Böcker av Henning K. Sehmsdorf

Myth and Tradition in Norwegian Literature and Folklife: Essays explores how in the rural areas of Norway, where modern industry made few inroads until WWI, old understandings of self and nature continued to construe reality in ways no longer available to urbanized societies steeped in science, technology, and commerce. Using methods of myth criticism first developed in the 1970s, the essays show how Norse myth and Norway folk tradition shaped the cultural revival in Norway after the country made itself independent of Denmark in 1814, and how they continue to inform Norwegian cultural life and literature today. Topics include Eddic mythology, folk narratives and belief, as well as the use of Norse, Classical, Hindu, and Christian myth in contemporary drama, fiction, and poetry from Björnstjerne Björnson, Henrik Ibsen, Knut Hamsun, Tarjei Vesaas, Peder Cappelen, Johannes V. Jensen, Halldis Moren Vesaas, and in the personal narratives told by Norwegian-American fishermen in the Pacific Northwest in the 20th century.

In the summer of 2018, the authors took a three-month trip to Norway, Germany, and Austria to reconnect with family and their cultural heritage, and to live the question of travel in the Age of Climate Change.

Based on extensive fieldwork, the book explores the celebration of the Norwegian American heritage in the Pacific Northwest to provide a sense of community, a cultural home missing in much of contemporary, commercially and technologically driven, urban life.