1
Q
Utopia/dystopia
A
UTOPIA
- Etymologically: “no-place”
- Ideal community
- Can exist either in the imagination (fictional utopias) or as a real-life experiment
(A term often used dismissively by pragmatists)
DYSTOPIA
- Etymologically: bad + place
- Degraded community
- Can also be imaginary or real
2
Q
Symmetrical/asymmetrical identity formation
A
- In cultural identity, the Scandinavian triangle can be described as a system of simple binary relationships
- Norwegians: a bit rural and very nationalistic, naive/friendly, rustic
- Danes: easy-going, sociable, hedonistic
- Swedes: strict/cold, BIG State energy, materialistic
3
Q
Hygge
A
- coziness
- the warm feeling you get while enjoying the company of great friends and all life has to offer
- every-day phenomenon
4
Q
Lagom
A
- literally: “around the table”
- just enough - not too much or too little, moderation
- opposed to US - perfection/striving for more all the time
5
Q
Right of Public Access
A
- first gov’t intervention to protect: 1957 Norwegian “Outdoor Recreation Act”
- protect the natural basis for outdoor recreation and to safeguard the public right of access to and passage through the countryside
- protect leisure activity that are healthy, environmentally sound
6
Q
Enlightenment
A
- A philosophical movement which started in Europe in the 1700s.
- emphasized reason and the scientific method.
- focus on government, ethics, and science, rather than on imagination, emotions, or religion.
7
Q
Binomial nomenclature
A
- the main contribution of the Linnaean system of classification of the natural world
- paired a Latin genus term with a species term to form a universally accepted, unique name.
8
Q
Acclimatization (for Linnaeus)
A
- the process by which organisms become habituated to a new environment
- Linnaeus believed in this for all plants, specifically tea, and sent “Linnaen Voyagers” to go find them from other places
- said he quit science when this was disproved
- against the tide of globalization - wanted Sweden to be self-sufficient
9
Q
Legend
A
- A single narrative episode
- Told conversationally
- Told as true
- Claims historical statusIs tellable (repeated by others)
- Engages with teller’s environment (“eoctypified”)
- Conveys the dominant values of the group
- offer guidance and provide explanations for the unexplained
- underline worldviews, social hierarchies, beliefs, values, anxieties, threats and more
10
Q
Ballad
A
- historic, heroic, knightly narrative songs
- told in short stanzas, direct narration
11
Q
Folktale
A
- fictional amusing or wondrous content
- unspecified place: can work for any place
- ex: Cinderella
12
Q
Liminal
A
- being an intermediate state between defined states
- a threshold experience; for example, the time of engagement before marriage, adolescence, twilight, New Year’s, a bridge
13
Q
Disenchantment
A
- “desacralization that sees supernatural belief as a vestige of a more primitive stage of human society”
- equated with modernization (transition from a condition of pre-modern belief to secular, scientific thought.)
- coined by Max Weber, a German sociologist
14
Q
Romanticism
A
- a movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century
- emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual
- rose-tinted glasses, back-to-nature, nature as awe-inspiring
15
Q
Ekphrasis
A
- transposition of visual or material objects into verbal art through vivid description
- enacts hierarchy of spirit over material
- example: the golden horns
16
Q
Tivoli
A
- a famous amusement park that opened just outside the old Copenhagen city wall in 1843
- inspired HCA to write “The Nightingale”
- there were Asian fantasies built into the architecture with a “pantomime theater” built in Chinese style in 1874.
17
Q
Naturalism
A
- Time frame for its dominance: 1870-1895
- Modernity and the environment
- Interest in the contemporary (present)
- Material view of nature and culture
- Nature is dispassionate, godless
- Natural beauty is an end in itself
- The scientific observer is the central figure
- Cosmopolitan
- Middle-class interest in the working poor
18
Q
Natural Selection
A
- A natural process resulting in the evolution of organisms best adapted to the environment.
- Proposed by Darwin
- implications: arguments for seeing the human as embedded in nature as one animal among many, whose behavior is governed primarily by a struggle for survival
19
Q
The Modern Breakthrough
A
- Presented by Georg Brandes (Danish intellectual), who was considered nexus/gatekeeper of the movement
- a “Modern Breakthrough” that espoused intellectual and political goals and values/put things up for debate in literature
20
Q
Deep Ecology
A
- an environmental movement and philosophy that regards human life as just one of many equal components of a global ecosystem.
- coined by Arne Næss
- 8-part platform
21
Q
Ecocentricity
A
- a traditional value for Sami society
- Human existence is relational, not individual
22
Q
Ecotypification
A
- specific to a location (like legends about a specific mountain)
23
Q
Joik
A
- a Sami traditional form of singing typically dedicated to a person, an animal, or a landscape
- existential connection - joiking makes something present
24
Q
Personification
A
- the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman
- utilized in eco-poetry to decenter humans in worldview
25
Developmental narrative
- novels and stories interested in depicting the process of education, maturation, and eventual social integration of youth into adult (often middle-class) society.
- Ex: Mogens
26
Carl Linnaeus
- "Father of Taxonomy"; established his classification of living things; famous for animal naming system of binomial nomenclature
27
Adam Oehlenschläger
- Foremost Danish poet of the Romantic period
- author of the 1802 poem, "The Golden Horns," typical for its imagination of a lost heroic past and its idealization of the Danish peasants who found the horns.
28
Hans Christian Andersen
- 19th century writer
- Grew up poor in the Danish town of Odense and moved to Copenhagen to become an actor at age 14. (He fails at acting but succeeds at writing)
- Wrote The Little Mermaid/Thumbelina/The Emperor's New Clothes
29
Jens Peter Jacobsen
- foremost naturalist author in Danish literature
- studied botany (first to translate Darwin to Danish!) but fell ill and turned to writing
- wrote Mogens in 1872
30
August Strindberg
- Sweden's most famous writer (also naturalist), intellectual polymath (72 works!)
- he took ideas of atheism ("God is dead") from Nietzsche and an interest in models of power: natural, social, and technological
- Wrote "The Silver Lake"
31
Arne Næss
- Norway's most famous philosopher (alive in 20th century)
- Coined the term "deep ecology" in the 1980s
- The "ecological crisis" of his day mostly concerned industrial pollution; the issues have become even more pressing with rapidly advancing climate change happening thirty years later
- His "ecosophy" is an ethical view of life defined as relational biodiversity
32
Nils-Aslak Valkeapää
- Sami poet, musician, artist (20th century)
| - Known for his joiking; Pathfinder; The Sun, My Father
33
Sjón
- Most famous Icelandic contemporary
- Most known for The Blue Fox
- Poet, novelist, vocalist
34
Fryman and Löfgren's view of the differences between peasant and middle-class view of nature
- peasants view of nature: utilitarian, everyday, superstition
- middle class: scientific, condescending, confidence in rationality, access in, access out
35
Temporal complications in dating the folklore legends
- no linear trace for some folklore bc of similar traits in different areas
- oral traditions are hard to trace (both place and history)
- linked to ecotypification - the more it's ecotypified, the more likely to link to specific historical detail (giants + churchbuilding)
36
Reasons that folklore collection grew in the mid- to late-nineteenth century Scandinavia
- Romanticism had an infatuation with the peasant (seen as more authentic/closer to nature, history, etc.)
- this was the time period of rapid modernization - people were anxious and folklore was an anchor
- also bc of modernization, it was the first time there was a need to collect these stories (as before, they were living the experience. you don't need to collect when it's everyday)
37
Explanations for the function of modern elf belief in Iceland
One of the main functions is living in harmony with nature, with elves being the personification of nature in Iceland. For example, Icelandic road projects often go around elf rocks. This exemplifies a respectful relationship with nature, as the inconvenience of changing construction plans is overshadowed by the respect for the elf rocks.
38
How the Golden Horns story exemplifies ideas of Romanticism
- elevating the peasant class (pure, traditional Scandinavian)
- romanticism sees the material as infused w divine spirit and agency
- poetry was the central figure in this movement
- the spirit of the golden hours transcends the material
39
How is the bird like a poet in The Nightingale?
- the poet was imagined as a nightingale, giving voice to the direct impulses from nature.
- nightingale as a metaphor for natural beauty and poetry
40
How does "Jutland between Two Seas" exemplify the transition from tradition to modernity?
- the poem blends folkloric diction (with references to warrior's graves, Loki, and rune sticks) and modernity.
- modern examples: the steaming dragon, heather to fields of grain
41
How do the Romantic and Naturalist views of nature compare?
- R: transcendent view/spirit and agency, N: material view, godless
- R: nature source of inspiration/design, N: natural beauty is an end to itself
42
What view of nature does the character Mogens hold?
- Mogens sees the beauty of nature in nature itself. Mogens, the character, takes a naturalist stance toward nature because he sees nature purely as material and godless.
- In contrast, Thora's belief in supernatural creatures is the basis for her awe of nature.
- Additionally, the view of nature pushed by romanticism looks at nature in a supernatural and transcendent way.
43
What is the relationship between superstition and interpretation in The Silver Lake?
- The Silver Lake contrasts the curator's view of nature as a code to be cracked with the locals' superstitious but practical view of nature
- The curator ends up finding his way back because of superstition
- The "scientific" interpretation doesn't end up being very useful (the silver atomic number was remembered wrong)
44
What do environmental poets ("eco-poets") emphasize in their poetry?
- Decentering of the human view, embedding of the human
- Animation of nature without anthropocentric personification
- Interest in the existential and phenomenological present
- Special attention to relational structures (I and you; human and animal; animal and plant; home and the wild)
45
What typifies the Sámi sense of place?
- Sámi sense of home is territorial, not material
- Place and narrative closely tied: existential naming
- Human existence is relational, not individual
46
What competing models of human inhabitation of the world are apparent in The Blue Fox?
- Survival instinct, hunting, punished by the land
- Abba and Fridrik as more passive collectors of nature/plants
- the mutability of all parts of nature and the idea of transformation
47
ESSAY PREP
- generally new development w/ emergence of middle class --> access in/access out --> new relationship w/ nature
- some patterns that go back --> legends/folktales, but weren't documented until this period
- The famed "closeness to nature" in the Nordic values can, in other words, be seen as a side effect of late and relatively sudden industrialization, a structure of social feeling created to compensate for what is actually increased distance
- IMPORTANT: different definitions of "nature" depending on the writer
Scandinavian 75
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Decks in class (3)
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