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Christmas in Scandinavia
Anyone aware of the magic in Christmas will recognize the inspiration in these stories. Readers will encounter robbers on a raid, a homeless stranger seeking kindness, excited children, and a talking Christmas tree, all under the spell of the season. Here and there appear Nissen, the capped and bearded imps of mischief familiar throughout Scandinavia.
Christmas in Scandinavia includes writers from Denmark, the Faroese Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Among the many masterpieces of the Christmas story are Hans Christian Andersen's "The Fir Tree" and stories by Nobel laureates Selma Lagerlöf and Johannes V. Jensen. Most of the seventeen pieces collected here have never before been available in English. Each is preceded by a brief headnote. In his introduction, Sven H. Rossel discusses the rich and fascinating Scandinavian Christmas traditions, the origins of this feast, and its celebration in contemporary Scandinavia.
Christmas in Scandinavia includes writers from Denmark, the Faroese Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Among the many masterpieces of the Christmas story are Hans Christian Andersen's "The Fir Tree" and stories by Nobel laureates Selma Lagerlöf and Johannes V. Jensen. Most of the seventeen pieces collected here have never before been available in English. Each is preceded by a brief headnote. In his introduction, Sven H. Rossel discusses the rich and fascinating Scandinavian Christmas traditions, the origins of this feast, and its celebration in contemporary Scandinavia.
- GenresChristmas
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
34 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 13, 2016
These short stories, frequently in a realist mode and written between 1843 and 1960, have an atmosphere different from recent, zestier, magic-realist, dare I say Neil Gaiman-influenced, fiction based around folklore and fairytales (both originally in English, and in translation). Words like 'drier' or 'more staid' would be too strong given that these were mostly enjoyable and interesting, but they are a little on that spectrum. An old-fashioned Christmas of at least 60 years ago is the feeling, with a good dash of Bergmanesque melancholy. Plenty of the stories start off more or less Dickensian, poor folks' Christmases, but happy endings aren't guaranteed to the extent they would be in a similar Anglo-American anthology. The collection dates from before the current Nordic cultural boom - before Scandinavia was the new Japan - and was compiled by academics who'd worked on this series of literature textbooks, which used to look pretty interesting before there was so much other information around. The translation has a mid-century (or earlier) feel, in keeping with the tales themselves, and sometimes reminded me of those children's gift editions of Andersen and Grimm from 30+ years ago. It's impressive that one person translated all of these from four languages (one is a double translation, Finnish via Swedish), but the downside is that the writing style doesn't vary enough - with a couple of notable exceptions.
Most of these writers were unfamiliar (other than big names like Andersen, Lagerlöf and Sørensen, and to a small extent Amalie Skram) and if any Goodreads friends from Nordic countries know more about them, it would be interesting to hear how they are considered at home and nearby.
An Old Fashioned Christmas Eve, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Denmark 1843
A young upper middle class army officer is stuck at the household of his spinster landladies and spends an evening of storytelling with them and their nephews and nieces. In a way it sets the scene, but it's also rather fragmented as the children are realistically impatient, can't listen to or tell long stories, and need to be comforted that there won't be an unhappy ending when they hear a scary beginning.
The Fir Tree, Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark, 1844
This will be more or less familiar to most people, though I don't think I'd heard it in any form since primary school age. It has a rather obvious moral lesson, to appreciate what you have whilst you've got it, but it's not one I had much objection to. Made me glad I'd only ever got a real tree once. (Which was live, growing in a pot, but it sadly didn't survive to see the following Christmas.)
Karen's Christmas, Amalie Skram, Norway 1885
Bleak story of the urban poor.
Christmas Eve in the Henhouse, Sophus Schandorph, Denmark 1888
A story of a washerwoman's son, who these days would end up in the youth justice system, but at this point in time is just a very naughty boy. Refreshingly - at least to an adult reader who doesn't have to deal with kids copying children's books about naughty children - he's allowed to have some fun and inspire others to do so.
Christmas Matins in Finland's Barkbread Country, Karl A. Tavaststjerna, Finland-Swedish 1894
This tale of a starving family, and their apparently overly laid-back dad, turned out to be one of my favourites in the collection. It became really quite exciting and I ended up very invested in all the characters. (I'm also terribly jealous of people having saunas at home.)
Before the Candles Go Out, Hans E. Kinck, Norway 1901
Rather fragmented piece about a middle-aged couple who both had difficult childhoods and who want to make a better Christmas, and life in general, than what they experienced as kids. An idea I can relate to, but nevertheless the story didn't grab. There's also something modernist about the internality of the characters.
Christmas Peace, Johannes V. Jensen, Denmark 1904
The first of three successive stories by Nobel Prize winners. A sort of whydunnit, about the killing of a man whose demise means peace for the area where he lived.
The Legend of Christmas Roses, Selma Lagerlöf, Sweden 1908
Nobel winner, and probably the best known of these writers. This, in other hands, could easily have been cloying or didactic, but it simply ended up beautiful and unbearably melancholy. (Though perhaps that assertion should be taken with a pinch of salt given that I just cried at the Halifax new year ad...) An outlaw's wife is in the habit of intimidating villagers into giving her and her children food. She trespasses in a monastery garden and ends up telling the monks she has many times witnessed a magical garden which is rumored to appear in the forest on Christmas Eve...
A Farm Owner's Christmas Eve, Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Finland 1924
Another early Nobel winner. This story was the least memorable of the lot, and I had to skim it again before writing this paragraph. Mina, an elderly farming widow, and her resident granddaughter, have left Christmas preparations to the last minute. They are unpopular with the neighbours because Mina's daughter ran off with a Bolshevik. (The historical/political aspect is perhaps more interesting than the Christmas one, on reflection.)
At the Bottom of the Snow Ocean, Gunnar Gunnarsson, Icelander writing in Danish, 1929
Another favourite, which was exciting and had plenty happening. Her fisherman husband out at sea, a woman is snowed in with her kids. Not 'snowed in' meaning a few roads blocked, but the entire house submerged in snow, over the level of the chimney.
A Legend, Jakob Sande, Norway 1935
Rather good twist on a twist, hard to say more without spoilering.
The Christmas Basket, Fritiof Nilsson Piraten, Sweden 1936
Upper-working or middle-class children taking an occasional basket of food to a deserving local poor person is a pretty common event in nineteenth century literature. It's quite some time since I'd read a story about it; perhaps it always ends up sounding patronising, any road, it did here. I felt that this historical story was dated in a way that made it in poor taste for a Christmas anthology (and I practically never say 'in poor taste'). It was probably realistic for the time it was set - the division between deserving and undeserving poor, showing 'idiots' and 'bedlamites' chained up in dirty stables without anyone really wanting to do anything about it. (Perhaps it being a stable in a Christmas story indicates an authorial opinion more sympathetic than anything explicitly articulated.) The children weren't likeable though their selfish form of guilt was pretty realistic.
Advent in the Thirties, Eyvind Johnson, Sweden 1940
A rather sweet old farming couple are preparing for Christmas. It was interesting to hear that people who kept one pig a year to fatten for Christmas often made friends with it, (noticing the individual personalities of successive pigs) couldn't bring themselves to kill it, instead swapping animals with their neighbours at the last minute. This is the Jesus-like stranger-at-the-table story, only the man is a Jew on the run from the Nazis. The editors mention that Johnson - later another Nobel winner - was one of the first public figures in Sweden to speak out about the Holocaust, at a time when newspapers often said that things were nowhere near as bad as refugees reported, and/or that people had brought it on themselves. It may be a didactic story, but a necessary one with a true urgency and likeable characters.
The White Church, Heðin Brú, Faeroe Islands, 1948
The only one of these authors I'd read before. His book The Old Man and His Sons was excellent, and had a grit that's missing from this slightly too-good-to-be-true story about children who build a church out of snow. If I'd read this first I might have avoided the novel.
The Legend of the First Christmas Presents, Axel Hambræus, Denmark, 1950
A riff on the Bethlehem shepherds perfect for primary school assemblies, but verging on cheesy for a non-religious adult.
The Soldier's Christmas Eve, Villy Sørensen, Denmark, 1955
A weird fable about the atom bomb and the Nietzschean modern world. Like Jona Lewie's 'Stop the Cavalry' interrupting Carols from Kings. Found the editor's analysis in the afterword worthwhile.
Born of a Maid, William Heinesen, Faroe Islands, 1960
Ending on a low note. Historical, but recognisably more recent in attitude, tale set on a passenger ferry at Christmas 1919. And yes, there is a birth, which is made to seem more symbolic than the mother perhaps wanted it to. Has enough characters for a novel, but I was glad I didn't have to spend more time with them. Vaguely reminded me of Sjón's Whispering Muse, via mentions of sea-gods and some of the male characters, who at least weren't quite such bores as that protagonist.
Most of these writers were unfamiliar (other than big names like Andersen, Lagerlöf and Sørensen, and to a small extent Amalie Skram) and if any Goodreads friends from Nordic countries know more about them, it would be interesting to hear how they are considered at home and nearby.
An Old Fashioned Christmas Eve, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Denmark 1843
A young upper middle class army officer is stuck at the household of his spinster landladies and spends an evening of storytelling with them and their nephews and nieces. In a way it sets the scene, but it's also rather fragmented as the children are realistically impatient, can't listen to or tell long stories, and need to be comforted that there won't be an unhappy ending when they hear a scary beginning.
The Fir Tree, Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark, 1844
This will be more or less familiar to most people, though I don't think I'd heard it in any form since primary school age. It has a rather obvious moral lesson, to appreciate what you have whilst you've got it, but it's not one I had much objection to. Made me glad I'd only ever got a real tree once. (Which was live, growing in a pot, but it sadly didn't survive to see the following Christmas.)
Karen's Christmas, Amalie Skram, Norway 1885
Bleak story of the urban poor.
Christmas Eve in the Henhouse, Sophus Schandorph, Denmark 1888
A story of a washerwoman's son, who these days would end up in the youth justice system, but at this point in time is just a very naughty boy. Refreshingly - at least to an adult reader who doesn't have to deal with kids copying children's books about naughty children - he's allowed to have some fun and inspire others to do so.
Christmas Matins in Finland's Barkbread Country, Karl A. Tavaststjerna, Finland-Swedish 1894
This tale of a starving family, and their apparently overly laid-back dad, turned out to be one of my favourites in the collection. It became really quite exciting and I ended up very invested in all the characters. (I'm also terribly jealous of people having saunas at home.)
Before the Candles Go Out, Hans E. Kinck, Norway 1901
Rather fragmented piece about a middle-aged couple who both had difficult childhoods and who want to make a better Christmas, and life in general, than what they experienced as kids. An idea I can relate to, but nevertheless the story didn't grab. There's also something modernist about the internality of the characters.
Christmas Peace, Johannes V. Jensen, Denmark 1904
The first of three successive stories by Nobel Prize winners. A sort of whydunnit, about the killing of a man whose demise means peace for the area where he lived.
The Legend of Christmas Roses, Selma Lagerlöf, Sweden 1908
Nobel winner, and probably the best known of these writers. This, in other hands, could easily have been cloying or didactic, but it simply ended up beautiful and unbearably melancholy. (Though perhaps that assertion should be taken with a pinch of salt given that I just cried at the Halifax new year ad...) An outlaw's wife is in the habit of intimidating villagers into giving her and her children food. She trespasses in a monastery garden and ends up telling the monks she has many times witnessed a magical garden which is rumored to appear in the forest on Christmas Eve...
A Farm Owner's Christmas Eve, Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Finland 1924
Another early Nobel winner. This story was the least memorable of the lot, and I had to skim it again before writing this paragraph. Mina, an elderly farming widow, and her resident granddaughter, have left Christmas preparations to the last minute. They are unpopular with the neighbours because Mina's daughter ran off with a Bolshevik. (The historical/political aspect is perhaps more interesting than the Christmas one, on reflection.)
At the Bottom of the Snow Ocean, Gunnar Gunnarsson, Icelander writing in Danish, 1929
Another favourite, which was exciting and had plenty happening. Her fisherman husband out at sea, a woman is snowed in with her kids. Not 'snowed in' meaning a few roads blocked, but the entire house submerged in snow, over the level of the chimney.
A Legend, Jakob Sande, Norway 1935
Rather good twist on a twist, hard to say more without spoilering.
The Christmas Basket, Fritiof Nilsson Piraten, Sweden 1936
Upper-working or middle-class children taking an occasional basket of food to a deserving local poor person is a pretty common event in nineteenth century literature. It's quite some time since I'd read a story about it; perhaps it always ends up sounding patronising, any road, it did here. I felt that this historical story was dated in a way that made it in poor taste for a Christmas anthology (and I practically never say 'in poor taste'). It was probably realistic for the time it was set - the division between deserving and undeserving poor, showing 'idiots' and 'bedlamites' chained up in dirty stables without anyone really wanting to do anything about it. (Perhaps it being a stable in a Christmas story indicates an authorial opinion more sympathetic than anything explicitly articulated.) The children weren't likeable though their selfish form of guilt was pretty realistic.
Advent in the Thirties, Eyvind Johnson, Sweden 1940
A rather sweet old farming couple are preparing for Christmas. It was interesting to hear that people who kept one pig a year to fatten for Christmas often made friends with it, (noticing the individual personalities of successive pigs) couldn't bring themselves to kill it, instead swapping animals with their neighbours at the last minute. This is the Jesus-like stranger-at-the-table story, only the man is a Jew on the run from the Nazis. The editors mention that Johnson - later another Nobel winner - was one of the first public figures in Sweden to speak out about the Holocaust, at a time when newspapers often said that things were nowhere near as bad as refugees reported, and/or that people had brought it on themselves. It may be a didactic story, but a necessary one with a true urgency and likeable characters.
The White Church, Heðin Brú, Faeroe Islands, 1948
The only one of these authors I'd read before. His book The Old Man and His Sons was excellent, and had a grit that's missing from this slightly too-good-to-be-true story about children who build a church out of snow. If I'd read this first I might have avoided the novel.
The Legend of the First Christmas Presents, Axel Hambræus, Denmark, 1950
A riff on the Bethlehem shepherds perfect for primary school assemblies, but verging on cheesy for a non-religious adult.
The Soldier's Christmas Eve, Villy Sørensen, Denmark, 1955
A weird fable about the atom bomb and the Nietzschean modern world. Like Jona Lewie's 'Stop the Cavalry' interrupting Carols from Kings. Found the editor's analysis in the afterword worthwhile.
Born of a Maid, William Heinesen, Faroe Islands, 1960
Ending on a low note. Historical, but recognisably more recent in attitude, tale set on a passenger ferry at Christmas 1919. And yes, there is a birth, which is made to seem more symbolic than the mother perhaps wanted it to. Has enough characters for a novel, but I was glad I didn't have to spend more time with them. Vaguely reminded me of Sjón's Whispering Muse, via mentions of sea-gods and some of the male characters, who at least weren't quite such bores as that protagonist.
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December 30, 2019Christmas 839.5 C464C
February 27, 2016
I have read and re-read those short stories at Christmas time over the last sixteen years. I get something new through each re-reading.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews