In my PhD project, I am examining the reception and use of Tacitus, and the Tacitist vein of political historiography in Denmark and Norway, 1760-1830. As overarching topics, I am fascinated by the fluid relationship of religion and politics to historicity, temporality and genre in the period, as well as the potentials and shortcomings of historical narrative as political theory.

In my first peer-reviewed article, "A Tale of Two Germanias", I compare the two vernacular translations of the Germania published in 1795 and 1797, written by the historian Gustav Ludvig Baden (1764-1839) and his father, the professor and philologist Jacob Baden (1735-1804). The conceptual language, temporality and politics of the two translations reveal different interpretations of the work: G. L. Baden evoked the mores of an egalitarian, republican utopia situated in Denmark as an example for his own time, while Jacob Baden historicized a distant barbarian past situated in the forests of Germany. The article will be published in the 2024 volume of 1700-tal: Nordic Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies.

My second article, currently in peer review, is about the influence of Mary Wollstonecraft in Denmark-Norway. As part of Wollstonecraft's polemic with Edmund Burke, she debunked a myth in conservative Whig historiography - ultimately based on Tacitus - about the comparative freedom of women in Nordic antiquity, replacing a soft cultural ideal with concrete expectations of education and participation for women. Shortly after Wollstonecraft's visit to Norway and Copenhagen, Danish-Norwegian historians debated and revised this myth.

I am currently writing articles about Christian Magnus Falsen's tacitist History of Norway, published in 1823-4, on Tacitus as a source in Danish-Norwegian Enlightenment historiography, and on the changing images of Tacitus in vernacular historical theory in the period.

 

 

 

I have held public lectures about topics ranging from the Bergen renaissance historiographer Absalon Pedersøn Beyer to 19th century Norwegian history of historiography. One of my great passions is opera and the history of music, and I have written programme essays for Bergen National Opera's performances of La Clemenza di Tito (2020) and The Magic Flute (2022). I have also written political commentary in op-eds for Bergens Tidende, VG and Agenda Magasin. 

In 2019-20 I was convener and main lecturer in the course "HIS113 Tyrants and Tyrannicide", about the figure of the tyrant in ancient and early modern European historiography and political theory. I also lectured about ancient and early modern historiography in the obligatory BA and MA courses about history of historiography. 

Academic lecture

• Hatlebakk, Peter Sebastian (2023). Mary Wollstonecraft i 'Frihetens Forskole'. (external link)
• Hatlebakk, Peter Sebastian (2022). Virtuous translation dilemmas: conceptual vocabularies of virtue between classical, Nordicizing and modern usage. (external link)
• Hatlebakk, Peter Sebastian (2022). Frederik Münters Den danske reformations historie (1802) med hensyn til kildekritikk og narrativ. (external link)
• Hatlebakk, Peter Sebastian (2020). The Myth of the Free Norse Women in Late Scandinavian Enlightenment Historiography.. (external link)

Programme management

• Pilskog, Ingjald; Hatlebakk, Peter Sebastian; Andersen, Heine (2023). Motstand og makt ved danske universiteter. (external link)

Introduction, musical or theatrical programme

• Hatlebakk, Peter Sebastian (2022). Mozarts siste budskap. (external link)
• Hatlebakk, Peter Sebastian (2020). Titos tvetydighet. (external link)

Lecture

• Hatlebakk, Peter (2019). «J. C. Dahl og tiden. Om historiesynet i Urda-artiklene til Dahl.». (external link)

Popular scientific lecture

• Hatlebakk, Peter (2019). Da renessansen kom til Norge - om Absalon Pedersen Beyers lovtale til Norges Rige. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.