Literature in Translation: Teaching Issues and Reading Practices

Nordic Exposure: Teaching Scandinavian Literature in Translation

148 literature in translation 148 Nordic Exposure: Teaching Scandinavian Literature in Translation Niels Ingwersen and Susan C. Brantly, with Thomas A. Dubois and Dick Ringler Works by Scandinavian authors are taught widely in North America, and some Scandinavian authors are part of the Westerncanonwhilebeingknown outside Western culture. Such names as Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Hans Christian Andersen, and Søren Kierkegaard attest to that, as do Sigrid Undset, Knut Hamsun, Selma Lagerlöf, Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen), and Pär Lagerkvist, if to a lesser degree. The same is true of Astrid Lindgren, the author of delightful children’s stories, and of the anonymous authors of the Icelandic sagas. College courses on the rise of modern Western drama cannot avoid Ibsen and Strindberg; courses on the advent of feminism are bound to include Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879); philosophy courses on existentialism very likely will offer a solid dose of Kierkegaard; and in folklore or children’s literature classes, Hans Christian Andersen tends to figure prominently. Most of the students in Scandinavian programs are likely to be found in literature-in-translation courses. Modern-language programs are increasingly offering courses on the tales of Hans Christian Andersen, the rise of modern Western drama (Ibsen and Strindberg), or Finnish folklore (Kalevala).1 Nevertheless, only a minority of the instructors of these courses know a Scandinavian language, and many instructors of texts in translation have only a scant knowledge of Nordic letters and of countries at the northern tip of Europe. Instructors of those texts should surely be able to address the issue of Nordic identity—or, to be precise, the presence of various Nordic identities—and they should also be familiar with the intricate relationships among Scandinavian literatures and European cultures. Fortunately, excellent or adequate translations are in print; many of them are annotated scholarly editions. The works of lesser-known authors— teaching scandinavian literature in translation 149 especially recent ones—are often issued by small presses in limited editions, which can present a problem; but even so, a vast array of works is available, even if their availability is constantly fluctuating. Survey courses are popular, and students generally expect a bird’s-eye view of the development of Nordic literatures. The instructor enters a room containing about two hundred undergraduates, most of whom have only a vague notion of what Scandinavia is. During the first few meetings, that instructor must give the students a sense of a most varied geography—fertile hills, majestic mountains, and icy wastes—and of a variety of languages, some of which are closely related, and some of which are not even Indo-European (thus, even the Scandinavianist encounters problems).2 A history lesson, both political and cultural, is also needed, and that is an absolute necessity. The instructor must put the Nordic countries into the European context for the simple reason that most American students know little about the history of Western civilization. An instructor would be remiss if she or he did not chart the travels of the Vikings, deal with the conversion of the Nordic peoples to Christianity and the ensuing bloody Reformation, or give attention to the (muted) arrival of Renaissance ideas and art. The list of important elements of Scandinavian history could go on and would eventually include the Industrial Revolution, the impact of two world wars, and the emergence of the welfare state. Experienced instructors find that students both need and desire that kind of background.3 In such well-enrolled courses it is difficult to deal with the issue of translation in detail, but PowerPoint presentations (or an overhead projector) make it easy to demonstrate that Scandinavian languages and English have a common ground. A detour through the vocabulary of the people of Yorkshire (the settling ground of the Danish Vikings in England) would make that point crystal-clear. The presentation of the cultural and historical backgrounds of these countries can easily include a discussion of some translation problems.In the abovementioned survey course, the instructor may want to include examples of the beautiful and violent Scandinavian ballads, recorded in the 1500s. Of course, in terms of ideology or ethics, they may seem distant, and the instructor would need to bridge some historical gaps.4 The ballads frequently refer to fate, often using the Nordic terms lykke (Danish and Norwegian) or lycka (Swedish), which eventually came to mean “individual happiness.” That change in meaning of a single word is loaded with significance. Such [3.14.83...