Nordic Literature Research Group

The research group Nordic literature brings together literary scholars from the University of Bergen, The University College of Western Norway and the Norwegain Teachers’ Academy. The participants are exploring Scandinavian authors and their works, subjects that are described in Nordic literature, or theoretical questions relevant for the field.

Bilde av forskergruppens medlemmer foran statuen "Døende galler" — Photo: Anna Bohlin

Affiliation

About the research group

The material that is studied and discussed reaches from the 18th to the 21th century, and contains canonical works, contemporary literature and texts such as literary history, literary criticism, essays and letters.

The aim of the research group is to support the individual research projects of the participant and ensure high scientific quality though discussions and common reading.

Methodologically the group works on two complementary tracks:

Every semester, we gather at least once for a common exploration of a research subject where the individual researcher brings in his/her expertise. We usually also invite guest researchers.
In addition, we come together every second week throughout the semester, and discuss manuscript drafts and ongoing work with PhD theses. Guest researchers who are visiting the Scandinavian department are also invited to present their projects.

The research group is an including community of senior and junior researchers. We are proud of the long list of publications that were discussed in the reading group meetings, as well as successfully completed PhD-projects.

Forskergruppemedlemmer foran "Døende galler" — Photo: Anna Bohlin

Programme - Autumn 2026

Wednesdays 14.15-16.00, room 435 in the HF-building

Wednesday 2/9

Vassenden: Hamsuns August-figur
Magnor: Kampen mot farsarven: Bjørnsons Det flager i byen og på havnen (1884)

Wednesday 16/9

Bjerck Hagen om Bjørnsons Magnhild
Aarstein: Ibsen og Strindberg i Min kamp

Wednesday 30/9 (fravær JS)

Bøe Pedersen: Renbergs Lungeflyteprøven.

Wednesday 14/10. OBS utvidet tid til 1700

Iben Brinch: Solstads Endelig lykken!
Helmich Pedersen: Virkelighetslitteraturen (dobbelttime)

Wednesday 28/10

Hamm: Prekære mødre
Sejersted: Holberg og tidligmoderne protorasetenkning

Wednesday 11/11

Parelius: Krim og velferdsstat
Jaroslaw Giza: Nesbø (The snowman)

Wednesday 25/11 (fravær JS)

Reed: samisk-norske kjærlighetsrelasjoner hos Lie, Falkberget, Hamsun og Duun
Theander: Noréns 7:3

Wednesday 9/12

Green: fortellermodus i Kristina Sandbergs trilogi
Gullestad: noe bjørnsonsk

Nonkonformisten - a new Holberg book by Jørgen Sejersted

Questions of gender identity were as pressing 300 years ago as they are today. This is not a discussion of whether Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754) was queer. Rather, it is the premise for this demonstration of how, in his profoundly original body of work during the first half of the eighteenth century, he fashioned a transgressive public persona in dialogue with the gender codes of his time. Taking as its starting point the depictions of “selsom elskov” in Holberg’s most misunderstood work, Metamorphosis (1726), the book traces his playful and audacious engagement with homosocial themes and “obscene” ambiguities, his fascination with gender and sexuality, and his persistent circling around the one unmentionable sin.

The backdrop he drew upon was the sexuality of classical antiquity, set against the masculine, bourgeois national patriarchy of the Enlightenment. Holberg’s secret was not something he wished to take with him to the grave; it was an open, demonstrative enigma that he articulated again and again, as clearly as was culturally and aesthetically possible for him.

The book is available open access and can be downloaded here: https://oa.fagbokforlaget.no/index.php/vboa/catalog/book/63 (external link)