The new narratives in Norwegian and other contemporary Scandinavian literature by, and about, immigrants are cultural representations of our changing societies, where questions of identity, nationality, and location are placed at the forefront. This migrant or multicultural literature brings in new themes and fields of reference and thus challenges, and eventually expands, the literary canons of the Nordic national literatures. Analytical perspectives from postcolonial theories help to address aspects of culture and identity in this literature. This presentation will mainly focus on Norwegian texts, but bring in some other Nordic examples as well - narratives that explore our emerging multicultural society - and also place them in a European and international context. These writers have emerged during the past three decades, concurrent with immigration into the Nordic countries. The authors contribute to a rewriting from their points of view on the margin, with female narratives, immigrant discourses poised between patriarchy and modernity, being particularly interesting. This multicultural fiction adds to the understanding of identity formation and concepts of nationality in changing Nordic societies. A comparison with American literature - both immigrant literature written in the immigrant languages before and after 1900 and contemporary American literature written in English will also be attempted.
When: October 11, 4:30pm
Where: University of Chicago, Cobb 115, 5811 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637
Info: www.uchicago.edu