Media influence on human behaviour is a fascinating public health topic. The impact of media reporting suicides on suicidal behaviour is of outmost importance and is documented by several studies in social sciences. This link between actual acts of suicide and literature seems to be a thing of the past. Nevertheless, analysing the plots of stories can contribute to a better understanding of effects a story might have on its audience. On the one hand, the construction of a plot can lead to immersion into a story world. In this case, copy-cat-behaviour could be enhanced under specific circumstances. On the other hand, the aesthetics of a plot can underpin the coincidence of depicted life events and thus avoid simple explanations. A plot-analysis that takes an alternative plot-development into account could also contribute to a suicide-preventive analysis of literature like the Papageno-Effect, an inverted Werther-Effect that implies less suicides after reporting the mastery of suicidal crisis. Literary works that do not present simple explanations for suicides may support a better understanding of suicides in real life and can contribute a destigmatized attitude towards suicidal behaviour.
Germanic languages. Scandinavian languages, History of Northern Europe. Scandinavia
Sammendrag
Som følge av økende privat bruk av metallsøker, står kulturminnevernet overfor nye utfordringer knyttet til kulturminner i dyrka mark. Nye retningslinjer for privat bruk av metallsøker og fastsettelse av finnerlønn legger grunnlag for ny praksis for håndtering av funn og kulturminner i pløyelaget. Pløyelagsfunn som kulturminner har oppstått som et nytt diskursivt objekt i kulturminneforvaltningen. Dette skjer samtidig som organiseringen av kulturminnevernet er i endring. I denne artikkelen undersøker jeg forvaltningsinstitusjonenes uttalelser knyttet til løse kulturminner og automatisk fredete kulturminner fra høringsrunden til retningslinjene for privat bruk av metallsøker. I diskusjonen om håndtering av kulturminner i dyrka mark har det oppstått en oppfatning om at mange funn representerer automatisk fredete kulturminner. Hvordan oppstod denne forståelsen? Er den basert på eksisterende kunnskap, og hva har dette å si for kulturminnenes potensiale som kunnskapsobjekter?
This paper deals with the early reception (using the concept of the "early wave of reception" [prvotní recepční vlna] suggested by Dalibor Tureček) of Ludwig Winder's novel Der Thronfolger which was published in November 1937 in Switzerland and in the spring of 1938 in Czechoslovakia in Czech translation. The reviews of the novel are researched in both the German-speaking and the Czech-speaking contexts in Czechoslovakia, in Austria and in the German-speaking exile, especially in Switzerland. Special attention is paid to the strategies of the publisher and the author when presenting the work to the public.
Germanic languages. Scandinavian languages, History of Northern Europe. Scandinavia
ABSTRACT: This introduction describes the volume’s organization, surveys its
contributions, and explains how they fit together in the context of medievalism.
It considers Halldór Laxness’s medievalism in the novel Gerpla (1952), but observes not a “hero’s
journey” but rather the strange journey of a hero’s severed head.
This “Head of Destiny” shapes many events, as the dead hero’s sworn brother pursues his killers
to the edge of the known world in the remote ivory colonies of medieval
Greenland. While some of this plot is drawn from sources such as Fóstbræðra saga, Halldór’s version of the story questions
this mission. Two “Dream-Women” interpret the head’s ominous
significance with prophecies of light and darkness, thus revealing the fate of
this would-be avenger as he passes from life to the abyss.
History of Northern Europe. Scandinavia, Language and Literature
The present study deals with the presentation of the way of life of Count Albert Joseph Hoditz, who was able to reach a balance between opposing poles. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate this polarity and to refer to its impact on the literary work by Hoditz. The investigation concentrates on the literary work of Count Hoditz and, as it were, incorporates biographical and historical information.
Germanic languages. Scandinavian languages, History of Northern Europe. Scandinavia
ABSTRACT: Halldór Laxness’s satirical novel Gerpla (1952) is a socially analytic work that lays bare various misconceptions about Icelandic
medieval literature celebrated by the Nazis as well as many Icelanders in the first
half of the twentieth century. When it first appeared it was considered by many to
have been written in medieval Icelandic and some argued that Halldór Laxness had become
“the most conservative” of Icelandic writers (Pétursson 40). In reality, the language of the novel is Halldór’s own creation. This article reviews
the narrative construction of Gerpla, considering changes in Halldór’s literary career as he began to address the ancient
Icelandic narrative tradition (Íslandsklukkan) as well as film (Atomstöðin) in the nineteen forties. This reveals how Gerpla uses methods of both modern film and medieval literature, such as quotation, montage,
and shock effect, to present readers with a defamiliarized saga world.
History of Northern Europe. Scandinavia, Language and Literature
Abstract
The new, comparatively democratic political regime established
in Norway in 1814 was founded on liberalism and the separation of
powers. This called for a reformation of the administrative habits
and mentalities of absolutism, in essence of the entire political
culture. In this introduction the concept of political culture is
discussed, and the idea of its darker flip side is introduced and
defined. A key point is that whereas the political culture is acknowledged
by the historical agents themselves, the flip side is shamefacedly
hidden away or more or less unconsciously reproduced. The redefinition
of the borders between the public and the private spheres is central
to the societal transformations that we put into focus in this special
issue. These aspects of the political culture that were unacknowledged
or tainted with shame related to both the private and the public
spheres, but above all to the gray area in between the two, like in
the cases of the MeToo-campaign beginning in 2017. What follows
is a few examples from the different articles: Social scorn as a
remnant from the society of orders. Excessive demands for correct
and principled discussion in the public sphere, which considerably
narrowed effective freedom of speech. Satirists mocking the powerless
in public for their lack of linguistic finesse. Popular meetings
fostering public untruthfulness. Policies for temperance aimed at
the poor and sparing the drinking habits of the “better” class of
society. Doctors fighting scientific progress for ideological reasons,
or to preserve their own prestige and power.
With regard to Giorgio Agamben’s thesis that biopower is an essential structure of modern society not only for 20th century dictatorships but also for democratic governments, this paper demonstrates the similar and profound structures between the European migrant crisis and human subject researches of Nazi Germany. The lines in which the »concerns of life« transform into thanatopolitics are depicted under a biopolitical perspective of an analysis concerning the »disappearance of death,« in the art project by the »Zentrum für politische Schönheit« (»Center for Political Beauty«) and the novel by Jens Bjørneboe, Før hanen galer.
Ethnology. Social and cultural anthropology, History of Northern Europe. Scandinavia
This contribution investigates how biopolitics comes into effect within society. It focuses on two Scandinavian novels, namely LoveStar by Andri Snær Magnason and Die Entbehrlichen by Ninni Holmqvist. Both novels map fictitious societies, which are based on biopolitical concepts. First, I will show how the respective society works. A special focus will be placed on the question how biopolitical concepts undermine the idea of human beings as autonomous subjects and thus change the imagination of mankind in general. The naturalization of mankind and the reformulation of the dimensions of existence, which were traditionally interpreted in a philosophical manner, are essential here. This will be illustrated with regard to the concepts of death, love, and self-reflection which the respective society formulates. For the theoretical background, I will draw on considerations on biopolitics by Foucault, Deleuze, and Agamben.
Ethnology. Social and cultural anthropology, History of Northern Europe. Scandinavia