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/lit/ - Literature

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2815958 No.2815958[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Hey /lit/, I've realized that I know fuck all about Scandinavian literature. Can you recommend me some Swedish/Norwegian/etc books? Maybe some Nordic classics?

Thanks

>> No.2815962

>>2815958
Girl played with fire

/thread

>> No.2815979

>>2815962
I was looking for something more "classic", perhaps

>> No.2815980

Read so Sigrid Unndest, Halldor Laxness, and Henrick Ibsen,

If you are still interested after them, you are a comparative literature student.

>> No.2815987

Hunger by Knut Hamsun

>> No.2815989

Väinö Linna
I finished the second book in his Under the North Star trilogy a few weeks ago and it's probably the most touching book I've read. It almost made me scream with agony.
It's basically about a Finnish peasant family around the turn of the century (1800s-1900s) and the growth of the labour movement. The second book takes place during the Finnish revolution.

>> No.2815990

Try Naiv.Super by Erlend Loe. It isn't a classic by any means, but his writing is interesting, and you can probably find that one in English.

>> No.2816001

>>2815989

Finish revolution? you mean when the Russians invaded? Nottrolling, just really don't know much about Finnish history.

>> No.2816009

Dat Hamsun dat Hunger

>> No.2816010

>>2815987
aka shit by nut buster
Worst thing /lit/ has recommended me, unless it was just a shitty translation.

>> No.2816025

>>2816001
Actually I shouldn't have called it the Finnish revolution. But just as in Russia there was a civil war between the "Reds" and "Whites". I think the neutral name for it is the Finnish Civil war. A Communist could call it the Finnish revolution, others might call it the Finnish Freedom War.

>> No.2816035

>>2815980
Undset is pretty dull. Not for everyone.

Some good places to start with Norwegian literature:

A Doll's House by Ibsen
The Wild Duck by Ibsen
Hunger by Hamsun
Pan by Hamsun
Growth of the Soil by Hamsun (if you enjoyed Pan only)

Good contemporary choices:
Naïve. Super by Erlend Loe (naïvistic style)
L by Erlend Loe (if you enjoyed Naïve. Super)
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson

Not that familiar with Danish and Swedish literature (outside of H. C. Andersen and Kierkegaard). Sorry!

>> No.2816036

>>2816010
Which translation did you read? A lot of them are pretty bad.

>> No.2816153

>>2815989

As a Finn, I approve of this post. Great, great books.

Some Finnish "classics" and modern likeable literature:

All of Mika Waltari's work
Väinö Linna
Minna Canth
Juhani Aho
Sofi Oksanen
Tove Jansson

As for Swedish literature, I enjoyed Moberg..

>> No.2816190

Strindberg and Swedenborg for Sweden

For Denmark:
>implying any of the good danish classics get translated to english.
But go with Karen Blixen, H. C. Andersen and maybe watch Festen or something.

>> No.2816223

So I've heard a couple of friend of mine and my favorite young (Dutch) writer all talking about this Norwegian book.
Buzz Aldrin, hvor ble det av deg i alt mylderet? or in English, Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All The Confusion?

has anyone read in on here?
If so, what are your thoughts about it?

>> No.2816235

>>2816223

There've been a few mentions of Johan Harstad on /lit/ before, all very positive. You can find translations of three of his stories off of "Ambulanse" here:

http://wordswithoutborders.org/contributor/johan-harstad

>> No.2816259

Verner von Heidenstam, Frans G. Bengtsson, Thomas Torild, Erik Johan Stagnelius, Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Vilhelm Ekelund, Viktor Rydberg, Erik Gustaf Geijer, Esaias Tegnér. That goes for the Swedish authors, then you've got Johan Ludvig Runeberg and Zacharias Topelius Swedish-Finns who wrote in Swedish about Swedish culture, customs and so forth.

>> No.2816278

I'd recommend Hamsun. Of course, Hunger is the most interesting start to Hamsun

>> No.2816340

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_literature

This is the best way i've found if I want to get into literature from another country.

>> No.2816341

>>2816259
I just finished The Long Ships yesterday and it was a solid adventure story. I'd read it again. I should check to see if he wrote anything else.

>> No.2816354

>>2816340
This.
Kallocain by Karin Boye is damn good dystopian shit
Doctor Glass by Hjalmar Soderberg is really well written
Ibsen and Loe are two favourites as well.
Aniara by Harry Martinsson; epic sci-fi poem, somewhat messed-up style, but I liked it

>> No.2816356

The Poetic Edda
The Prose Edda
Heimskringla

>> No.2816358
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2816358

Hamsun argued that writers should describe the "whisper of blood, and the pleading of bone marrow". He is considered to be one of the most influential and innovative literary stylists of the past hundred years. He pioneered psychological literature with techniques of stream of consciousness and interior monologue, and influenced authors such as Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, Maxim Gorky, Stefan Zweig, Henry Miller, Hermann Hesse, and Ernest Hemingway. Isaac B. Singer called Hamsun "the father of the modern school of literature in his every aspect—his subjectiveness, his fragmentariness, his use of flashbacks, his lyricism. The whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun". Ernest Hemingway stated that "Hamsun taught me to write".
The epic work Growth of the Soil earned him the Nobel Prize.

Hunger, Pan, Victoria, Mysteries, and Growth of the Soil are probably his best translated work.


Other than Hamsun, Henrik Ibsen, Jonas Lie, Alexander Kielland, and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson are considered the "four great" of Norwegian literary realism.
Among our female writers, Sigrid Undset and Amalie Skram are probably the most prominent, and intentionally appreciated.

Of our contemporary writers, I myself find Erlend Loe to be rather intriguing. I won't go on about him as a character himself, but from what little I've read by him, he seems to camouflage some very striking satire and adult-leveled content, behind a somewhat child like appearance, and a naivistic style of writing. I'd say he wins when being read by a scandinavian, the satire might get lost on anyone else.

1/2

>> No.2816362
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2816362

>>2816358
Altough /lit has listed some of the more prominent sagas (the sticky), I'd recommend you to check out the works referenced in these articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_saga
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelanders%27_sagas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings%27_sagas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendary_sagas

2/2

>> No.2816374

>>2816362
oh great it's this misogynist faggot again
fuck off with your out dated gender roles neocon

>> No.2816376

>>2816374
The fuck are you talking about?

>> No.2816379

>>2816374
Men only, pre-1950.

Yes

>> No.2816389

>>2816379
>what the average hipster reads

>> No.2816393

>>2816389
>>2816374
For the love of god, keep this shit out of the thread.

>> No.2816394

>>2816389

>what the average hipster tryhard reads

ftfy

>> No.2816407

>>2816389
Right, I always thought many hipsters checked out shit like the beats.

>> No.2816410

Echoing the recommendation to check out Erlend Loe.

My favorite of his is L, which details an expedition he made attempting to prove how Polynesians immigrated from South America by crossing the Pacific on skates.

It's sort of a comment from Loe on how his own generation seemingly has contributed little constructive compared to previous ones. Charming and swift read, anyway.

>> No.2816414

>>2816389
>>2816394
The Beats started in the 50s and continued on till now. Pynchon is probably the biggest hipster around (as a literary figure anyways).

I don't understand how being a hipster is a bad thing. Neither do I understand what the loose definition is now. It seems to be some creature that feeds off of pseudo-intellectual attention, that cash checks written by their parents, college dropouts, dislikes anything popular, has a mac book, drinks coffee at Starbucks, are screenplay writers, scarf wearers and now from this thread someone who reads classical literature specifically written by men only and before 1950. Now isn't that stupid. This is /lit/. Not /v/ or /mu/.

I hope this doesn't derail this thread because I too know absolutely nothing about Scandinavian literature

>> No.2816416

Luckily the Danish government has already done the work for me. Below are the 10 works of the danish literary "Cultural Canon".

Leonora Christina (1621-98): Jammers Minde, nedskr. 1673-74, udgivet 1869
Steen Steensen Blicher (1782-1848): Præsten i Vejlbye, 1829.
H.C. Andersen (1805-75): Den lille Havfrue fra Eventyr fortalte for Børn, 3. hft., 1837.
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55): Enten - Eller, 1843.
J.P. Jacobsen (1847-85): Fru Marie Grubbe, 1876.
Herman Bang (1857-1912): Ved Vejen fra Stille Eksistenser, 1886.
Henrik Pontoppidan (1857-1943): Lykke-Per, 1898-1904.
Johannes V. Jensen (1873-1950): Kongens Fald, 1900-01.
Karen Blixen (1885-1962): Vinter-Eventyr, 1942.
Klaus Rifbjerg (1931-): Og andre historier, 1964.
Inger Christensen (1935-2009): Sommerfugledalen, 1991.

Good luck finding translations.

I have only read about a fourth of them btw, so can't really give many recommendations, I'm not that big a fan of many of the above authors.

I would add to that
Martin A Hansen - Løgneren (Beautiful existentialist novel)
Knud Sønderby - Midt i en Jazztid (raunchy 1920's, book broke with the literary puritanism of the times)
Ludvig Holberg - Erasmus Montanus (this is a classic - 18th century danish satirical play, kid goes to the big city and gets "an education", comes home and trolls the village, until they gang up on him and force him to renounce his agreement with their beliefs, that is simplified but it is hilarious)


There is a bunch of other things but I gotta run, and I am probably not the best qualified for this anyway as I always read more English than Danish literature.

>> No.2816429

>>2816410
I read it some weeks ago. I found myself somewhat confused, throughout the last 2/3 of it - as it seemed he suddenly changed the angle of which he wrote the book. It began as one of his typically naive comedies, but seemingly took a turn for a more serious note (in terms of the content, the style remains the same), and came off as a text trying to somehow teach, and introduce the targeted audience (most likely being the youth) to the more prominent political directions, the aspect of working in groups, basic psychology, and the romance of a pragmatic ideal.

In the end, I really didn't know if the book was a well written naive take on the existential crisis, or an utter failure.

>> No.2816437

>>2816416
>Ludvig Holberg - Erasmus Montanus
This is the one where he writes a letter to his father in Latin, knowing he couldn't possibly read it - put in 4chan terms, simply for the lulz?

>> No.2816452

>>2816416
Ludvig Holberg was Norwegian, just so you know.

>>2816429
I think it *is* a failure, which is doubly appropriate when you consider the (lack of) findings of the expedition. Loe finds no answers in the end.

>> No.2816479

From Norway: Olav Duun - The People of Juvik

From Finland: anything by Arto Paasilinna

From Sweden: I don't know, is Tove Jansson Swedish? The Summer Book is not that great, anyway.

I think that exhausts my experience with Scandinavian literature.

>> No.2816553

>>2816479
Jansson was a Swedish-speaking Finn.

Johanna Sinisalo is a great Finnish writer. I think at least two of her books have been translated to English.

>> No.2816585

No Herbjørg Wassmo?

>> No.2816588

Anything good about Norse gods and/or vikings?

>> No.2816600

>>2816588
The Poetic and Prose Eddas are good places to start if you want to get familiar with the earliest known sources. Otherwise, pick up a textbook, really.

Haavamaal in particular is fascinating. It's a poem narrated by Odin himself, laying down how a proper Norseman should act.

Betre bør
du ber'kje i bakkji
en mannevit mykj

(Better burden
you cannot bear uphill
than plenty of man-wisdom)

>> No.2816607

>>2815962
Pleb fuck.

>> No.2816620

>>2816452
>Ludvig Holberg was Norwegian, just so you know.

Not like there was any difference back then.

>> No.2816619

>>2816607

umad? coz your free ebook gets 2 downloads a year on amazon and that book sold millions and has been filmed twice.

>> No.2816627

>>2816600
>Better burden
>you cannot bear uphill
>than plenty of man-wisdom
II like that one

>> No.2817269

Yeah, Hamsun is the way to go

>> No.2817346

Since the most notable icelandic and kings sagas have been mentioned I would like to add some modern icelandic authors. Sadly most of them are untranslated but some of the more famous ones have gotten some attention in germany because of some book convention held in Hamburg.

Halldór Laxness is an obvious choice, check out his works; Independent People, Iceland's Bell, The Happy Warriors and The Fish Can Sing.

Other notable authors who have been translated : Gunnar Gunnarsson, Thor Vilhjálmsson, Guðbergur Bergsson, Andri Snær Magnason, Gyrðir Elíasson.

There are also Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Arnaldur Indriðason but their works are widely considered pulp-fiction in Iceland although they are getting a lot of attention in europe.

Sadly some of the best works of poetry (and there is a lot because of bored farmers who read a lot during long winters in remote dales) will never be translated.

>> No.2817770

>>2816354
Kallocain is one of the best dystopioan stories ive ever read. I warmly recommend it.

>> No.2817772

Red Room. The pinnacle of scandinavian literature.

>> No.2817808

As I always do in Scandinavian literature threads, i'd like to point out two notable swedish authors.

Sara Lidman
and Torgny Lindgren.

Both of them are totally unreadable in translation since so much is lost in the language.

I've read most swedish literature. And i've yet to find an equal to Sara Lidman, only in Strindberg and Hjalmar Söderberg.

>> No.2817811

>>2817346
>Be an Icelander
>Spend my life doing nothing but reading and making poetry
No foreign man shall know of the grey armored warrior of winter that kissed the earth with his sword causing the impregnation and birth of spring.

>> No.2817825

>>2817811
>No foreign man shall know of the grey armored warrior of winter that kissed the earth with his sword causing the impregnation and birth of spring.
If that is your own poetry - im glad.

>> No.2817830

August Strindberg(all of them)

>> No.2817841

>>2817825
Hardly
Its a famous Icelandic poem that I doubt anybody could do justice to via translation since its beauty is lost in translation.

>> No.2817866

>>2817841
Svona bara til að trufla þessa lýsingu á þjóðarstolti þínu þá langar mig að vita hver þín uppáhalds ljóðkáld eru, er ekki eins vel að mér í íslenskri ljóðagerð og ég hefði viljað.