (1990), assembling author entries, topical articles, and an extensive bibliography subdivided by language and category.The literature of individual nations is treated in the following surveys: P.M. Mitchell, A History of Danish Literature, 2nd augmented ed. (1971); Sven H. Rossel (ed.), A History of Danish Literature (1992); Thomas Warburton, ttio r finlandssvensk litteratur (1984); Stefn Einarsson, A History of Icelandic Literature (1957); Harald Beyer, A History of Norwegian Literature (1956, reissued 1979; originally published in Norwegian, 1952); Harald S. Naess (ed.), A History of Norwegian Literature (1993); and Alrik Gustafson, A History of Swedish Literature (1961), an excellent critical history, with bibliographic appendix.Early Scandinavian literary history is the focus of Gabriel Turville-Petre, The Heroic Age of Scandinavia (1951, reprinted 1976), and Origins of Icelandic Literature (1953, reissued 1975); Carol J. Clover, The Medieval Saga (1982); Carol J. Clover and John Lindow (eds.), Old NorseIcelandic Literature: A Critical Guide (1985); Jnas Kristjnsson, Eddas and Sagas: Iceland's Medieval Literature, 2nd ed. (1992); S.B.F. Jansson, The Runes of Sweden (1962); Anton Blanck, Den nordiska renssansen i sjuttonhundratallets litteratur (1911); James A. Parente, Jr., and Richard Erich Schade (eds.), Studies in German and Scandinavian Literature After 1500 (1993); Reinhold Ahlen, Swedish Poets of the Seventeenth Century (1932); and Albert Nilsson, Svensk romantik: den platonska strmningen (1916).Noteworthy studies covering more recent years include Richard Beck, History of Icelandic Poets, 18001940 (1950, reprinted 1966); Stefn Einarsson, History of Icelandic Prose Writers, 18001940 (1948, reprinted 1966); Janet Garton, Norwegian Women's Writing, 18501990 (1993); James Walter McFarlane, Ibsen and the Temper of Norwegian Literature (1960, reprinted 1979); Helge G. Topse-Jensen, Scandinavian Literature from Brandes to Our Day (1929, reprinted 1971; originally published in Danish, 1928); Brian W. Downs, Modern Norwegian Literature, 18601918 (1966), an excellent survey with bibliography; Sven H. Rossel, A History of Scandinavian Literature: 18701980 (1982; originally published in German, 1973); Bodil Wamberg (ed.), Out of Denmark: Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen, 18851985, and Danish Women Writers Today, trans. from Danish (1985); Karin Elkjaer and Poul Zerlang (eds.), Danske og udenlandske forfattere efter 1914, 4th ed. (1977); Martin S. Allwood (ed.), 20th Century Scandinavian Poetry (1950); Irene Scobbie (ed.), Aspects of Modern Swedish Literature (1988); Sarah Death and Helena Forss-Scott (eds.), A Century of Swedish Narrative (1994); and Faith Ingwersen and Mary Kay Norseng (eds.), Fin(s) de sicle in Scandinavian Perspective (1993).John M. Weinstock and Robert T. Rovinsky (eds.), The Hero in Scandinavian Literature: From Peer Gynt to the Present (1975), treats film along with literary genres. Janet Mawby, Writers and Politics in Modern Scandinavia (1978), emphasizes the impact of the German occupation and the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. John L. Greenway, The Golden Horns: Mythic Imagination and the Nordic Past (1977), studies myth and its effect on Scandinavian literature and life. Jesse L. Byock, Feud in the Icelandic Saga (1982), and Medieval Iceland (1988), uses Icelandic sagas as sources for analysis of social and economic history.Recommended anthologies are Elias Bredsdorff (ed.), Contemporary Danish Plays (1955, reissued 1970), and Contemporary Danish Prose (1958, reprinted 1974); Modern Nordic Plays: Denmark (1974); Hedin Brnner (trans. and ed.), Faroese Short Stories, trans. from Faroese and Danish (1972); Janet Garton and Henning Sehmsdorf (trans. and eds.), New Norwegian Plays (1989); Frederic Fleisher (trans. and ed.), Seven Swedish Poets (1963); and Gunilla M. Anderman (compiler), New Swedish Plays (1992). Benedikt Sigurdur Benedikz Staffan Bergsten James Walter McFarlane Brita Maud Ellen Mortensen E.O.G. Turville-Petre Walton Glyn Jones The 16th century The impact of the reformation on Swedish letters Two dates mark the beginning of modern Swedish history: 1523the breach with Denmark and Gustav I Vasa's accession; and 1527the breach with Rome and the establishment of a national Lutheran Church. The political revolution that eventually brought Sweden to the position of a European power had no considerable effect on literature until a century later, but the Reformation wholly dominated Swedish letters in the 1500s. The most important literary event of this period was the translation of the Bible in 1541, which inaugurated modern Swedish and provided an inexhaustible source for poets of subsequent times. Closely involved in the Bible translation were the apostles of the Swedish Reformation, Olaus Petri and his brother Laurentius. Olaus Petri's vigorous approach was revealed in his published sermons and in a Swedish chronicle, the first historical Swedish work based on critical research. Olaus Petri may also have written the biblical Tobie comedia (published 1550), the first complete extant Swedish play. As a consequence of the Reformation, two of Sweden's most distinguished scholars of the period, Johannes Magnus and his brother Olaus, were driven into exile. In his history of all the kings of the Goths and Swedes, Johannes provided Sweden with a number of valiant kings unknown to critical historians. Olaus wrote the first geographical and ethnographical account of Scandinavia, Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (1555; History of the Northern Peoples). Developments in Danish literature In 1536 the Lutheran Reformation was carried through in Denmark, and the beginning of the 16th century was characterized by many pamphlets for or against the Roman Catholic Church. European humanism and the Renaissance made their influence felt also in Denmark, where Christiern Pedersen was the most prominent humanist who supported the Reformation. He edited Gesta Danorum by the 13th-century historian Saxo Grammaticus, translated the New Testament, adapted Martin Luther's pamphlets into Danish, and participated in a translation of the Bible (1550). Poul Helgesen was the most gifted opponent of the Lutheran Reformation and Hans Tausen its most talented spokesman. The Visitation Book by the Lutheran bishop Peder Palladius is an important literary document. The two most important historians were Anders Srensen Vedel and Arild Huitfeldt. Sixteenth-century Danish poetry was religious or polemical, with fine love poetry and hymns. The earliest plays date from the beginning of the century. The most important playwright of the period was Hieronymus Justesen Ranch, whose farce Karrig Nidding (The Miserly Rascal) was his best play. The 17th century Swedish poetry and prose In the first half of the 17th century, Swedish literature remained limited in scope and quantity. A unique contribution, however, was made by Lars Wivallius, whose lyrics revealed a feeling for nature new to Swedish poetry. With its intervention in the Thirty Years' War, Sweden established itself as a European power, and this led to a development of national pride and culture, as revealed in literature of this epoch. The outstanding work was the allegorical epic Hercules (1658) by Georg Stiernhielm, which reflected many of the social and political problems of the time. Stiernhielm's followers included the two brothers Columbus, one of whom, Samuel, wrote Odae sueticae (1674; Swedish Odes) and the prose Ml-roo eller roo-ml, a charming collection of anecdotes that illumine Stiernhielm's character. A rival to Stiernhielm was the unidentified Skogekr Brgbo, whose Wenerid (1680) was the first sonnet cycle in Swedish. Stiernhielm aimed at an integration of Sweden's cultural heritage with the accepted ideals of continental classicism. His Hercules is full of old Swedish words that he was eager to revive. Columbus also demanded a more vigorous, flexible language as did Skogekr Brgbo in Thet swenska sprkets klageml (1658; The Lament of the Swedish Language). National pride and religious feeling are combined in the works of the bishops Haquin Spegel and Jesper Swedberg, father of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. Spegel contributed to Swedberg's new hymnbook of 1695, which became the poetry book of the Swedish people and was of lasting influence. Even Lucidor was represented in it, giving intense expression to the contrasting moods of the period: in his love songs and, above all, in his drinking songs, he was as pagan and reckless as he was devout in his hymns and funeral poems. At Uppsala, meanwhile, the scholar Petrus Lagerlf attempted to impose purer classical standards on native literature, and Olof Verelius edited and translated Icelandic sagas. It was Olof Rudbeck, however, who became interested in Verelius' work and developed a theory that Sweden was the lost Atlantis and had been the cradle of Western civilization. He proposed this idea in Atland eller Manheim (16791702), which, translated into Latin as Atlantica, attained European fame. Baroque and classicist tendencies ran parallel in late 17th-century Swedish literature. Gunno Eurelius (Gunno Dahlstierna) wrote an elaborate epic, Kungaskald (Hymn to the King), for King Charles XI's funeral in 1697. Simpler in style was Johan Runius, who expressed a Christian stoicism of the kind found among Swedes during the disastrous early decades of the 18th century. Jacob Frese was a gentler and more intimate poet; his lyrics and hymns contained some of the emotional pietism that became a feature of 18th-century thought. The literary Renaissance in Denmark The literary Renaissance reached Denmark in the 1600s, giving rise to a strict adherence to classical patterns and blind belief in authority in political, religious, and literary matters. In religious literature Latin dogmatics and pamphlets reflecting the superstitions of the century were dominant. It was, however, a great era of scholarship. Ole Worm is famous for his book on the runic inscriptions, Monumenta Danica (1643). Thormod Torfaeus and rni Magnsson introduced the study of Old Norse literature; Peder Hansen Resen edited and translated some of the poetry of the Old Norse Edda; and Erik Pontoppidan and Peder Syv introduced the linguistic study of Danish. Danish poetry in the 17th century tended to follow the classics slavishly, and the favourite forms were the hexameter, the Alexandrine, and the sonnet. Simplicity is deliberately avoided; the style is precious; allegories, euphemisms, and metaphors abound. Anders Arrebo translated the Psalms and wrote Hexameron (1661), a Danish version of the 16th-century French poet Guillaume du Bartas' La Semaine. The century was rich in occasional poetry; didactic and pastoral poems were also common. Anders Bording, an interesting exponent of Danish Baroque poetry, was also the founder of the first Danish newspaper, Den danske Mercurius (from 1666), in which the news appeared in rhymed Alexandrines. The only truly great poet was Thomas Kingo, a supreme master in almost every kind of poetry. His hymns reflect a violent, passionate character, worldly and yet deeply religious. Of special interest among Danish works of the 17th century were the memoirs of Leonora Christina, daughter of Christian IV, a fascinating document about her 20 years' imprisonment in the Blue Tower of Copenhagen. The 18th century Swedish Classicism and Enlightenment After the death of Charles XII (1718) and the collapse of his empire, a utilitarian attitude to life and letters gradually developed in Sweden. Olof von Dalin was the outstanding popularizer of the new ideas of the French and English Enlightenment. Educated at Lund, he later went to Stockholm and began to publish, anonymously, Then swnska Argus (173234; The Swedish Argus), a weekly periodical modelled on that of the Englishman Joseph Addison. One of the first serious journalistic ventures in Sweden, it marked the beginning of a new era, in which orthodoxy gave way to Skepticism and Enlightenment, Baroque to Classicism, and German influence to English and French; at this time the middle class began gradually to take over the function of chief upholder of literature. In Argus Dalin ridiculed the foibles of the capital and in Sagan om hsten (1740; The Story of the Horse) he showed himself a master of allegorical satire. He also produced some pseudo-Classicist plays that, like many dramatic ventures of the early and mid-18th century, are academic and lifeless. The one notable exception is Den Svenska sprtthken (1740; The Swedish Fop), a comedy by Count Carl Gyllenborg. With the second phase of the Enlightenment, marked by the influence of Rousseau, are associated Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht, the epicurean Gustav Philip Creutz, and his stoic friend Gustaf Fredrik Gyllenborg. In Den Srgande turturdufwan (1743; The Sorrowing Turtledove), Fru Nordenflycht laments the death of her husband in highly personal lyrics. Creutz was a more sophisticated personality. He wrote little, but his few writings, of which the pastoral Atis och Camilla (1762) is the most important, reveal a mastery of form and versification. Proseparticularly the noveldeveloped more slowly. The first genuine novel, Adalrik och Githildas fventyr (174244; The Adventures of Adalrik and Githilden), by Jacob Mrk and Anders Trngren, shows the influence of the Icelandic sagas. Only two 18th-century Swedish writers were of European reputation, and both were scientists: Carl von Linn (Linnaeus) and Emanuel Swedenborg. The Gustavian period takes its name from King Gustav III (174692), a brilliant man and a patron of art and letters. He was especially interested in drama and opera and, thanks to his patronage, a proper theatrical tradition developed. Gustav himself sketched out some works, the best of which was a historic opera, Gustaf Vasa, which was finished in collaboration between Johan Henrik Kellgren and the composer J.G. Naumann. Kellgren, an academic poet and arbiter of taste, ruled that Swedish literature should be modelled on Classicist French patterns, but, beginning as a Rationalist and satirist after the fashion of Voltaire, he reluctantly accepted pre-Romantic ideas later. In Stockholmsposten, the main organ of literary opinion in the capital, Kellgren used his polemical wit against Thomas Thorild, a truculent champion of individual genius. After Kellgren's death the controversy was carried on by Carl Gustaf af Leopold, who imposed pseudo-Classical standards on the academy and applied them in his own rhetorical odes and tragedies. Johan Gabriel Oxenstierna did his most original work while a diplomat in Vienna; his Skrdarne (1796; Harvests) reveals pre-Romantic feeling for the beauty of nature. Bengt Lidner was the chief exponent of pre-Romanticism in poetry. His most successful work was the ode Grefvinnan Spastaras dd (1783; The Death of Countess Spastara). Carl Michael Bellman stands apart from the conflicting ideals of the time. A poet and musician, he combined stylized realism with humour and the most uniquely delicate sense of language and rhythm. He was the greatest Swedish lyricist of the 18th century. The dissertation Om upplysning (1793; On Enlightenment) by Nils von Rosenstein, the first secretary of the Swedish Academy, expressed the ideals of the Gustavian epoch. Memoirs by G.J. Adlerbeth, G.J. Ehrensvrd, and others evoke the witty but artificial atmosphere of Gustav III's court. Gustav IV, who followed, did not encourage literature; nevertheless, Anna Maria Lenngren wrote some of her best verse satires between 1795 and 1800, many aimed at aristocratic foibles. The sentimental idylls of Frans Mikael Franzn are full of pre-Romantic idealism from German and English sources. Literary activity in Denmark, Norway, and Iceland Denmark The 18th century was a fertile period in Danish literature. The great name in the first half of the century was that of Ludvig Holberg, a Norwegian by birth. His most important contributions, written for the Danish theatre, which opened in 1722, were 32 comedies of character and manner, including some moral allegories in his old age. His aim was to create a modern Danish literature on European lines and to make people laugh at their own follies. Influenced by English and French thinking, he was a Rationalist and a moderate. He also wrote satire, a mock-heroic poem, and Nicolai Klimii iter Subterraneum (Latin, 1741; Journey of Niels Klim to the World Underground). His Moralske tanker (1744; Moral Thoughts) and his Epistler (174854; Letters) are the finest examples of a Danish political essay form. Among Holberg's contemporaries the finest lyrical poets are H.A. Brorson, a mystic whose pietist hymns often have a background of personal sorrow or agony; and Ambrosius Stub, whose poems are mainly religious and moralizing verses, witty epigrams, or drinking songs. A satirist, Christian Falster, was a conservative counterpart to Holberg; Friedrich Eilschov and Jens Schelderup Sneedorff, the latter of whom edited Den patriotiske Tilskuer (The Patriotic Spectator), a Danish Spectator, were both Rationalist disciples of Holberg. A significant revival of Danish literature took place toward the end of the century. In 1772 the Norwegian Johan Herman Wessel, one of the greatest humorists to use the Danish language, wrote Kaerlighed uden strmper (Love Without Stockings), a parody of the Danish imitations of Italian operas and French tragedies that had superseded Holberg's comedies. At the same time a revival of emotional poetry was taking place, influenced by German and English literature. Johannes Ewald, perhaps Denmark's greatest lyrical poet, was the first to discover the poetic wealth of Scandinavian antiquity in the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus and in the myths, sagas, and ballads. He wrote verse dramas and deeply personal and descriptive poems. Fiskerne (1779; The Fishermen) was the first serious Danish drama in which ordinary people were treated heroically. His memoirs, Levnet og meninger (posthumously published in 1804; Life and Opinions), were influenced by Laurence Sterne and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Jens Baggesen at first imitated the satires of Holberg and Wessel but gradually developed as a poet of distinction. In Labyrinten (179293; The Labyrinth), he described his travels in Europe in the manner of Sterne. The 19th century Swedish literature Romanticism Political changes in Sweden up to 1804 meant that ardent nationalism emerged as a characteristic of Swedish Romanticism. The idealism at the core of this movement was laid by the Kantian teaching of Benjamin Hijer and the impact of Friedrich Schiller, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the German Romantics on Swedish literature. Student societies and their periodicals, such as Polyfem (180912) and Phosphorus (181013), led the attack on the traditional school. Most gifted of the Forforister, or Phosphorists, Per Daniel Atterbom, wrote a verse Prolog (1810) to Phosphorus revealing both talent and commitment to Romanticism. Meanwhile, another society, Gtiska Frbundet (Gothic Society), advocated, from its start in 1811, that study of the Gothic past could morally improve society. One of its members, Esaias Tegnr, wrote a most popular poem, Frithiofs saga (1825), based on an Old Norse theme. Tegnr valued old Northern mythology for the patterns he discerned in itpatterns also found in Greek mythology and Romantic metaphysics, in which religion, philosophy, and poetry appeared to be one and the same. Nevertheless, Tegnr's ideals of clarity of thought and formal perfection led him sometimes to side with traditionalists in their struggle against obscurities and formal innovations. Several leading Romantics were learned men whose poetry strove to embody a philosophical system or an interpretation of history. The most ambitious attempt of this kind was P.D.A. Atterbom's Lycksalighetens (182427; The Isle of Bliss), an allegory dealing with adventures of a legendary king, Astolf, and a history of poetry as an illustration of man's alienation from the divine. The greatest poet was perhaps Erik Johan Stagnelius, who held aloof from schools and coteries. The recurrent theme in his Liljor i Saron (1821; Lilies of Sharon) was the lament of the human soul, imprisoned in a world of darkness and sin. In prose the most complex personality among the later Romantics was a novelist, Carl Jonas Love Almqvist, who combined an extravagant imagination with realism. A master of prose style, he was at his best in the long short story, in which he foreshadowed Strindberg's method of raising problems for debate. The novel was established by Fredrika Bremer, author of Grannarna (1837; The Neighbours), whose sketches from ordinary life appeared from 1828. Sophie von Knorring wrote chiefly about aristocratic families, and Emilie Flygare-Carln produced stories dealing with west-coast life, including Rosen p Tisteln (1842; The Rose of Tisteln). Emergence of Realism and Poetic Realism Realism made only slow headway in spite of the example of the Finno-Swedish poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg (see below). Literature of the 1840s and 1850s was mainly an aftermath of Romanticism. A movement known as Scandinavism produced a good deal of verse: Carl Vilhelm August Strandberg (pseudonym Talis Qualis), fieriest poet of this type, later made excellent translations from Byron. Popular reading was provided by August Blanche in Bilder ur verkligheten (186365; Pictures of Real Life), short stories depicting Stockholm life with humour and vivacity, while Frans Hedberg wrote pompous historical plays. Poetic Realism became an official program of the pseudonym poets of the 1860s, including Carl David of Wirsn, Edvard Bckstrm, Pontus Wikner, and Carl Snoilsky. Only Snoilsky had the temperament and poetic gift needed to carry out the program. Wirsn, on the other hand, as secretary of the Swedish Academy, launched formidable opposition against innovators; and Viktor Rydberg fell between Idealism and Naturalism. His important early work consisted of an ideological novel, Den siste athenaren (1859; The Last Athenian), and a treatise, Bibelns lra om Kristus (1862; The Teaching of the Bible About Christ), which prepared the way for scientific Rationalism. The 20th century Norwegian In the 1890s established Norwegian writers came under fire from the new generation. The manifesto of new ideas was an essay published in 1890 in the periodical Samtiden (The Present Age) by Knut Hamsun, Fra det ubevidste Sjaeleliv (From the Unconscious Life of the Mind), which demanded attention to what was individual and idiosyncratic rather than typical. Hamsun was impatient with contemporary emphasis on social problems, and his early novelsSult (1890; Hunger), Mysterier (1892; Mysteries), and Pan (1894)exemplified these ideas; his later novels, such as Markens grde (1917; Growth of the Soil), were less extreme but still showed a strong, sometimes savage irony. Hamsun won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920. Lyric poetry at this time flourished with Sigbjrn Obstfelder, who had a close affinity with the Symbolist movement, and Nils Collett Vogt, who produced some of the best lyrics of the 1890s. In drama Gunnar Heiberg, who combined a sharply satirical wit with a lyric deftness, expressed the new spirit in Kong Midas (1890), Gerts have (1894; Gert's Garden), Balkonen (1894; The Balcony), and Kjaerlighetens tragedie (1904; The Tragedy of Love). Sharing Hamsun's preoccupation with the irrational side of human conduct was Hans E. Kinck, a writer of considerable power and penetration. In his verse drama Driftekaren (1908; The Drover) and long novel Sneskavlen brast (191819; The Avalanche Broke), Kinck showed himself to be a more reflective and analytical writer than Hamsun. The real achievements of Norwegian literature in the first half of the 20th century were in the novel and lyric poetry. Drama was not conspicuous, except for the plays of Gunnar Heiberg and Nordahl Grieg. In the early decades of the century, regionalism was a strong element, particularly in the novel; and authors adopted language coloured by dialect, thus becoming identified with their region. Kristofer Uppdal, of the mid-north region of Trndelag, wrote a remarkable worka 10-volume novel cycle, Dansen gjenom skuggeheimen (191124; The Dance Through the Shadow World). The novel also treated of conflicts arising from the spread of industrialism, which Norway underwent later than did other European countries. The most proletarian writer was Oskar Braaten, but superior as an artist was Johan Falkberget, who wrote with understanding and historical insight about the miners in Rros in Christianus Sextus (192735) and in Nattens brd (1940; Bread of Night). Sigrid Undset, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928, set her novels in many different ages, and their concern was to examine women's loyalties within the framework of their role in society. A long historical novel, Kristin Lavransdatter (192022), was a masterpiece of Norwegian literature. Her later novels, Gymnadenia (1929; The Wild Orchid) and Den braendende busk (1930; The Burning Bush), were greatly influenced by her conversion to Roman Catholicism. Olav Duun, again of the mid-north region, revealed his insight into life as endless conflict in a six-volume novel cycle about the development of a peasant family through four generationsJuvikfolke (191823; The People of Juvik). Shortly before World War I, there were several good lyric poets: Herman Wildenvey, Olaf Bull, Tore rjasaeter, and Olav Aukrust. Between World Wars I and II, there emerged many socially committed writers: the poet Arnulf verland; a novelist and critic, Sigurd Hoel; a dramatist and critic, Helge Krog; and Nordahl Grieg. After World War II, Tarjei Vesaas wrote a remarkable series of novels, including the symbolic Huset i mrkret (1945; The House in the Darkness) and Bruene (1966; The Bridges). Cora Sandel, who had made a major contribution with her Alberte trilogy (192639), continued to write, as did Aksel Sandemose, an experimental writer, and Johan Borgen, who won acclaim for his early short stories, the Lillelord trilogy (195557), and the autobiographical Barndommens rike (1965; Childhood's Realm). Borgen later became the leading novelist in Norway and maintained this standing until his death in 1979. Since then, Terje Stigen, Knut Faldbakken, and Bjrg Vik have become the dominant figures in prose fiction. Stigen's works are basically realistic narratives that variously treat historical and contemporary subjects. Faldbakken has demonstrated much fantasy and ingenuity, most recently having completed a series of novels that portray the collapse of technological society. An excellent short-story writer, Vik centres her attention on middle-class family life and often portrays it from a mildly feminist viewpoint. Swedish The early years of the 20th century were a period of decadence and pessimism in Swedish literature. Representative of this mood were Hjalmar Sderberg and Bo Bergman. Sderberg's forte was the short story (Historietter ), in which psychological subtlety and irony were happily combined and in which, as in his novels Martin Bircks ungdom (1901; Martin Birck's Youth) and Doktor Glas (1905), he appeared as a master of Swedish prose. Bergman also produced memorable short stories, but his real medium was the lyric; he developed his talent in a series of collections from Marionetterna (1903; The Marionettes) to Riket (1944; The Kingdom). The Middle Ages The literature of Scandinavia and, in particular, of Iceland has reflected two extraordinary features of the social and cultural history of pagan Europe and of Iceland. The way in which names such as Siegfried, Brunhild, and Attila cropped up again and again in different European literatures has borne witness to the dissemination of legends and traditions common to the early Germanic tribes of Europe, starting from the great movements westward in the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries. The literature of Iceland provides not only the most detailed descriptions available of the life-style of early Germanic peoples but constitutes the most complete account of their literature and literary traditions. Although the sagas and poems were first written down by Christian scribes, they present a picture of a pre-Christian European culture that reached its heights in the new settlements in Iceland. A second feature directly concerns the peoples of Scandinavia. A remarkable characteristic of Scandinavian literature was the accuracy with which it described the geography of northern Europe, accuracy that was born of actual knowledge. From the late 8th century until well into the Middle Ages, the history of the Norsemen was one of unceasing movement toward western and central Europe. The Norsemen discovered Iceland, as early Icelandic historians had it, when their ships were blown off course about 860. The next century found the Vikings pushing west by way of Britain, Ireland, and France to Spain and then through the Mediterranean to North Africa and east to Arabia. Across land they reached the Black Sea, by sailing north they came to the White Sea, and finally, turning westward again, they reached America long before Columbus. Norwegian and Icelandic literature The roots of Norwegian literature reach back more than 1,000 years and become inextricably intertwined with early Icelandic literature. Although a large part of this early literature was composed either in Iceland or elsewhere in Scandinavia by Icelanders, the Norwegian element in it is considerable and indisputable, even though this cannot always be isolated and defined. In many instances, it is obvious that some of the literature derives from a time before the Scandinavian settlement of Iceland in the 9th century. In other cases, it appears that the composers of the works had resided for long periods in the mother country of Norway.