TLW's Scandinavian Novelist Historyscope |
By T.L. Winslow (TLW), the Historyscoper™ |
© Copyright by T.L. Winslow. All Rights Reserved. |
Original Pub. Date: Aug. 24, 2015. Last Update: Sept. 25, 2018. |
Westerners are not only known as history ignoramuses, but double dumbass history ignoramuses when it comes to Scandinavian novelist history. Since I'm the one-and-only Historyscoper (tm), let me quickly bring you up to speed before you dive into my Master Historyscope.
Scandinavian literature covers the Nordic countries of N Europe incl. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway (incl. Svalbard), Sweden ,and autonomous terroritories incl. Aland, Faroe Islands, and Greenland. Most speak North Germanic languages, but a majority of Finns speak Uralic languages.
In 1872 the Modern Breakthrough begins in Scandinavia (ends 1890), launched by Danish critic Georg Morris Cohen Brandes (1842-1927), causing naturalism to replace romanticism in lit.
In 1880 Asserballe, Schleswig, Denmark-born gay novelist Herman Joachim Bang (1857-1912) pub. his first novel Families Without Hope (Haabløse Slægter), about a young man romancing an older woman, causing it to be banned as obscene, making him more popular? He then settles in Copenhagen, producing a series of novels and short story collections, putting him in the front rank of Scandinavian novelists and earning the friendship of Henrik Ibsen; too bad, he is ostracized for his homosexuality.
In 1890 Lom, Gudbrandsdal, Norway-born Neo-Romantic (anti-realist) novelist Knut Hamsun (Knud Pedersen) (1859-1952) pub. his first major novel Hunger (Sult), a semi-autobio. psychological novel about a starving young man in 19th cent. Kristiania (Oslo), exploring the irrationality of the human mind, pioneering stream of consciousness and interior monologues, becoming a forerunner of Franz Kafka etc. and launching 20th cent. lit.; he starts out fast with a masterpiece? He receives the 1920 Nobel Lit. Prize.
In 1891 in order to win a prize from Swedish mag. Idun, Marbacka, Varmland, Sweden-born Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlof (Lagerlöf) (1858-1940) pub. her first novel The Story of Gosta (Gösta) Berling (The Story of Gösta Berlings Saga), set in 1820s Varmland on the shores of Lake Loven (Löven) (Fryken), about deposed minister Gosta Berling, who is saved from freezing by the Mistress of Ekeby; filmed in 1924 by Mauritz Stiller starring Greta Garbo; basis of the 1925 Riccardo Zandonai opera "I Cavalieri di Ekebu". In 1906-7 she pub. The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (2 vols.), about young Nils Holgersson, whose "chief delight was to eat and sleep, and after that he liked best to make mischief", who nets a tomte (tiny white-bearded gnome with a red knit cap) who turns him into one. She receives the 1909 Nobel Lit. Prize, becoming the first woman.
In 1988 Copenhagen-born Danish novelist Peter Hoeg (Høeg) (1957-) pub. his first novel A History of Danish Dreams. In 1990 he pub. Tales of the Night. In 1992 he pub. Miss Smilla's Sense of (Feeling for) Snow, which is filmed in 1997. In 1993 he pub. Borderliners. In 1996 he pub. The Woman and the Ape, which is a flop. In 2006 he pub. The Quiet Girl, which gets mixed reviews because of its complexity. In 2010 he pub. The Elephant Keepers' Children.
On Nov. 9, 2004 Skelleftehamn-born Swedish journalist and crime novelist Karl Stig-Erland "Stieg" Larsson (1954-2004) dies suddenly in Stockholm of a heart attack, leaving The Millennium Trilogy, about 20-something Lisbeth Salander, who has a photographic memory and poor social skills, and investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist, who works for Millennium mag., which are pub. posth., becoming the #2 best-selling author on Earth in 2008, selling 27M copies in 40+ countries by 2010, 65M by Dec. 2011, and 80M by 2015, becoming the first ebook with 1M Kindle downloads in 2010; it incl. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", "The Girl Who Played with Fire", "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest".