ESKAPIZMO TRADICIJA IR METAMORFOZĖ (BĖGIMAS „NUO“ AR „Į“?) MODERNIOJOJE IR POSTMODERNISTINĖJE NORVEGŲ LITERATŪROJE
TRADITION AND METAMORPHOSIS OF ESCAPISM (RUNNING “FROM” OR “INTO”) IN THE MODERN AND POSTMODERN NORWEGIAN LITERATURE

Summary/Abstract: The subject of the investigation is a changing relationship between a civilised society and a “different” individual. The attention is focused on the theme of Norwegian literature. Norwegian prose became famous through modern classic Knut Hamsun (Nobel Prize). He revealed the inner world of an individual and searched for the relationship with nature. When investigating the evolution of the traditional theme in later and latest post-modern Norwegian prose, the entire chain of masks and embodiments of “another” or “different” man is revealed in the novels of Norwegian writers. They are called: “the eccentric”, “the crank”, “the outsider”, the dope”, “the half-wit”, “the loser”, “the misfit”, “the pathologic pervert”, the escapist, etc. The essay draws attention to an entirely new trend of the escapism tradition: looking for the possibilities for “the deviant” and “the hermit” to go back to a civilised society. The following texts of Norwegian prose have been chosen for a more detailed literary analysis: the novel “The Birds” by Tarjei Vesaas (1897—1970), tetralogy of Ingvar Ambjørnsen novels (b. 1956) about the eccentric Elling who cannot adapt himself to the generally accepted canons; the novels “The Look at Heaven” (“Utsikt til paradiset”, 1993), “The Bird’s Dance” “Fugledansen”, 1995), and “Blood Brothers” (“Brødre i blodet”, 1996) which are referred to as masterpieces of Norwegian literature of the 10th decade. The Hamsunian tradition traced in the work of Tarjei Vesaas is represented by a naive, strange, close to nature but lonely character. This social exclusion is characterised as soft escapism. Another variation of the same form is radical escapism Running away from society to the haven of nature is not a new theme, but in post-modern literature it sounds differently than it did in the past centuries. For an individual who has made up his mind to change his life radically, the withdrawal to a forest is only temporal consolation that does not solve any existential problems. This situation can be referred to as an escapism crisis. The deadlock of escapism can already be seen in the cycle of Ingvar Ambjørnsen’s novels about Elling. Elling, who is tortured by mental disorders and persecuted by the fear of the world, gradually finds willpower and inner strengths to integrate into society. The article is based on the analytical method of horizontal textual relations.

• Details
• Contents