A complete study of the political background and the psychological and sociological conditions that produced this literature.

Volume 2.

A single mother, Vibeke, and her son Jon, have just moved to a small, remote town in the north of Norway. It is the day before Jon's birthday, but Vibeke, preoccupied with concerns of her own, has forgotten this. With a man on her mind, she ventures to the local library and then a fairground, while Jon goes out to sell lottery tickets for his sports club. We follow the two characters on their separate journeys through a cold winter's night as Orstavik weaves together their two separate worlds - a sense of uneasiness grows.

'Askildsen's dry, absurd humour is not unlike that of Beckett... His short stories are packed with irony, and the dialogue is sharp and expressive' TLS Spare, taut and told with flashes of pitch-black humour, the short stories of Norwegian master Kjell Askildsen capture all the strangeness of modern existence. In this selection of tales, spanning the whole of his brilliant career, unnerving encounters occur, lonely individuals try to connect, families and relationships are fractured, and we are confronted by the fragility and absurdity of life. 'Full of compelling strangeness. Lives surge through a few brittle pages, suppressed loves and resentments threaten to erupt' Independent

This book examines the significance of cabins and other temporary seasonal dwellings as important symbols in modern Norwegian cultural and literary history. The author uses Michel Foucault’s notion of the “heterotopia”—an actual place that also functions imaginatively as a kind of real-world utopia—to examine how cabins have signified differently during successive periods, from an Enlightenment trope of simplicity and moderation, through the rise of tourism, into a period of increasing individualism and alienation from nature. For each period discussed, the author relates a widely recognized real world cabin to a cluster of thematically related literary texts from a wide variety of genres. Cabins in Modern Norwegian Literature considers both central canonical works, such as Camilla Collett’s The District Governor’s Daughters, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson’s Synnøve Solbakken, Henrik Ibsen’s When We Dead Awaken, and Knut Hamsun’s The Growth of the Soil, as well as less widely known literary works and texts from marginal genres such as hunting narratives and crime fiction. In addition, the book contains analyses of a few key films from the contemporary period that also activate the cabin as a motif. The central argument is that while Norwegians today tend to think of cabin culture as essentially unchanging over a long span of time, it has in fact changed dramatically over the past two hundred years, and that it is an extremely rich and complex cultural phenomenon deeply imbedded in the construction of national identity.

Originally published in 1966, this general survey of the 'classic' period of Norwegian literature was the first book in English devoted entirely to the period.

A history designed for college students, the author's objective being an account sufficiently brief to offer no difficulty from the point of view of time, & yet detailed enough to be convenient as a work of reference. Considerable space is given to modern literature. "An indispensable book."--NEW REPUBLIC. "A big book on a big theme."--NEW YORK TIMES. "A real contribution."--YALE REVIEW.

The second volume in Stig Sæterbakken's loosely connected "S Trilogy," Self-Control moves from the dark portrait of codependent marriage featured in the acclaimed Siamese to a world of solitary loneliness and repression. A middle-aged man, Andreas Feldt, feeling that he is unable to communicate with his adult daughter over the course of a friendly lunch, announces on an inexplicable whim that he is going to get a divorce. Though his daughter is initially shocked, she quickly assimilates this information and all returns to normal. Faced with this virtual invisibility--for no matter what actions he takes, the world seems to take no notice--Andreas is cut adrift from the certainties of his life and forced to navigate through a society where it seems virtually everyone is only one loss of self-control away from an explosion of dissatisfaction and rage.

"Ludvig Holberg, The Founder of Norwegian Literature and an Oxford Student" by S. C. Hammer is an extensive and meticulously researched biography that offers a comprehensive exploration of the life, accomplishments, and cultural significance of Ludvig Holberg. From his formative years as an Oxford student to his groundbreaking contributions to Norwegian literature, Hammer delves deep into Holberg's experiences, intellectual pursuits, and literary legacy. This engaging narrative sheds light on the intricate connections between Holberg's education, his exposure to European ideas, and his role in shaping Norwegian cultural identity. With its detailed analysis and scholarly approach, this book serves as an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the life and works of Ludvig Holberg.