Henrik Ibsen’s fictional world of marital breakdown and sexual hypocrisy in the fjords and farmsteads of Norway spread an unfamiliar polar chill at the end of the 19th century. His plays introduced Norwegian literature to a British audience and electrified such writers as Edmund Gosse and G. B. Shaw. His influence can also be felt in detective fiction today from Scandinavia. The fjords and iron-bound rocks of Norway are part of one’s enjoyment of Karin Fossum, for example, the queen of Norwegian crime, whose thrillers conjure an Ibsenesque atmosphere of shadowy menace.
Oddly, for a country which gave us trolls, few mythic cave-dwelling creatures appear in Ibsen’s theatre. (Roald Dahl, whose parents were Norwegian, was enthralled by fictional hags and witches.) Nevertheless, it would be hard to miss the influence of Northern European folk legends in an early Ibsen play like Ghosts, with its air of dark, fairytale enchantment.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in