Ieva Steponavičiūtė-Aleksiejūnienė, Vilnius University, invites nordlitt to workshop around the concept of play in two stories by Danish author Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen. Ieva muses with Blixen on why art cannot make us happy, and we uncover creative connections between artistic processes, superficiality, and cannibalism. Blixen also guides us toward a new, gender-crossing take on theories of creative misreading. Moreover, we encounter a family history entangled with the history of Scandinavian Studies in the Soviet Union and Lithuania, and we learn about the significance of Denmark for post-communist Lithuanian scholars. Finally, Ieva encourages us to listen to the text and emphasizes the importance of intellectual exchange beyond national and political borders. 

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Introducing Ieva Steponavičiūtė Aleksiejūnienė

(00:01:56) Life Patterns and Scandinavian Studies in Lithuania  

(00:13:40) Georg Brandes Skolen

(00:20:52) Introducing Karen Blixen

(00:31:38) Looking at Blixen through Play

(00:41:43) Workshop: Recurring Images and Characters in “Echoes”

(00:48:06) Metafiction, Art and Life

(00:51:34) Resurrection and Cannibalism 

(00:58:54) Is Blixen difficult?

(01:03:48) The Playful Vampire-Artist

(01:11:29) Theories of Influence

(01:16:08) Navigating through “Tempests”

(01:23:27) Art Cannot Make People Happy

(01:34:23) The Tension between Symbol and Allegory

(01:39:54) Art and Transcendence

(01:42:57) The Shipwreck Versus the Floating Ship

(01:46:00) Other Research Interests: Scandinavia, Lithuania and Beyond

(01:54:00) Advice to Student-Self

Bibliography, further information, and comments are available on Experiment Geisteswissenschaften.

https://exgeist.hypotheses.org/category/nordlitt

Ideas and conception: Stefanie von Schnurbein

Cut: Cecilia Falkman

Mons Bissenbakker, Copenhagen University, invites nordlitt to a conversation about new Danish literature on trans experiences. We discuss how trans writers navigate existing narratives and seek alternative modes of expression within a system that resists ambivalence – both its own and that of others. We also speculate about the problem of masculinity and find resonances between being on testosterone and menopause. Revisiting a story by Victoria Benedictsson/Ernst Ahlgren, Mons Bissenbakker demonstrates a new trans reading, navigating between resonance and recognition, and offering insights into 19th century sexology and the figure of the invert. Last but not least, he outs nordlitt's final question as a rather “trans” enquiry.

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Introducing Mons Bissenbakker

(00:03:00) Literature as a Way of Establishing Conversation

(00:06:16) Transgender Literature in a Danish Context 

(00:14:37) The Relationship to Language, Narrative and Genre

(00:24:41) Gry Stokkendahl Dalgas and At performe transkønnet vrede

(00:31:52) Luka Holmegaard and Havet i munden

(00:37:51) Understanding Pain and Suffering through the Medical System versus SM

(00:49:35) Building Community and its Political Implications

(56:16:00) Victoria Benediction/Ernst Ahlgren through a “Trans-Lens”

(01:04:32) ”Ur mörkret” and Reading for Resonance and Recognition

(01:10:17) The Figure of the Invert 

(01:18:25) Misogynist Feminism

(00:27:42) Naming and Understanding the Author Ernst Ahlgren

(01:34:38) Future Research Projects

(01:37:04) Advice to Student-Self (“a very trans-question”!)

Bibliography, further information, and comments are available on Experiment Geisteswissenschaften.

https://exgeist.hypotheses.org/category/nordlitt

Idea and conception: Stefanie von Schnurbein

Cut: Cecilia Falkman

With Karolina Drozdowska, a Polish guest from NTNU in Trondheim, nordlitt widens its geographical range eastwards. Drawing on a wide array of contemporary and historical texts, from new crime novels to Romantic patriotic poems, we discuss continuities and changes in representations of Polish people and Eastern Europeans in Norwegian literature since the Enlightenment. We learn about the persistence of the Iron Curtain, the demonization of Russia, and we muse about the function of stereotypes and caricatures. We also explore ways of combining and working with large online corpora and close readings, while reflecting on the benefits of working in international, interdisciplinary networks. Dreams of new research projects take shape, accompanied by the reassuring advice: Be not afraid of academia.

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Introducing Karolina Drozdowska

(00:04:37) Scandinavian Studies in Poland

(00:13:45) Representations of Eastern Europeans in Norwegian Literature

(00:19:18) Method: Building a Corpus

(00:24:45) Work Migration, Exoticization, and the Shadow of the Iron Curtain

(00:32:50) Caricatures and Postcolonial Readings

(00:47: 37) Shifting Images and Imaginations

(00:51:20) Otherness and “Grey People”

(00:58:05) Lithuania and Lithuanians in Norwegian Crime Fiction

(01:07:45) Research Networks

(01:13:00) The Research Project ImagiNation

(01:18:12) Poland in 19th Century Scandinavian Literature

(01:27:26) Comparisons: Representations of Ukrainians and Jewish Migration

(01:34:37) Connecting Research and Translation Work

(01:39:44) Advice to Student Self

Bibliography, further information, and comments are available on Experiment Geisteswissenschaften.

https://exgeist.hypotheses.org/category/nordlitt

Idea and conception: Stefanie von Schnurbein

Cut: Cecilia Falkman

Nach einer kreativen Pause ist nordlitt zurück mit einer Spezialfolge. Am 16. Oktober waren Stefanie und Cecilia zu Gast an der Europa-Universität Flensburg und haben beim „Tag der Fakultät II“ ein Gespräch über das Podcasten geführt. Es ging um Inspirationen, die Freude am Experimentieren, dumme Fragen und darum, was ein gutes Gespräch eigentlich ausmacht. Und wir warfen einen Blick hinter die Kulissen und sprachen darüber, wie eine Podcastfolge entsteht – von der Idee bis zur Aufnahme. Im Austausch mit dem Flensburger Publikum erkundeten wir auch die Verbindungen zwischen Lehre, Forschung und Vermittlung.

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Einführung ins Gespräch

(00:04:20) ”Gespräch als Methode: Der Podcast nordlitt in Forschung, Lehre und Vermittlung”

(00:06:18) Über die Entstehung von nordlitt

(00:14:58) Warum ein Audiopodcast? 

(00:19:10) Der Podcast in der Lehre

(00:27:22) Über Risiken und das Experimentieren 

(00:30:40) Merkmale eines guten Gesprächs

(00:32:56) Wissenschaftliches Podcasten

(00:41:30) Scheitern und Ausprobieren 

(00:44:45) Fragen aus dem Publikum

Alle Literaturanagaben, weitere Kommentare auf dem Experiment Geisteswissenscahften-Blog.

https://exgeist.hypotheses.org/category/nordlitt

Idee und Konzeption: Stefanie von Schnurbein

Schnitt: Cecilia Falkman

Kristina Malmio, University of Helsinki, shares her research on local and global tendencies in Finland-Swedish literature with the help of two complex novels by Monika Fagerholm (The American Girl) and Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo (In Transit). We muse about the status of a privileged minority literature and discuss the shifting locations of centers and peripheries. We explore in-between-spaces and other metaphors of literary spaces and look at movements of novels and their characters between countries, continents and cultures. Finally, we are encouraged: Trust yourself! Literature takes you everywhere.

Timestamps:

(00:00:31) Kristina Malmio’s Way to Literature Studies and Scandinavian Studies 

(00:05:00) The Society of Swedish Literature in Finland 

(00:09:21) Historical and Contemporary Finland-Swedish Literature

(00:18:10) Minor Literature and World Literature

(00:23:02) Introducing Monika Fagerholm and The American Girl

(00:30:45) Postmodern Literature and Kaleidoscopic Collaging

(00:37:32) Fagerholm’s Constructing of Space 

(00:34:48) Reconstructing the Belief in Narration   

(00:41:11) The Reception in the US

(00:48:00) The Polycentric and Networked Novel

(01:01:12) Fagerholm on the Scandinavian Literature Scene 

(01:04:43) Introducing Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo and In Transit

(01:14:13) The Chronotope of the Road and Bodily Experiences

(01:22:19) Anchoring in Space

(01:24:06) The Image of the North Pole Explorer

(01:29:33) Space in Contemporary Poetry 

(01:30:40) Advice to Student Self 

(01:31:43) An Announcement 

Bibliography, further information, and comments are available on Experiment Geisteswissenschaften.

https://exgeist.hypotheses.org/

Idea and conception: Stefanie von Schnurbein

Cut: Cecilia Falkman

Do you have questions or comments for us at nordlitt? Please contact us at: [email protected]

Ellen Rees from the Center for Ibsen Studies at Oslo University introduces Henrik Ibsen as a theatre practitioner. She unfolds surprising resonances between French musical comedies by Eugène Scribe and Henrik Ibsen's most famous plays, A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler. We question romantic distinctions between high literature and popular theatre, and discuss Ellen's new theory on Ibsen's way to realism through the vaudeville. We are confronted with deadly links between money and love, and are reminded of the existence of academic bullying. But in the end, we are reminded of the joy of shouting out our crazy discoveries in the halls of venerable academic institutions.

(00:30:00) Introducing Ellen Rees 

(00:02:12) How Did Ellen Rees End Up in Scandinavian Studies?

(00:06:00) The Centre for Ibsen Studies at Oslo University 

(00:09:30) Who was Henrik Ibsen?

(00:12:24) Doing Research on Ibsen 

(00:18:19) Ibsen as a Theatre Practitioner

(00:23:27) The Method and Process of Comparing

(00:28:20) Theatre History and the Vaudeville Genre

(00:38:42) Questioning the Idea of the Modern Breakthrough           

(00:45:42) A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler in Comparison with Scribe 

(00:53:45) Ibsen’s Contemporary Audience

(00:57:35) Ibsen and Comedy 

(00:59:17) Hedda Gabler and Le budget d’une jeune ménage

(01:12:35) Parodic Strategies

(01:14:13) Student Question 

(01:17: 27) The Crisis of Modernity

(01:22:06) The Position of Theatre Within the Global Literary System

(01:28:28) Announcement: Online Database

(01:29:59) What Advice Would You Give Your Student-Self?

Bibliography, further information, and comments are available on Experiment Geisteswissenschaften.

https://exgeist.hypotheses.org/

Idea and conception: Stefanie von Schnurbein

Cut: Cecilia Falkman

nordlitt continues the mini-series on Queer Theory and literature with the help of Jenny Björklund, Uppsala University. We ask what queer literature and reading might mean in a time and place where gay and lesbian parenting has become normalized. Jenny guides us through a novel by Viktoria Myrén about a mother who abandons her children, making literary detours to Victoria Benedictsson, August Strindberg, Margareta Suber, and Sara Stridsberg. We learn about Sweden's pro-natalist history and wonder if literary deaths can be read as acts of resistance. Last but not least, we emphasize the joy of co-writing and the importance of saying Yes! 

(00:00:17) Introduction Jenny Björklund

(00:00:28) How Did Jenny Björklund End Up at the Intersection between Literary and Gender Studies?

(00:03:01) Moving Towards Queer Studies from Gender Studies

(00:06:47) What Happens to Queer When it Becomes Canonized?

(00:11:36) The “Pro-Natalist Tradition” in Sweden 

(00:20:06) Queerness in Literature and Reading 

(00:23:23) Queer Reading and the Concept of Death

(00:33:54) Paranoid and Reparative Reading

(00:38:00) The Body and Figurations

(00:45:38) Viktoria Myrén’s Novel I en familj finns inga fiender (There Are No Enemies in a Family)

(00:50:52) Queer Aspects of the Novel

(00:58:26) Marie as an Unreliable Narrator?

(01:03:02) The Structure Failing the Individual

(01:06:15) Leaving and Abandoning

(01:09:54) Family Conflict as War?

(01:18:09) Ambiguous Ending 

(01:28:19) What Advice Would You Give Your Student-Self?

Bibliography, further information, and comments are available on Experiment Geisteswissenschaften.

https://exgeist.hypotheses.org/

Idea and conception: Stefanie von Schnurbein

Cut: Cecilia Falkman

Per Esben Svelstad, NTNU Trondheim, introduces the first Norwegian novel discussing lesbian love, Borghild Krane's Følelsers forvirring. We discover an uncanonized author, learn about homocultural codes in the inter-war years and a queer intertext by Stefan Zweig. Detours to poet Åsmund Sveen and novelists Sigrid Undset and Ebba Haslund create insights into early literary portrayals of homoerotic desire. We speculate about differences between queer studies in the Nordic countries, look at the relation between academia and activism and the possibility of finding community in literature and literary studies.

(00:00:36) Introduction Per Espen Svelstad

(00:01:56) How Did Per Esben Encounter Queer Literary Studies?

(00:04:58) Why Queer Literary Studies Aren’t as Common in Norway

(00:10:36) Comparing Sweden and Norway in that Aspect

(00:13:11) Intersections between Nationalsocialist Tendencies and Homosexuality

(00:24:10) Borghild Krane’s novel Følelsers forvirring 

(00:32:21) Trying out Different Possibilities of Homosexual Life in Literature

(00:37:15) A Transnational Homosexual Community

(00:40:00) Paranoid and Reparative Reading

(00:47:00) Krane’s Interest in Sigrid Undset and the Topic of Sexuality 

(00:57:34) Homosexuality as a Struggle among other Struggles

(01:00:58) Stefan Zweig’s Verwirrung der Gefühle as an Intertext to Krane’s Novel

(01:10:25) "Homocultural Code"

(01:19:58) Finding Gay Communities Through Literature

(01:23:12) Knowledge, Narration and the Mirror Motif

(01:32:21) What Advice Would You Give Your Student-Self?

Alle Literaturangaben, weitere Kommentare auf dem Experiment Geisteswissenschaften-Blog.

https://exgeist.hypotheses.org/

Idee und Konzeption: Stefanie von Schnurbein

Schnitt: Cecilia Falkman

In nordlitts zweiter Folge in leiblicher Kopräsenz fragt Dörte Linke, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, mit der dänischen Autorin Charlotte Weitze danach, wie man einen Klimaroman schreibt. Wir diskutieren existenzielle Thriller, begegnen queeren Schnee- und Rosenmenschen und ringen gemeinsam um die Bedeutung von Sexualität und Gewalt in Weitzes Romanen. Durch naturphilosophische Lektüren von Josefine Klougarts Romanen setzen wir uns Lebenswirrwarr, Sterblichkeit, Erinnerung und Liebe aus. Außerdem geht es um Literatur als Erkenntnisform, Literaturwissenschaft als Möglichkeit des „making kin", und nicht zuletzt präsentieren wir das erste technische nordlitt-Malheur.

(00:00:27) Einleitung

(00:01:55) Dörte Linkes Weg zur Skandinavistik und ihre Forschungsinteressen

(00:12:15) Zur Autorin Charlotte Weitze und ihrem Roman Den afskyelige (The Abominable)

(00:17:12) Hybrid-Wesen und ihr Verhältnis zur Umwelt 

(00:23:24) Realität vs. Fantastik

(00:27:52) Auflösung der alten Naturtheorien

(00:32:44) Charlotte Weitzes Roman Rosarium

(00:35:59) Intersektion von Aggression, Ernährung und Sexualität

(00:41:24) Die Figur Kenneth in Den afskyelige

(00:44:32) Sexualität

(00:48:59) Verbindung von Sexualität, Natur und Schuld

(01:02:10) Umgang mit Klimawandel

(01:09:02) Die Autorin Josefine Klougart und Om mørke (Über die Dunkelheit)

(01:14:32) Ökokritik

(01:17:52) Umwelten bilden

(01:24:53) Natur und Mensch bei Klougart

(01:33:04) Was macht und kann Literaturwissenschaft?

(01:54:39) Was würdest Du Deinem Studierenden-Ich raten?    

Alle Literaturangaben, weitere Kommentare auf dem Experiment Geisteswissenschaften-Blog.

https://exgeist.hypotheses.org/category/nordlitt

Idee und Konzeption: Stefanie von Schnurbein

Schnitt: Cecilia Falkman

nordlitt trifft sich erstmals gemeinsam in einem Raum. Mit Sabine Meyer, Universität Greifswald folgen wir den Erzählfäden, die sich um die Person Lili Elbe spannen und den Versuchen, diesen mit Hilfe von Literaturwissenschaft, Autobiographieforschung, Geschichtswissenschaft und Medizingeschichte auf die Spur zu kommen. Es geht um eine frühe geschlechtsangleichende Operation, um die Anfänge der Sexualwissenschaft, um queere Künstler*innenleben, um die verzwickten Beziehungen zwischen Trans-, Inter- und Homosexualität, vor allem aber um einen queeren Text, der sich bemüht, das Ideal der Heterosexualität zu erhalten. Außerdem fragen wir nach Identifikationen und Obsessionen in der Wissenschaft, nach Kritik als Hilfestellung und sprechen über die Freuden der Archiv- und Editionsarbeit.

(00:00:52) Vorstellung Sabine Meyer

(00:04:08) Sabine Meyers Forschungsinteressen und Schwerpunkte

(00:08:40) Obsession und Queer Studies

(00:23:57) Zur Person Lili Elbe

(00:33:47) Archivarbeit und Biographie 

(00:38:18) Entstehung der Sexualwissenschaft

(00:46:20) Mehr zu Lili Elbes Biographie 

(01:03:08) Rekapitulation der Vorgeschichte

(01:04:40) Eine menschliche Tragödie?

(01:08:29) Erste Veröffentlichung des Textes 

(01:13:27) Homophobe Erzählweisen

(01:32:03) Briefe von Lili an den deutschen Freund

(01:35:06) Genre und „Entqueerung“

(01:46:24) Queering durch Intertextualität

(01:48:44) Lebendige Quellenkritik und Archivarbeit

(01:54:16) Wer darf trans-Geschichten erzählen?

(02:00:34) Die Zukunft von Queer Studies?

(02:04:54) Was würdest Du Deinem Studierenden-Ich raten?

Alle Literaturangaben, weitere Kommentare auf dem Experiment Geisteswissenschaften-Blog.

https://exgeist.hypotheses.org/category/nordlitt

Idee und Konzeption: Stefanie von Schnurbein

Schnitt: Cecilia Falkman