Biographical Introduction; Theodor Kittelsen's Illustrations; Interpretation and Summary of Contents

The twelfth volume in the series consists of Norsk Høifjeld, a work of prose and poetry written by Theodor Caspari and illustrated by Theodor Kittelsen and several other artists. In the various editions of the work, the aurora borealis figures in Caspari's text as well as in some of Kittelsen's illustrations. The introduction derives from an MA course in Scandinavian literature entitled ‘Dem Polarlicht auf der Spur. Wissenschaftshistorische und kulturwissen­schaftliche Erkundigungen’, given by Marie-Theres Federhofer at Humboldt University Berlin in 2019. The introduction has been written by the student Corinna Hoffmann, the student Lea Meissner, and Per Pippin Aspaas from UiT's University Library. It consists of a brief biographical sketch on Theodor Caspari, an introduction to Theodor Kittelsen's illustrations, and an interpretation and summary of contents of three of the altogether five editions of Norsk Høifjeld that were issued in Theodor Caspari's lifetime.

George Egerton’s Scandinavian Breakthrough

This chapter brings to light George Egerton’s role as a key mediator of Scandinavian literature. In her most famous collections of short stories, Keynotes (1893) and Discords (1894), Egerton used Scandinavian settings in order to portray women’s experience of international mobility, drawing attention to the importance of gender in the construction of cosmopolitan identities. After the success of her early works, Egerton produced pioneering English translations of works by Norwegian future Nobel laureate Knut Hamsun and Swedish decadent Ola Hansson. Egerton practised literary translation as a form of creative collaboration and used it to advocate Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy. The chapter concludes with an analysis of Egerton’s involvement in the aborted ‘Northern Light’ series, a venture planned by the influential progressive publisher John Lane in order to bring modern Scandinavian literature to English readers.

»Born translated«?

With the authorized edition of Henrik Ibsen’s complete works in German as a focal point, this paper analyzes the functions of authorization in the 19th century, seen in light of the European publishing trade and international copyright regulations. Special attention is paid to the conditions under which translations could precede the publication of the original text, allowing the original and its translation(s) to be published simultaneously. It is argued that Ibsen’s oeuvre, conceptualized by the author himself not simply as everything he had ever written but as a continuous and coherent whole, did not emerge primarily in the context of Norwegian or Scandinavian literature, but rather in the context of authorizing translations and the planning of a uniform German edition.

Biographical Introduction, Interpretation and Summary of Contents

The eighth volume in the series derives from an MA course in Scandinavian literature entitled ‘Dem Polarlicht auf der Spur. Wissenschaftshistorische und kulturwissen­schaftliche Erkundigungen’, given by Marie-Theres Federhofer at Humboldt University Berlin in 2019. Course participants wrote content summaries of selected texts as part of their exam, some of which were selected for the Aurorae Borealis Studia Classica series. The first student text edited and adapted for publication in the series is by Franziska Runge. She has written about one of the most cherished fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Sneedronningen (The Snow Queen), first published in 1844 and then reissued with illustrations by Thomas Vilhelm Pedersen in 1849. As demonstrated in Runge’s introduction, Andersen was well aware of the theories of electromagnetism promoted by the physicist Ørsted at precisely this time. Although a Romantic author, Andersen not only endows the aurora with a symbolic role in the narrative, he also alludes to contemporary scientific debates regarding the properties and origin of the phenomenon.

Pure Northerness – William Morris and C.S. Lewis

Having seen one of Rackham’s illustrations to Siegfried and the Twilight of the Gods in his youth, C.S. Lewis became instantly attracted to “pure ‘Northernness’”, a feature he would later associate with Scandinavian literature and mythology, Wagner’s music and William Morris’ romances. In a similar manner, Morris describes his reading of the Norse sagas as a momentous experience which influenced his later writings. However, the two authors seem to have responded to different aspects of the sagas: Morris to their realism of presentation and to their worship of courage, and Lewis to their use of magic and myth. Paradoxically, in spite of Morris’ paganism, his prose romances played an important part in Lewis’s conversion to Christianity.

The Future Modernism of No-Oil Norway: Øyvind Rimbereid’s “Solaris Corrected”

The article is a literary analysis of the poem “Solaris Corrected” by the Norwegian poet Øyvind Rimbereid. The work is a poetical science fiction where the oil industry in the North Sea is seen from a retrospective point of view, conveyed in a future language. As a part of the modernist tradition in Scandinavian literature, Rimbereid’s work can be read as a significant renewal of the poetic heritage from among others Rolf Jacobsen and Harry Martinson.