Norwegian Literature

[Saladin]

I am just wondering of how many of you have read some norwegian literature or are familiar with it? I would guess that most people knows about Ibsen and his plays "A Doll`s House" and Hamsun`s book "Hunger"? Thats mostly i think the two most known written norwegian works internationally. What about norse literature or "Asbjørnsen and Moes" folktales?

[Dark Muse]

Well I have read the Norse Edda's at least some of them. I have not read all of them yet.

[JBI]

I've read like 5 Ibsen plays, 3 of which quite thoroughly. I personally love his work.

[Saladin]

I've read like 5 Ibsen plays, 3 of which quite thoroughly. I personally love his work.

Are you familiar with Ludvig Holberg? Another norwegian/danish playwriter. But he wrote comedies though. I recommend his works also.

And Ibsen is next to Edvard Munch (the painter of Scream) and the composer Edvard Grieg one of the best contributors to norwegian cultural heritage.


Well I have read the Norse Edda's at least some of them. I have not read all of them yet.

Thats interesting. I like the norse eddas. Especially the "Prose Edda" (also known as the Younger Edda). Its mainly about norse mythology.

[_Shannon_]

Sigrid Undset...and Ibsen...that's all I've got:)

[a lost weekend]

"Good" Scandinavian lit is hard to come by in the English-speaking world due to the, um, few translations and the relative obscurity of the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian languages--i.e. Peter Hoeg's The Quiet Girl (an awful translation).

[ex ponto]

I've read several Hamsun's novels and for a while he was among my favourite authors.
Fairy-tales are very interesting, both Norwegian and Swedish.
I really like ''Peer Gynt'' and ''An Enemy of the People'', though I got stuck in the middle of ''When We Dead Awaken''.
And I've read a few short stories by Bjornson.

[Leabhar]

I've read three Hamsun books; Growth of the Soil, Victoria, and Pan. I also read O.E. Rolvaag's Giants in the Earth and now I'm reading the sequel to it, Peder Victorious.

[Idril]

I've actually just recently discovered Scandinavian lit. I haven't gotten into much Danish work, mostly Icelandic, Swedish and Norwegian. The Norwegian authors I've read are Bjørneboe, Agnar Mykle, Jonas Lie, Tarjei Vesaas, Hamsun and Undset. I've read a great many sagas but I think those would be considered Icelandic more than Norwegian, right?

[grotto]

You can try "The Serious Game" by Hjalmar Soderberg

[Annamariah]

"Good" Scandinavian lit is hard to come by in the English-speaking world due to the, um, few translations and the relative obscurity of the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian languages--i.e. Peter Hoeg's The Quiet Girl (an awful translation).

I don't know how much translations there are available, but actually Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are related to English, have many similar structures and are therefore often easier to translate into English than Finnish is, for example :p But then again, most translations from smaller language groups aren't done by native English speakers, as there isn't enough of those who can speak Scandinavian languages, which might explain the not-so-good quality of the translations.

I've read A Doll's House, but can't remember reading anything else Norwegian. I probably have read something, but haven't paid enough attention to who has written it. Oh wait a moment, Erlend Loe is Norwegian, too. I've read Naive, Super, but didn't like it much, though I have friends who think it's great.

But at least Jo Nesbø's crime novels are pretty popular here, and so are Karin Fossum's and Anne Holt's. I should know, working in libraries and all :D

[Idril]

You can try "The Serious Game" by Hjalmar Soderberg

Oh, that's a good one! Love Soderberg! I am rather fond of the Swedes.

And Annamariah, I would love a few names of some good Finnish authors. I have yet to read one Finnish book.

[Annamariah]

And Annamariah, I would love a few names of some good Finnish authors. I have yet to read one Finnish book.

The Egyptian by Mika Waltari is the most succesful Finnish book internationally, and the only one that's been turned into a Hollywood movie. It's rather long, though. Then there's The Unknown Soldier by Väinö Linna, but I've heard that the translation is really bad, they've left things out and added some of their own, so I'm not sure if it's worth trying. Seven Brothers by Aleksis kivi is the first Finnish novel, a true classic.

And of course there's Kalevala, the Finnish national epic compiled by Elias Lönnroth. You can it in English online here (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/kveng/), but the translation is from the year 1888 so I don't know how good it is.

[Idril]

Thank you, Annamariah! I've added all those to my amazon wishlist. I added Waltari's Wanderer too because it looked interesting. I also added Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo because amazon recommended it and it sounded bizarre and fascinating...and while I didn't bother with The Unknown Soldier, I did add a different book of her's, Under the North Star so that should give me a good introduction. Again, thank you! :)

Kalevala was a huge inspiration for Tolkien in writing his mythology, I've always thought I should check it out but never did. I think I was just intimidated by it but I've since read the Prose Edda and several Sagas so it doesn't seem so scary anymore.

[Annamariah]

Thank you, Annamariah! I've added all those to my amazon wishlist. I added Waltari's Wanderer too because it looked interesting. I also added Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo because amazon recommended it and it sounded bizarre and fascinating...and while I didn't bother with The Unknown Soldier, I did add a different book of her's, Under the North Star so that should give me a good introduction. Again, thank you! :)

Kalevala was a huge inspiration for Tolkien in writing his mythology, I've always thought I should check it out but never did. I think I was just intimidated by it but I've since read the Prose Edda and several Sagas so it doesn't seem so scary anymore.

I guess you're old enough to handle Sinisalo's book, but a friend of mine was traumatized when she decided to go and read some well-known grown-up book and Troll: A Love Story was what she picked up from the library :D

If real Kalevala seems a bit too much to take, you might at first want to try the Canine Kalevala by Mauri Kunnas :lol:
http://www.bookplus.fi/media-dynamic/images/product/00/04/29/76/89/1/kunnas-mauri-the-canine-kalevala.jpg
It's basically the same story, just with normal narration instead of poems and there are great illustrations :) There are Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, Lemminkäinen and all the other heroes, they just happen to be dogs. Except for Lemminkäinen, who is a cat, I mean. And those wolves from the north... :lol:

[TheFifthElement]

Oh wait a moment, Erlend Loe is Norwegian, too. I've read Naive, Super, but didn't like it much, though I have friends who think it's great.
I love that book. It's so simple and yet not. I didn't realise Loe was Norwegian.

I've also read Hunger by Knut Hamsun and will be reading more of his work at some time. I'd especially like to read Pan and Mysteries.

Does Icelandic count? I very much enjoy the works of Halldor Laxness.

[Idril]

Does Icelandic count? I very much enjoy the works of Halldor Laxness.

I love him! Every line he writes is like poetry.

[kiki1982]

Sjol, Björk's text writer, wrote a book too. Very poetic indeed. Blauwvos in Dutch (Blue Fox can't be right...). But that's Icelandic too...

Scandinavian lit seems to have this peaceful, vast, empty and yet full feeling in it. Strange, but true. Like their countries... The Swedish film version of Wallander had that too.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I've been reading a bit more lately (and being on holiday helps) but I have been enjoying the Karin Fossum Sejer crime novels. Pretty well written detective/thriller books. I'm on the third book at the moment.