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?
Well I have read the Norse Edda's at least some of them. I have not read all of them yet.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. ~ Edgar Allan Poe
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.Originally Posted by JBI
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.
Thats interesting. I like the norse eddas. Especially the "Prose Edda" (also known as the Younger Edda). Its mainly about norse mythology.
Sigrid Undset...and Ibsen...that's all I've got
"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).
Et le ciel versait des tenebres
Sur le triste monde engourdi.
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.
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.
My mother is a fish.
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?
the luminous grass of the prairie hides
feet lovely and still as sleeping doves,
porcelain bones strong enough to carry a life,
but weighty and unmovable
As black Dakota hills. ~ Riesa
You can try "The Serious Game" by Hjalmar Soderberg
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 exampleBut 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
Last edited by Annamariah; 09-27-2009 at 12:11 PM.
Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing. Her hair was golden as the sun's rays and her soul as clear and blue as her eyes.
Gaston Leroux - The Phantom of the Opera
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.
the luminous grass of the prairie hides
feet lovely and still as sleeping doves,
porcelain bones strong enough to carry a life,
but weighty and unmovable
As black Dakota hills. ~ Riesa
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, but the translation is from the year 1888 so I don't know how good it is.
Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing. Her hair was golden as the sun's rays and her soul as clear and blue as her eyes.
Gaston Leroux - The Phantom of the Opera
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.
the luminous grass of the prairie hides
feet lovely and still as sleeping doves,
porcelain bones strong enough to carry a life,
but weighty and unmovable
As black Dakota hills. ~ Riesa
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 libraryThank 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.
If real Kalevala seems a bit too much to take, you might at first want to try the Canine Kalevala by Mauri Kunnas
It's basically the same story, just with normal narration instead of poems and there are great illustrations
Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing. Her hair was golden as the sun's rays and her soul as clear and blue as her eyes.
Gaston Leroux - The Phantom of the Opera
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