Fables of the Norwegian Intelligentsia

Nina Witoszek has, for nearly two decades, provided wideranging, creative, and sustained analyses of what makes Norwegian society tick. In numerous articles and books, she has promulgated a series of hypotheses that explain both why Norway has become one of—if not the—best places to live on earth, while at the same time also theorizing the darker sides of this ostensibly idyllic nation. In The Origins of the “Regime of Goodness,” Witoszek distills and expands upon her earlier work, to produce a cohesive argument for how and why Norway in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries has become what Terje Tveit has called a “regime of goodness” (quoted in Witoszek, p. 13)—a self-appointed exporter of benevolence and moral conscience to the world.

Witoszek holds a doctorate in comparative literature, although her position at the University of Oslo is in the Centre for Development and the Environment. Further, the bulk of her publications have examined subjects such as ecophilosophy, development studies, and social criticism. She has also published literary works, including the short story collection Fables of the Irish Intelligentsia (1991; under the pen name Nina FitzPatrick). For someone not familiar with her important body of work, The Origins of the “Regime of Goodness” is the perfect introduction to her vision of the Norwegian nation. Those who have been following her work, however, should be aware that there is a great deal of overlap with previous publications. In the book’s unpaginated colophon, Witoszek notes: “This book expands on and further develops the ideas first launched in Norske naturmytologier—fra Edda til økofilosofi” (Pax Forlag, 1998). In addition to material lifted directly out of Norske naturmytologier, the new book also contains substantial material from previously published articles, some of which are already available in English. I would have preferred to see clearer acknowledgment of the direct use of earlier work. Setting aside this quibble, though, there is no denying that this is an important, provocative, and ambitious work of scholarship.

Witoszek’s core argument is that the successes of contemporary Norway cannot be explained by oil and gas wealth or demographics, but that instead, Norway’s particular cultural history—traced as far back as the Viking Age—has directly influenced the ethos of the present. She examines a number of crucial cultural moments as she traces Norway’s path toward what she terms its uniquely “bucolic modernity” (p. 190). These include Norway’s resounding rejection of universal romanticism in the nineteenth century (chap. 2). Witoszek argues this was a consequence of Norway’s uninterrupted engagement with what she calls the “pastoral Enlightenment” during the nineteenth century, and up to today (chap. 4). She identifies as salient an indigenous “eco-humanism,” based on the widely held notion that the true home of Norwegians lies in nature rather than civilization (chap. 3). Witoszek also traces the pragmatic ethos of the Viking age as expressed not in the idealized and heroic saga literature, but rather in the code of conduct contained in the collection of aphorisms known as Hávamál (chap. 5). Finally, she explores a similarly pragmatic and proto-ecocritical ethos, which is expressed in the folktale figure of Askeladden (chap. 6). After establishing this cultural genealogy, Witoszek then argues that the works of Henrik Ibsen and Edvard Munch typify a pragmatic eco-humanism that values outside more than inside (chap. 7). Next, Witoszek holds up Gustav Vigeland and Knut Hamsun as important exceptions who sought to challenge this tradition and replace it with a more (universal Romantic) nature-worshipping response to the culture-nature split brought on by modernity (chaps. 8 and 9). Witoszek holds up yet another pair of cultural giants, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Fridtjof Nansen, as prophetic figures who set the ethical and ideological course that Norway is still on today (chap. 10). Finally, she wraps up the book with a chapter on the debt owed by ecophilosopher Arne Næss to these earlier native intellectual and cultural traditions (chap. 11...