Scandinavistica Vilnensis
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Hva kan arves? Om skyld, vold og seksualitet i to nordiske krigsminneromaner
Full text linkDuring the last two decades, an increasing focus on perpetrators has emerged in Scandinavian literature. This so called perpetrator fiction, with an explicit intention of understanding evil, has portrayed the Nazis and their henchmen in detail. These are frequently described in familial relationships, and their stories are told from a second or third generational point of view. Interestingly, the perpetrators are regularly depicted as perverse persons and their deviant sexuality as part of the problem. In this article, I discuss two Scandinavian novels with the family as a narrative structure and the perpetrator as its main character. The novels Jeg har arvet en mørk skog (2012) by Morten Borgersen and Stormen. En berättelse (2016) by Steve Sem-Sandberg deal with wartime events seen from a present-day I-narrator’s point of view. Both novels incorporate mythology and perverse sexuality, and they ask provocative questions about the causes of wartime violence
Från nationalhjälte till rikstyrann: Karl XII i det svenska 1800-talets litterära minneskultur
Full text linkThe overall aim of the article is to investigate the structure and dynamics of the Swedish cultural memory in the nineteenth century. According to the micrological methodology, recommended by leading theorists of cultural memory, the article focuses on five representative texts: three Romantic poems written to the 1818 centenary of Charles XII’s death (Bernhard von Beskow’s “Carl den Tolfte,” Erik Gustaf Geijer’s “Ord till Karl XII:s marsch vid Narva,” and Esaias Tegnér’s “Carl XII”), and two short stories, written in the last decade of the nineteenth century, both depicting the events immediately after the death of Charles XII and thus thematising the cultural memory of the king as communicative memory (Verner von Heidenstam’s “En hjältes likfärd” and August Strindberg’s “Vid Likvakan i Tistedalen”). Analysing the three poems, the article makes an attempt to reconstruct the degree zero structure of the Swedish cultural memory in the nineteenth century. It is argued that the poems’ cultural memory has an eclectic character and requires a kind of archaeological approach. In the first step, the article identifies a tissue of elements, belonging to the pre-industrial cultural memory: cult of the death, burial scenery, relic, fame, ritualization, militarization. The poems subordinate this archaic memory system to the structures which are the products of the nineteenth century and originate from one single social process: industrialization. In the second step, the main part of the article, these industrial components of the poems’ cultural memory are analysed: subjectification, temporalization, historicization, productivization, nationalization, and finally mythicization – the final component is investigated using both Barthesian and Jungian conceptual apparatus. In the third and last step, the article studies the development of this degree zero memory structure during the nineteenth century. Two main evolutionary trends, rooted in two different modifications of the Kantian notion of the Self, are distinguished. The first trend, exemplified by the short story of Heidenstam, implies an existential psychologization of the industrial cultural memory. The second trend, represented by the short story of Strindberg, is based on a naturalistic correction of the Kantian Self and executes a subversive demythicization of the Romantic Charles XII-myth
Stig Sjödin och minnets politik
Full text linkThe aim of this article is to analyse the attitudes to history and memory expressed in the working-class poetry of Stig Sjödin (1917–1993) – both in Sotfratgment (Fragments of Soot) from 1949, which marked his breakthrough as a poet, and in the poetry he wrote for the labour movement (mainly poems published in tradeunion membership magazines or read at meetings and congresses) – and to discuss how he and his poetry are today viewed as reminders of political ideals and experiences threatened by oblivion. There are certain differences between how memory and remembering is treated in Sotfragment and in Sjödin’s labour-movement poetry respectively. In Sotfragment, focus is more often on individual memories and existential problems, whereas in the labour-movement poetry, Sjödin is sometimes more explicitly political and writes about collective memories from a proletarian perspective. These differences are conditioned by differences between the spheres to which the poems belong: that of literature and that of the labour movement. In connection with the rise of left-wing radicalism in Sweden during the 1960s and 1970s, Sjödin argued that older working-class literature contained important political experiences and perspectives. This is also how his works are sometimes viewed today, both by working-class writers and by political commentators. Thereby, it is emphasized that literature is not a passive medium for the preservation of memories, but that it can also transform them and make them politically relevant
The Faroese Cultural Archive: The Archive as a Source and Theme in Local Historical Writing
Full text linkThe cultural Faroese archive consists mostly of local historical writing. This article focuses on works of local history and claims that the local historical part of the archive constitutes the most extensive part of Faroese writing conventions. In publications on local history, the archive progresses into book form without undergoing any significant interpretation. This phenomenon is examined here as an expression of the archive as active and as an element of access, but one that is still used in a traditional cultural-historical context. However, what does “archive” really mean in this context? As a central writing convention, the cultural Faroese archive transcends common notions of the archive as collection, registration and unpublished source material. The article examines the cultural Faroese archive as both source and theme. In other words, it distinguishes between 1) the original archives as sources, which are kept in museums and libraries without being published, and 2) the use of archival sources as topics and cultural resources within published works. Through employing an elastic conception, the article understands the archive as a metaphor in Faroese writing conventions. On this basis, it argues that Aleida Assmann’s distinction between the archive as a source and subject cannot be maintained in a Faroese context because the sources per se are treated as a cultural-historical subject. Finally, it contends that the active and totalizing dimension in the cultural Faroese archive transcends abstract notions of the archive among leading archival theorists, who potentially disregard the cultural archive. Their view is countered by a study of the archive as a felt, experienced and interpreted cultural reality related to the Faroe Islands as a specific, ultraminor, geographical entity. By making geography an independent explanatory factor – and not only as a metaphor for a powerful centre and a powerless periphery, as in classical postcolonialism – it is possible to see connections between size and structure. In the case of the Faroese archive, the (colonial) order of things cannot be understood fully without acknowledging the relations between size and structure. The size of the Faroese cultural archive is associated with a lack of capacity, which in turn contributes to an understanding of Faroese uses of it. This power of action in ultraminor cultures is treated as a willingness to compensate for their shortcomings. Thus, what seems to be deprivation only turns out to be cultural capital
Lidelse og frigjøring: TV som minneaktør i 70- og 75-årsmarkeringene av den siste krigsvinteren i Nord-Norge
Full text linkIn this article, I compare two tv-programs about the ending of WWII in northern Norway, aired by the Norwegian Public Broadcaster (NRK). The first one was sent from Tromsø October 31st 2014, with the title, “The Autumn they lost everything,” and marked the 70 years anniversary of the forced evacuation of the people, as almost all houses in Finnmark and Northern Troms were burnt down when the Nazis retreated from the area after being defeated by the Red Army. The second was aired from Kirkenes five years later, in 2019, marking the 75 years anniversary. The title was “Saved by the Russians,” as the celebration of the heroism of the soldiers and the relationship between Russia and Norway were the main topics.The structure of the analysis concentrates on three aspects of the programs. First, I look at the ways tv-resources are being used in each of them, focusing on the host style and the aesthetics of the live studio. Secondly, I show how the programs express a northern identity by addressing critical perspectives on the main national story of WWII and the lack of support from Norwegian authorities for the people in the north during the autumn and winter of 1944/45. The third aspect concerns the ways memories of the war are being connected to contemporary issues. In 2014 this is the refugee situation in Europe, whereas the program in 2019 discusses the value of memory culture in relation to political controversies about Norway’s defence strategy in the north vis á vis Russia. By following these three aspects of the tv-programs, the analysis sheds light on their functions as memory agents situated in a particular media context, in which the regional perspective on WWII is being negotiated within the framework of national public television
En svensk röst från Kaunas och Vilnius1939–1940: Lennart Kjellbergs brev
Full text linkIn this article, I intend to publish a series of letters by Lennart Kjellberg (1913–2004) who had worked as a Swedish lecturer in Lithuania at the University in Kaunas and Vilnius before World War II, in 1939–1940. I met Lennart Kjellberg several times in the early 90s when I, a young scholar after completing Swedish and Nordic studies and a doctorate in historical linguistics, came to Vilnius and started teaching at the University of Vilnius and set up the Department for Scandinavian Studies. We met several times in Uppsala, and Lennart Kjellberg gave me a bundle of copies of his letters, mainly to his bride Ann-Mari Stridbeck written in 1939, encouraging me to publish them. Kjellberg’s letters are an incredibly exciting source of information and insight for those interested in the cultural and political life of Lithuania during that time and in its perception by a young Swedish intellectual. For me, meeting Lennart Kjellberg, besides everything else, was an unexpected collision with the past which had been cut away by Soviet oppression. For those who grew up during the Soviet era, the period before and during the Soviet presence was sort of divided into then and now (before and after World War II). The loss of continuity in Lithuania’s history is perhaps one of its greatest traumas caused by the Soviet period. For this reason, Kjellberg’s letters, most of which are being published here for the first time, not only give us a lively picture of pre-war Lithuania but also contribute to our better understanding of our past and of ourselves
Minnenas magiska lykta: Om Ingmar Bergmans berättelse Laterna magica
Full text linkLaterna magica (1987) is the first book Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007) published whose content was not intended to be developed into film or theater. This autobiographical book has often been used in research as a reference in various contexts concerning Bergman’s life and art. From a research point of view, however, it is difficult to use the memory book as evidence for facts or truths, as there are many examples of it simply being fiction. It is therefore interesting today to read Laterna magica as a work of art in its own right and thus perhaps find a different “truth” than the one about Ingmar Bergman’s life. For his story of himself, Bergman has very consciously chosen a literary form that structures personal memories interspersed with more contemporary events. What memories then does his literary laterna magica show and what do they mean? Why are memories and events structured in a certain way? Is there any unity in the total of more than a hundred memory images in various forms that the book consists of? My reading of Laterna magica takes a point of departure in Adriana Cavarero’s (2000) theory of the “narrative self.” In Laterna magica the narrative self creates an identity through the story that consists of the merged memory images. It then becomes a story where Bergman’s narrative self is looking for answers to the question “who am I?” The reading of the “autobiography” also assumes that it is a literary work. Thus, the story of the magical lantern of memories can be analyzed as a literary composition where staging and truth-seeking are two important concepts
Hjemstavn som erindring i migrantlitteratur
Full text linkThis article focusses on the representation of homeland in two Scandinavian novels: Amal Aden’s Min drøm om frihet (2009) and Jonas Suchanek’s Do danska (2014). Both novels can be considered migrant literature, i.e., literature written by authors who have themselves experienced migration. Another thing that these novels have in common is that their authors construct the image of their original homeland through their own memories. Typically, the idealizing memories are reinforced as the characters are confronted with negative experiences in the new country, where they do not feel assimilated, as we can see it in Aden’s novel. In Suchanek’s novel, nostalgia plays an important role, namely the historical fact that his homeland has actually disappeared (the protagonist emigrated from the communist Czechoslovakia and returns to a completely new post-revolutionary country).Both novels demonstrate the concept of homeland not only as a geographical place, but also in terms of the cultural aspects associated with it, be it friends or food. At the same time, the concept of polygamy of place, which is often mentioned in the context of globalization, does not seem to work very well. Especially in Aden’s novel, the protagonist’s relationship with her original homeland and the new homeland oscillates between topophilia and topophobia. Essential to the memories of the homeland, then, are the triggers that take the characters in both novels back to a time before their migration, creating a sense of discomfort and nostalgia
“Den ensomme helt mod magtens og storpolitikkens skamfulde forsømmelser”: Den individuelle projektion af en nations kamp i FN-embedsmand Povl Bang-Jensens minde
Full text linkThe Hungarian political and social discourse of the last decades often makes use of a national myth based on Hungarian history that focuses on a constant struggle for survival. The myth is built around the concept of the heroic Hungarians, who from time to time fight against a political and / or military preponderance. A narrative characteristic for the countries of East-Central and Eastern Europe has been created, which in its distinction between itself and the other concentrates on self-defence and victimhood, but at the same time emphasizes the nation’s superiority over the others. The image of the nation characterized by the uninterrupted struggle for survival becomes a schematic but effective tool in the political discourse. It is not a new narrative, but the actualization of the well-known, that finds appropriate events and personalities to disseminate the existing, traditional self-image. The paper attempts to demonstrate how the Danish United Nations official Povl Bang-Jensen and the role he played in the international politics after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 has been used to convey this image. Based on memories, books and documentaries my goal is to discuss how individual recall of experienced events contributed to the (re)construction of Bang-Jensen’s personality. Furthermore, I try to shed light on how intertwining memories about a historical event, scientific research and history writing points to a changed perception of the scientific facts that are no longer considered objective and independent of human consciousness or actions. They describe a reality, which is influenced by consciousness and interpreted through textual formulations. The article argues that the subjective perspective constituted in the memories about Bang-Jensen creates an almost mythologized interpretation of the Danish diplomat as a symbol of freedom and morality, as well. The article was among others inspired by works of Maurice Halbwachs, Sabine Mollers, Annette Warrings and Bernard Eric Jensen on memory, historical awareness and the use of history
Trauma og minne i Jon Fosses Stengd gitar
Full text linkJon Fosse’s writing is characterized by a constant return to turmoil that is often associated with traumatic events in the past. His literary figures seem to be trapped in their painful memories. The very cause or starting point of their trauma often remains hidden or unsaid. The novel Closed Guitar from 1985 is about Liv, a young single mother who locks herself out of her apartment where her one-year-old son is. In the novel, we follow the thoughts of a lonely person who is closed as much inside as outside. The main character in the novel undergoes a mental journey into the past and is tossed back and forth between her autobiographical memories and hallucinations. Since the novel was published in 1985, memory research has undergone a revolution and researchers have pointed out that our memories and visions of the future are closely linked. In Fosse’s novel, bad and good memories are piled on top of one another, and thoughts about the future create an intense encounter between the outer and the inner reality.I discuss at how Liv’s dissociative tendency and her movements in the autobiographical memories form a self-narrative that, despite its fragmented character, creates a relevant context for her. The reader, on the other hand, struggles to interpret her narrative, because it is apparently shaped by false memories and several different variations of the same event. Liv’s story as fiction brings us closer to understanding how our autobiographical narratives are structured