Geographies of superstition, myths, freedom: Ibsen and Northern Norway

Wenche Torrissen

doi:10.7557/13.3366

Authors

Wenche Torrissen Høgskolen i Volda

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7557/13.3366

Keywords:

Ibsen and Northern Norway, superstition, magic, myths, freedom, emancipation, nature, Christianity, paganism, Vikings.

Abstract

Ibsen visited Northern Norway only once in his lifetime and this was in the summer of 1891. Despite this fact, Ibsen was preoccupied with the North both as symbolic and geographical locations throughout his whole literary career. Why? This article will explore how the North is represented in Ibsen’s prose plays. It will assess whether Ibsen contributed to confirm already existing images of the North or whether he contributed to the construction of new images. The article will also explore how Ibsen used images of the North to construct meaning for contemporary audiences.

Author Biography

Wenche Torrissen, Høgskolen i Volda

BA Hons, MRes, Ph.D (University of London). Currently employed as Associate professor at Volda University College, Norway. My main research interests are the history of theatre, literature and culture in Britain and Scandinavia during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I am also interested in historical and contemporary feminist theatre and the ways in which theatre has been and is used to question human identities, ideas and affairs. I have published on Women’s (feminist) theatre history, Knut Hamsun and Hulda Garborg.