The Origins of Drama in Scandinavia

The Origins of Drama in Scandinavia

Author: Terry Gunnell

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 446

ISBN-13: 9780859914581

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A fresh look at early dramatic activity in Scandinavia, using archaeological, historical and literary evidence.


A History of Scandinavian Theatre

A History of Scandinavian Theatre

Author: Frederick J. Marker

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1996-09-28

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 9780521392372

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A balanced and authoritative account of the theatrical history of all three Scandinavian countries.


Ibsen, Scandinavia and the Making of a World Drama

Ibsen, Scandinavia and the Making of a World Drama

Author: Narve Fulsås

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2017-11-16

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1316992799

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Henrik Ibsen's drama is the most prominent and lasting contribution of the cultural surge seen in Scandinavian literature in the later nineteenth century. When he made his debut in Norway in 1850, the nation's literary presence was negligible, yet by 1890 Ibsen had become one of Europe's most famous authors. Contrary to the standard narrative of his move from restrictive provincial origins to liberating European exile, Narve Fulsås and Tore Rem show how Ibsen's trajectory was preconditioned on his continued embeddedness in Scandinavian society and culture, and that he experienced great success in his home markets. This volume traces how Ibsen's works first travelled outside Scandinavia and studies the mechanisms of his appropriation in Germany, Britain and France. Engaging with theories of book dissemination and world literature, and re-assessing the emergence of 'peripheral' literary nations, this book provides new perspectives on the work of this major figure of European literature and theatre.


The Routledge Research Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas

The Routledge Research Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas

Author: Ármann Jakobsson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-02-17

Total Pages: 516

ISBN-13: 1317041461

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The last fifty years have seen a significant change in the focus of saga studies, from a preoccupation with origins and development to a renewed interest in other topics, such as the nature of the sagas and their value as sources to medieval ideologies and mentalities. The Routledge Research Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas presents a detailed interdisciplinary examination of saga scholarship over the last fifty years, sometimes juxtaposing it with earlier views and examining the sagas both as works of art and as source materials. This volume will be of interest to Old Norse and medieval Scandinavian scholars and accessible to medievalists in general.


The Cambridge History of Scandinavia

The Cambridge History of Scandinavia

Author: Knut Helle

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2003-09-04

Total Pages: 942

ISBN-13: 9780521472999

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This volume presents a comprehensive exposition of both the prehistory and medieval history of the whole of Scandinavia. The first part of the volume surveys the prehistoric and historic Scandinavian landscape and its natural resources, and tells how man took possession of this landscape, adapting culturally to changing natural conditions and developing various types of community throughout the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages. The rest - and most substantial part of the volume - deals with the history of Scandinavia from the Viking Age to the end of the Scandinavian Middle Ages (c. 1520). The external Viking expansion opened Scandinavia to European influence to a hitherto unknown degree. A Christian church organisation was established, the first towns came into being, and the unification of the three medieval kingdoms of Scandinavia began, coinciding with the formation of the unique Icelandic 'Free State'.


The Origin of Medieval Drama

The Origin of Medieval Drama

Author: Leonard Goldstein

Publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9780838640043

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It has been widely accepted that the 10th-century liturgical plays developed naturally as a religious entity from the Mass. This approach is critiqued in The Origin of Medieval Drama where Leonard Goldstein places the development of the plays within the socio-economic context of the period, most notably the rapid rise of feudalism. Goldstein argues that the plays were a response by the Church to a decline in faith brought on by the burdens of feudalism on the peasantry. However, instead of revitalising faith, the plays which sought to assure the peasantry of their salvation actually represented and therefore reinforced the emerging private property relation. In looking at the origins of ancient Greek drama where scholars have concentrated more on social and cultural issues, Goldstein develops a Marxist model for the origins of medieval drama.


Norway's Christiania Theatre, 1827-1867

Norway's Christiania Theatre, 1827-1867

Author: Ann Schmiesing

Publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780838641071

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Norway's struggle to assert an independent cultural and political identity in the nineteenth century was played out with particular fervor at the Christiania Theatre in Christiania (now Oslo). Until the 1860s the Danish actors and directors dominated the Christiania Theatre, and even plays written by Norwegian authors were performed in Danish. This study examines the intellectual campaigns that transformed the Christiania Theatre from a Danish stage into the forerunner of Norway's National Theatre. It focuses on the culture wars between the Norwegian nationalists and the so-called Danomanians in the 1830s; the promotion of the Hegelian and national romantic cultural agenda in the 1840s and 1850s; Bjornson's and Ibsen's rejection of both radical nationalism and the entrenched Danishness of the theater in the 1850s' and Bjornson's ambitious attempt to reform the theater in the mid-1860s. It is illustrated. Ann Schmiesing is an Associate Professor of Scandinavian and German literature and culture at the University of Colorado at Boulder.


The A to Z of Sweden

The A to Z of Sweden

Author: Irene Scobbie

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2010-05-11

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 146167218X

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Once part of the Kalmar Union-along with Denmark and Norway-the Kingdom of Sweden broke free in order to govern itself in the early 1500s, and for more than a century afterwards it was a force to be reckoned with. At its peak, it was twice the size that it is today, but with the secession of Finland in 1809 and the rise of Russia, Sweden changed its path and instead turned toward neutrality and a peaceful existence. Today, Sweden boasts a healthy economy, and it is an important member of the European Union, as well a major contributor to international activities. The A to Z of Sweden relates the history of Sweden through a chronology, a list of acronyms and abbreviations, an introductory essay, a bibliography, appendixes, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, events, and institutions, this dictionary provides information ranging from politics to economics, from education to religion, and from music to literature.


The Norse Sorceress

The Norse Sorceress

Author: Leszek Garde?a

Publisher: Oxbow Books

Published: 2023-08-24

Total Pages: 1062

ISBN-13: 1789259541

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Old Norse literature abounds with descriptions of magic acts that allow ritual specialists of various kinds to manipulate the world around them, see into the future or the distant past, change weather conditions, influence the outcomes of battles, and more. While magic practitioners are known under myriad terms, the most iconic of them is the völva. As the central figure of the famous mythological poem Völuspá (The Prophecy of the Völva), the völva commands both respect and fear. In non-mythological texts similar women are portrayed as crucial albeit somewhat peculiar members of society. Always veiled in mystery, the völur and their kind have captured the academic and popular imagination for centuries. Bringing together scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds, this volume aims to provide new insights into the reality of magic and its agents in the Viking world, beyond the pages of medieval texts. It explores new trajectories for the study of past mentalities, beliefs, and rituals as well as the tools employed in these practices and the individuals who wielded them. In doing so, the volume engages with several topical issues of Viking Age research, including the complex entanglements of mind and materiality, the cultural attitudes to animals and the natural world, and the cultural constructions of gender and sexuality. By addressing these complex themes, it offers a nuanced image of the völva and related magic workers in their cultural context. The volume is intended for a broad, diverse, and international audience, including experts in the field of Viking and Old Norse studies but also various non-professional history enthusiasts. The Norse Sorceress: Mind and Materiality in the Viking World is a key output of the project Tanken bag Tingene (Thoughts behind Things) conducted at the National Museum of Denmark from 2020 to 2023 and funded by the Krogager Foundation.