Romain John van de Maele

The Scandinavian Emigration Novel  From about 1850 onward to the early nineteen hundred and thirties, millions of Europeans have emigrated to North America. Over two million of these emigrants were Scandinavians who tried to realize their dreams of freedom and economic progress at the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. They did not always realize that adapting to the American reality often implied sacrifices and hardship. The emigration from Norway and Sweden was far greater than the Danish exodus, and both Norwegian and Swedish historiographers and novelists have depicted the impressive adventures of their countrymen. Danish authors have been more reluctant to venture into the depiction of their countrymen's exodus.  Emigration novels have been a distinct area of interest in Norwegian literary research. In Sweden, especially Vilhelm Moberg’s emigration tetralogy has been studied by scholars and compared with the historical facts. Notwithstanding the abundant secondary literature...

I den efterfolgende analyse undersoger jeg markorerne af modsaetningsforhold, multikulturalitet og udenforskab i Herman Bangs roman De uden Faedreland -. Hvordan provede mennesker i udenforskab at overleve for drygt et arhundrede siden? Udenforskab er ogsa idag et vigtigt begreb – Theodor Kallifatides bruger netop dette ord i sin roman Ett nytt land utanfor mitt fonster: “I det langa loppet drevs jag in i en hopplos kansla av utanforskap langt djupare an fran borjan” (citeret efter Leonard, 2013, 170). Udenforskab er ofte et sidestykke til forfolgelse. Markorerne kan vaere bade synkrone og diakrone, idet romanens fortalte tid straekker sig ud over mange ar og aktualiseres ved at blive fortalt. Multikulturalitet opfattes som en ramme som ikke begraenses af nationalitet og sprogtilhorighed. Kulturforholdene bestemmes ogsa af social klasse, uddannelse, konstilhorighed, m.fl. Det lykkedes for Bang at anskueliggore disse forhold og deres markorer fordi han var “interesseret [i] dem, der ...

I begyndelsen af det 20. arhundrede blev Johannes Jorgensens skrifter hurtigt oversat til flere sprog. Allerede for den Forste Verdenskrig opholdt han sig ofte udenfor Danmark og han traf lejlighedsvis sammen med oversaettere og anmeldere. Nogle af dem, deriblandt  den flamske redaktor M.E. Belpaire, har spillet en vigtig rolle i Jorgensens fremgang i det fremmede. I naervaerende artikel beretter vi om de flamske anmeldere der har recenseret Jorgensens boger. Vi gennemgar ogsa monografierne om hans skrifter i perioden 1900 (oversaettelsen af Livslogn og Livssandhed publiceredes i det flamske tidsskrift Dietsche Warande & Belfort ) og 1987 (praesentation ved det katolske universitet i Leuven af en magisterafhandling om hans skrifter og kontakte med flamske forfattere). En systematisk praesentation af resultaterne kraever en metodisk analyse. Vi har derfor valgt at bruge metodikken som blev udviklet af  den hollandske litteraturforsker Boonstra. Resultaterne kompletteres med en beskri...

Holger Drachman bezocht kort na Bang (zie vorig artikel)  in 1882 het Brugse begijnhof en hij bericht ook over Gent en het typisch Vlaamse stedelijke klankbeeld. Eerst geven we kort enkele passages van Drachman weer. Ze sluiten aan bij wat Bang schreef over de begijnen. Vervolgens komen de impressies in woord en beeld van Estvad aan bod. Deze kunstenaar, schrijver, schilder en graficus verwoordde kort na de Eerste Wereldoorlog meer uitgebreid de indrukken die hij in Gent heeft opgedaan en illustreerde zijn werk met tekeningen die hij tijdens zijn reis had gemaakt.

At first sight, Människor kring en bro (1935) by Josef Kjellgren (1907-1948) and De Teleurgang van de Waterhoek (1927) by Stijn Streuvels (1871-1969) seem to be very different novels, although both narratives depict to a certain extent the building of a bridge as a step in the modernization process. Kjellgren's characters are at work in urban surroundings-Stockholm-, Streuvels's figures build a bridge in a rural area in Flanders. Careful reading reveals a significant number of structural and factual similarities. On the back cover of Människor kring en bro the book is presented as a 'kollektiv arbetsroman', in other words, a collective or community novel, a qualification that applies to Streuvels's novel too, although it has never been presented as a collective novel. In this article, I will discuss both factual and structural similarities as well as the differences between the two novels, and I will do so by using various approaches, one of the techniques being the use of copular clauses. In the past, Streuvels's novel has been studied time and again from a psychological perspective. Mira, one of the novel's characters, has not only tantalized the novel's male characters, but she has also mesmerized many scholars. By comparing the novel to Kjellgren's narrative-especially by focusing on collective behaviour and collective characteristics-I will try to show that the novel's many layers can only be exposed by highlighting structural features. Furthermore, the use of copular clauses will shed light on the individual and collective layers of Kjellgren's novel.