Questions tagged [scandinavian-languages]
For questions about Scandinavian literature: works of literature which were originally written in any of the North Germanic (or "Scandinavian") languages - Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, or Old Norse. Note that this is a language tag and not a country tag: the place of publication is irrelevant.
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Did Ibsen have any known response to Shaw's Quintessence of Ibsenism?
George Bernard Shaw's The Quintessence of Ibsenism was first published in 1891, fifteen years before Ibsen died in 1906. Shaw was Ibsen's most fervent champion in England, but his essay perhaps tells ...
7
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3
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Is the title best translated "A Dollhouse", "A Doll House" or "A Doll's House"?
In the foreword to his translation of Henrik Ibsen's plays, Rolf Fjelde explains that the title of the 1879 play is A Doll House:
There is certainly no sound justification for perpetuating the ...
3
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1
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Is the ending of A Doll's House satisfactory and moral?
I have read Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House. What mostly moved me is its ending!
Though it was not something possible in that period and led to debates and controversies, I feel like there was no ...
11
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1
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What does "grinning" mean in Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen"?
At the beginning of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen", when describing the distorting mirror that would then shatter, the word "grin" is used:
If a good thought passed ...
4
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1
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What did Peer Gynt look like?
Is there a good description of the physical looks of Peer anywhere in the play Peer Gynt? I assume he looked like the "default" for "adventurer" types. (I automatically think of ...
2
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0
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What character traits define Ibsen’s Brand?
(I am not asking this for a school assignment. I’m not in school.)
I have not read Brand carefully. I want an introductory sense of if the content of the play accords with my understanding so far.
I ...
5
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0
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What is the main idea of Ibsen's Ghosts, and what does the ending of the play mean?
What is the main idea of Ibsen's Ghosts, and what does the ending of the play mean? Some comments said that Osvald inherited the disease from his father. But Ghosts was a play that is a sacarsm of the ...
4
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1
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Source of three Icelandic kennings quoted (in Russian) in poem of Martynov?
The Russian poem Songs of the skalds (Песни скальдов), by Leonid Martynov, 1967, plays on the kennings used in Icelandic skaldic poetry, and quotes three rather complex kennings — translated into ...
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1
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What does "The Neck" mean in Herr Mannelig?
What does "the Neck" mean in the phrase "The spawn of the Neck and the Devil"?
I've met it in the translation of the Swedish song Herr Mannelig (video).
Af Neckens och djävulens ...
3
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1
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Where exactly does Tófa fit into the Saga of Týrfingr, is she the same individual as Sváva?
The wikipedia page for Tófa states shes is the Wife of Angantyr and mother of Hervor:
Tófa (Tófu) is the wife of Angantyr and mother of Hervor in Norse mythology. She is mentioned only once the ...
3
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Why is Hedda unable to free herself from the constraints of domesticity, while Thea is able to?
In Hedda Gabler, there exists the character foil of Hedda and Thea. Both of the characters have entered into marriages which have inhibited them from forming a 'free' sense of self and which reduce ...
1
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1
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Where in norse literature was 'Galdrakinn' used as a nickname, as recorded by Cleasby?
The ONP page for Galdrahríð has definitions from Cleasby & Zoega, and lists all the words containing the headword Galdra, including this one.
galdra-kinn, f. a ‘spell-cheek,’ a nickname, Eb.
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5
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1
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Is the AIA from "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" real?
In The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Blomkvist's friend Robban mentions a government agency called the AIA (Agency for Industrial Assistance), which was supposed to "help industry in the former ...
14
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1
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How does the old norse kenning 'nausta blakks hlé-mána gífrs drífu gim-slöngvir' break down into 'warrior'
The 11th century icelandic skald Þórðr Sjáreksson wrote this kenning, quoted from wikipedia:
nausta blakks hlé-mána gífrs drífu gim-slöngvir "fire-brandisher of blizzard of ogress of protection-...
7
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1
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Swedish novel from 2013 on a researcher in the isolated Pårte observatory in the Sarek Mountains, Sweden
I'm looking for a Swedish literary novel, published 2013, set in the Pårtetjåkko observatory in the Sarek mountains in Sweden. In the book, the (fictional) main character is alone in the remote ...