Scandinavian Literature

"An excellent comprehensive one-volume introduction in English to Norwegian literature within its historical context."-ChoiceLong under the cultural domination of Denmark and the political hegemony of Sweden, Norway first defined itself through its literature and continues to do so to our day. A History of Norwegian Literature reviews the complex role literature has played in Norway since runic times. Beginning with rock carvings five millennia old, Norwegian literature first came to flower with the Norse poets of the ninth century, who chronicled the heroism of Viking explorers and conquerers.The authors describe the subsequent progression of Norwegian literature through the middle ages and the baroque to Ludvig Holberg and the age of enlightenment, and from thence to the cultural debates of the nineteenth century, the dramas of Ibsen, the psychological novels of Sigurd Hoel, the modernist poetry of the 1950s and 1960s, and the postmodernism of the present. The works of Nobel Prize winners Sigrid Undset, Knut Hamsun, and Bjornstjerne Bjornson are covered in some detail, and separate chapters are devoted to children's literature and women writers in Norwegian literature.Like other volumes in A History of Scandinavian Literatures; A History of Norwegian Literature views the literature of Norway not only as part of an interrelated Scandinavian tradition but as part of world literature. A comparative approach is used throughout, and social and cultural history feature prominently. Contributors to Volume 2 include leading scholars James E. Knirk, Kathleen Stokker, Harald Naess, James McFarlane, William Mishler, Jan I. Sjåvik, Margaret O'Leary, and Faith Ingwersen.Harold S. Naess is Torger Thompson Professor of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Among his other works are Knut Hamsun og America (1969) and an edition of Knut Hamsun: Selected Letters (with James McFarlane, 1990).

For centuries, Denmark dominated the culture of Scandinavia, and its literature has influenced such English works as Beowulf and Hamlet as well as major philosophical movements: humanism, romanticism, existentialism. With contributions from nine internationally recognized scholars, A History of Danish Literature reaches back as far as the literary record allows, to the ancient runic inscriptions, and thence to medieval Latin, the development of literature in the vernacular, and the flowering of a distinct Danish literary tradition numbering among its luminaries Hans Christian Andersen, Soren Kierkegaard, and Karen Blixen. The volume includes, in addition, chapters on Faroese literature, women's literature, and children's literature.The approach used in A History of Danish Literature is maintained in the other volumes of A History of Scandinavian Literatures, which surveys the literary history of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Finland. These literatures are viewed not only as part of an interrelated Scandinavian tradition but as part of world literature. A comparative approach is used through-out, and social and cultural history feature prominently. Contributors to Volume 1 include David W. Colbert, Sven H. Rossel, F.J. Billeskov Jansen, P.M. Mitchell, Niels Ingwersen, Poul Houe, W. Glyn Jones, Faith Ingwersen, and Flemming Mouritsen.Sven H. Rossel, the general editor of A History of Scandinavian Literatures, is a professor of comparative and Scandinavian literature at the University of Washington. Among his other works are Johannes V. Jensen (1984) and The Diaries of Hans Christian Andersen (coeditor, with Patricia Conroy, 1990).

The literature of Finland is bilingual, with lively and extensive traditions in both Finnish and Swedish. This history covers both literary traditions in detail.

In this book, Holmberg and Platzack present a theory of the role which subject-verb agreement and case morphology play in syntax. Their theory is based mainly on a detailed comparison of syntactical inflectional properties in the various Scandinavian languages, although many other languages are discussed as well. The theoretical issues discussed include abstract vs. morphological case, functional heads, verb-second, null subjects and other empty categories, pronouns and clitics, various impersonal constructions, long distance reflexives, and the double object construction. Probably the most detailed and comprehensive study to date of the interplay of case, subject-verb agreement, and other grammatical properties in the syntax of related languages, this book offers important insights for professional linguists and students with an interest in generative grammar, typology/comparative grammar, or Scandinavian and Germanic languages.