Descripcion del libro:
**Norwegian literature**: Introduction:
If we put the question: Can Norwegian literature be of interest to people from other countries?, many different considerations must be taken into account before any answer can be given.
Norway has great literary traditions: The Norse sagas, Norwegian folklore, the works of Ludvig Holberg, Henrik Ibsen, and Knut Hamsun have influenced the history of literature throughout the world. Do we maintain these great literary traditions today? Some critics contend that Norwegian literature has become provincial, or too conventional, or that it is just experimenting with modernistic forms that no ordinary human being can understand.
Only future generations can settle these doubts. Meanwhile we must bear in mind that the great writers of the past were often faced with some of the same accusations. The charge of provincialism, for instance, relates to the fact that practically all Norwegian writers of fiction deal with Norwegian subjects and put their characters into - frequently rural, and often rather isolated - Norwegian settings. But this does not in itself necessarily lead to provincialism. Peer Gynt was a Norwegian character placed in a Norwegian setting, and yet he has become a universal symbol...
