Mirrored Sublimation

Name: Mirrored Sublimation | Essays on the Early Work of Knut Hamsun
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Essays on the Early Work of Knut Hamsun

Lisa Yamasaki(Autor*in)

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Mirrored Sublimation:Essays on the Early Work of Knut Hamsun
Mirrored Sublimation:Essays on the Early Work of Knut Hamsun
Lisa Yamasaki
Academica PressWashington
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Yamasaki, Lisa (author)
Title: Mirrored sublimation : essays on the early work of knut hamsun | Yamasaki, Lisa.
Description: Washington : Academica Press, 2025. | Includes references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2025935407 | ISBN 9781680535730 (hardcover) | 9781680535747 (e-book)
All Illustrations done by Lisa Yamasaki
Acknowledgments
I am incredibly indebted to Professor Steve Mamber, Professor Eleanor Kaufman, and Professor Doug Kellner for all your advice, invaluable feedback and patience throughout the early years to now. I could never have found the depth to write this book if you had not guided me and believed in my potential, nor would I have the courage to write it.
Special and heartfelt thanks to the Scandinavian section at UCLA: Professor Tim Tangherlini, Dr. Arne Lunde, Dr. Patrick Wen, and Dr. Kimberly Ball. Thank you for your support and feedback when I first expressed my passion for Norwegian literature. Thank you for being supportive and understanding.
Many thanks to those at SASS and at the International Hamsun Conference at the Universitetet i Tromsø, notably those who encouraged me and gave me critical areas to examine. In particular, special thanks to Dr. Ingri Løkholm Ramberg, Professor Linda Nesby, Professor Lisbeth Wærp, Professor Henning Wærp, Dr. Morten Aukland, and Professor Henrik Johnsson in Østfold University College. Thank you to those reviewers and editors at Scandinavian Studies, Supernatural Studies and at Nordlit.
Thank you to Professor Susan Brantly, Dr. Benjamin Bigelow, Luke Beuerlein, Professor Emeritus Tom Conner, Alvhild Dvergsdal at Hamsunsenteret, Frode Lerum Boasson and John Brumo from Norwegian University of Science and Technology. All those discussions about Hamsun and Norwegian literature were immensely helpful to getting me to put his stories into the social and cultural context.
Thank you to the scholars in the early days at the Southwestern Popular Culture Conference, especially Dr. Marc Ouellette, Dr. Kenneth S. McAllister, Professor Judd Ethan Ruggill, and Dr. Kevin Moberly. Your encouragement helped me to continue writing and researching even when I did not continue with video games studies. I appreciate your belief in me.
I also appreciate and value the help of my wonderful editor, Rob Bignell, whose professional eye and supportive feedback gave me that final push to the finish line that I needed to make this project a reality.
I also wish to thank everyone at Academica Press for their work and for their consideration of my work. I am grateful for their attention.
Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my friends and family for your patience and understanding throughout my process of writing this book. Thank you for trusting in my intuition and my vision, as your words of encouragement have kept me on the path to further elaborate on ideas and finish my work.
Thank you to Dolores Buttry and Even Arntzen, whose work on Hamsun has been integral to the direction I took in this book. I see my work as an extension to your contribution to Hamsun studies.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface xi
Illustration: Knut Hamsun xiv
Illustration: Sigbjørn Obstfelder xv
Illustration: Henrik Ibsen xvi
Illustration: Opening xvii
IntroductionDreams as the Unifying Factor of 1890s Literature 1
Illustration: Study of Hares 16
Chapter 1The Dream of the Shoes 17
Illustration: Study of Boots 27
Chapter 2Iselin as Object of Desire andCreative Dream in Knut Hamsun's Pan and Victoria 29
Illustration: Sea Holly with Light 46
Chapter 3Death's Symbol: The Lyktemann's Daughter 47
Illustration: The Tower 66
Chapter 4What Remains Omitted 67
Illustration: Transitional Space 79
Chapter 5Art Manifests as Humans 81
Illustration: Camille 106
Illustration : Woman in Cloth 107
Chapter 6A Walk Among the Roses 109
Illustration: The Allegory of Flattery 121
Chapter 7Iselin Revisited: Mystery of Two Identities Resolved 123
Illustration: The Red Beret 141
Chapter 8Making the Impossible Happen 143
Illustration: Little Spring Bouquet 151
Illustration: Tree in Fog 151
Illustration: Teacup 152
Chapter 9The Last Dream 153
Illustration: The White Rose 157
Illustration: The Open Door 158
Endnotes 159
Bibliography 171
Index 179
Preface
Illustration: Knut Hamsun
Illustration: Sigbjørn Obstfelder
Illustration: Henrik Ibsen
Illustration: Opening
Back in March 2018, I had a dream where I walked along some unrecognizable streets. A few people passed me along the streets wearing long-sleeved shirts and slacks. Their faces were unrecognizable and blurred, as they rushed by me. Unlike me, they did not smile at me or look at me the way Americans usually do even to strangers. I kept walking even though the streets were narrow, no cars in sight. Small store signs adorned the storefronts. Stores like H&M appeared, and the word "salg" was display
I walked up a darkened narrow staircase that led to a slightly ajar door. I pushed it open and found a stack of newspapers almost to my height welcoming me. Taking a sharp breath, I put my hand over my head and closed my eyes to test whether I was sick with a fever, as I did feel a bit hot. When I opened my eyes, I observed that two stacks of newspapers aligned a path from the front door and led to a small barstool area, and behind that, a kitchen. I heard two male voices speaking in a foreign l
Distracted by the light, I didn't immediately notice two men and a woman looking at me. The elderly man stood next to an elderly woman with crinkled eyes and white hair done in a bun. A middle-aged man stood to my left, but I didn't pay too much attention to him. I sighed and didn't say a word, as I was surrounded by strangers. I looked at the tall elderly man, whose features were blurred through light. At first, he said nothing and stared at me. His eyes traveled to my lips, as if he expected m
Shortly after, the older woman led me up the stairs and into a small room. I stood at the doorway and examined the room. It had one dresser at one end of the room, my immediate left, and a window across the bed to my right. Two nightstands adorned both sides of the bed, and a small lamp was on top of the nightstand farthest from the window. Clothes were sprawled in parts of the room, as if someone were cleaning out the clothing left over from a previous tenant. The woman smiled and approached me
During 2017-2019, the bed lay across from the large window, and the light of the sun would wake me. My room was in the shape of a soft "t," in which the wider parts were in darkness, while the light filtered in through a large window at the apex. The position of my bed made me get up from the sunlight, reassuring me that I would always awaken with the sun to work on essays during the quiet mornings.
These were the early years of my investigation, when I intuitively worked on academic essays without fear of rejection and pushback due to subject matter. During these early years, I made the decision to abandon my previous research-a point that I discuss later on in this book-to start this new investigation. I mustered the courage to take Norwegian classes and dedicate my time to analyzing one man's stories and novels to find the interconnections between them. Initially, I liked one theme that
Little was I to know that the project itself would revamp and change into different versions, only to find myself going back to the original topic. As the years passed, I matured and considered how this project would realistically par with the other scholarly work done on this one author. Throughout the years, I decided to make it about the way that this intellectual pursuit changed me. While I had to edit out some of the more sensational dreams and ideas that I had written in some early drafts,
Even though the tone is academic throughout the more philosophical essays, this collection captures my experiences and thoughts. I have never been as passionate about a project before, so I am focusing on esoteric and abstract concepts like sublimation, dreams and nightmares, even though said concepts do have concrete representations. I divided this book into sections of drawings, academic essays, and essays I call academic braided, which include some academic concepts with some excerpts of the
Some of the essays have been published in academic journals. Part of "Death's Symbol: The Lyktemann's Daughter" was published in Nordlit under the article name "Eros in the Hamsunian Male Figure: Fantasy Women in Knut Hamsun's 1890s Literature." The essay "Iselin as Object of Desire and Creative Dream in Knut Hamsun's Pan and Victoria" was published in Scandinavian Studies as the article "Iselin as Object of Desire in Knut Hamsun's Pan and Victoria." Since then, I went back and took out the text
This book is not meant to change conversations about any topic, only express my experience of reliving some of the phenomena that I explored as I wrote my full academic essays. I will continue to explore a similar blending of illustration, reflective writing, and academic writing, as I continue to work on nineteenth century Norwegian literature.
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Introduction Dreams as the Unifying Factor of 1890s Literature
The Decadent Woman and Her Depiction
The Direction of the Book
Illustration: Study of Hares
During the late nineteenth century, styles of writing changed, as modernism slowly but surely made in-ways in Norway. Writers focused on exploring the hidden emotions within a person that often expressed themselves. In all of the stories, the writers seek to bring the previously unspoken into the light. This insight alludes to Sigmund Freud's investigation of Fredrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling's definition of unheimlich as "the name for everything that ought to have remained.secret and hidden but
Hamsun shows his writing process as the mind's reworking of a story filtered through his own preoccupation with how others perceive his work. In his sketch about killing a hare, he writes that to kill a hare one should place tobacco next to a brick. If a hare sniffs the tobacco, it will cause him to sneeze and hit his head on the brick, thus killing it. Yet, as Hamsun examines his own writing of this story on paper, he notices a V at the beginning. After four days pass, Hamsun notices a word in
As he tries to understand the workings of his mind, Hamsun realizes that the mind captures some details and reworks them at night. He further explains, "I would be interested in hearing an explanation of just what it is, this bizarre activity my head engages in under cover of the dead of night, and all unbeknownst to me." The words "unbeknownst to me" convey that the mind incorporates the events that Hamsun experienced some days prior to rework its recollection of events. By commenting on the w
Then you run over and carefully pick the hare up by both ears and hold it in front of the mirror, to see if it's dead, but this has to be done with the utmost care, so as not to cause the animal more pain than is necessary. If it seems as if there is still life in the hare you place it gently back on the grass, until it dies.
An additional layer of analysis shows that if Hamsun was consciously looking for an attack on his writing, he worked his fear into his suggestion to not cause himself pain, any more than necessary. Thus, his mind also developed a defense for the opportunity that criticism might "kill" him, so readers should be careful and gentle with him. While Hamsun himself never tells the reader that he fears criticism, he starts to show how the mind develops its own trajectory. Yet, he does state that this t
Neither dream nor reality are involved
it is a moment in time filled with a barely conscious sensation of essential connection with nature. This remarkable sensation is also known to visit people at night, in the depths of the forest
or to come to someone simply sitting by an upturned boat. There is a great deal being written at the moment about a new 'disease': the love of the sun. I believe in this new sickness too, quite literally.But this love of the sun is only another expression of the b
Hamsun notes that such experiences occur in the nighttime and could involve a walk in the forest or visit someone sitting by a boat. This form of sickness, this friction between the conscious and unconscious, derives from creation, as it is part of nature to have this will apart from human consciousness. Hamsun moves away from the phenomenon of the dream itself and comments more on different experiential phenomena that people experience but do not discuss in public. He compares it to a profound
Since writers need to focus their attention on specific details of their work, they could not actively write while being in this liminal state, though some might try with the use of alcohol. Yet, through reflection of their works, a reader can find traces of this liminal space. While Hamsun clearly articulates that this phenomenon of the mind's independent reworking does not occur in dreams, as he hardly dreams, his words refer to Sigmund Freud's explanation of dreams and their role in psychoana
In Freud's assessment of the unconscious in dreams, he articulates that the past haunts the present, as the unconscious presents the subject with previously unresolved events that manifests in the subject's dreams. Despite countering Hamsun's assessment of the mind's reworking of content as not involving dreams, Freud does define them as the mind's intellectual abilities to refute the activities from the previous day. He explains, "It is a perfectly valid psychic phenomenon, actually a wish-fulf
Initially, one might feel compelled to choose between Hamsun's assessment of the unconscious activity in the mind as not a part of dreams, yet Freud's assertion of dreams as the intellectual activity reworks the previous day's events. It could be that one dreams and sleeps without even being aware of it. As a result, in attempting to choose one over the other, one forecloses on the main point of this phenomenon. Each sample of the literature here represents characters from dreams or dreamlike se
In 1905, Scandinavian writer Carl Nærup published Illustretet Norsk Litteraturshistorie, a book on various Norwegian writers during the late nineteenth century where he describes the main trends of literature during this time. In regard to one of Hamsun's peers, Arne Dyfest, Nærup defines the "vilkaarligeste Udtryk for de enkelte [arbitrary expression of the individual]" as "Kunsts eneste og høieste Maal er Rendyrkning af stemming, Beruselse I Stemningsliv, Opløsning af alle Følelsesværdier I St
Such experiences mimic the space between reality and dream, as it causes one to question whether they actually experience such bizarre yet often picturesque settings and interactions with characters or if they dreamed it. In some cases, characters encounter certain settings as wondrous places but also sites of repression. Such repression turns itself into enchanting storytelling and forms of art, while other forms take away one's humanity with various forms of disastrous effects.
Freud's essay "The Uncanny" forms ideas of the uncanny from Schelling's definitions of Unheimlich and Heimlich. The uncanny involves a repressed impulse about a particular image or idea that was not originally strange yet becomes unfamiliar and spooky through the process of repression. Through repression, a person's association with a particular object or idea becomes foreign, and it takes on a different nature. For repression to occur, the person must experience a repetition of witnessing the o
In Harald Næss's study of nineteenth century Scandinavian Realism, he examines the change in literature that encompassed aspects of realism but infused with more fantastic elements. While some refer to this literature as Nyromantikken, others refer to it as early modernism. My position is not to ascertain which category best reflects the literature
rather, I wish to show that Hamsun possessed a desire to give literature a new form by combining two different perspectives. Næss reflects on the we
"Hamsun also felt, like Dostoevsky, that reality and the fantastic were not opposites, rather reality contained the fantastic, and he set out to render that fantastic reality in books were unlike other Norwegian novels. Strindberg had already predicted the end of the novel and instead recommended the autobiography as the only truly realistic genre, but Hamsun combined fiction and the autobiography in a novel, in which he replaced everyday reality with 'untrodden,' trackless journeying by brain a
In their book, Nordic Literature of Decadence, Pirjo Lyytikäinen, Riikka Rossi, Viola Parente-Capková, and Mirjam Hinrikus provide samples of decadent literature and an overview of decadence in the Nordic context. Pirjo Lyytikäinen et al. explain some pertinent traits in the literature in addition to the cultural context. The literature in the 1890s shows a shift to a psychological burden as manifested by "fantasies, dreams or visions and enables the dominance of both the cerebral and-especially
In her essay, "Melancholy at a Crossroads: Effeminate Men in Norwegian Fin-de-siécle Literature," Kjersti Bale clarifies on the social changes occurred in Norwegian society that empowered women. Bale credits the Commerce Act of 1842 and the Marriage Act of 1888, as well as the creation of different national associations for women, as ways that Norwegian women expressed independence and gained some power. Both male and female writers address this depiction of the New Woman as a female character a
Lyytikäinen et al. states:
"Moreover while Nordic decadence benefited from the cross-cultural imagination of the North as a dark place of unknown wild forces, it also developed decadent imagery of its own, peculiar to Nordic environments. Nature's potential for primitive passions and the ecstatic are essential to the decadent aesthetics of transgression in the Nietzschean, Dionysian wilderness decadence."
As a result, Lyytikäinen captures the motive behind many of the male writers' tendencies to write the beautiful yet mysterious forests of the North as more alluring than society and its changing norms coinciding with technological progress. This assessment echoes the sentiments that Hamsun alludes to in his essay on the unconscious mind. It aptly sets the stage for the writers and their works in this short book. The exploration of the woman's strength manifests as dreamlike characters, artistic
By indicating that the artistic avant-garde acted like an esoteric secret society, in John Bramble's Modernism and the Occult, he shows how literature inherently embeds some of the esoteric themes despite the author's intention. Bramble investigates the ethos of Western modernism as a longing to return to the more vibrant aspects of the past in combination with the Western and Eastern syncretism that would eradicate aspects of modernity such as imperialism. Bramble defines late nineteenth centur
Since these depictions of women and man entail dreamlike descriptions, a reader assumes that these depictions in this collection include aspects of the decadent, as decadence was popular during the fin-de-siecle. Yet, I suggest otherwise. Some of the writers, such Ola Hansson, do depict the grotesquely erotic woman who lures the men, yet such portrayals leave the men in mystery as to their reasons they feel attraction to the women. Furthermore, such attraction leads men to their downfall. To bes
With so much focus on the supernatural and mysterious female figure in these stories of the last decade of the nineteenth century, one gets tempted to indicate that many women depicted as supernatural convey a positive dreamlike quality that impresses the male character. Yet, it is important to distinguish such dreamlike figures from the decadent women whose sexual nature puts fear in men.
As previously stated, Swedish writer Ola Hansson, depicts the decadent woman through his collection of literary fragments "Sensitiva Amorosa." The women elicit amorous feelings yet also feelings of shame and disgust to the point where the depiction of the supernatural alludes to an ugly and evilness as opposed to creativity.
To briefly recapitulate Hansson's "Sensitive Amorosa" project, the collection of literary fragments represents men and women who experience love as a dark, confusing bewitchment rather than a feeling of inspiration. In one of Hansson's fragments, he portrays a man who falls victim to a female supernatural force. A mythical woman arises in a simple setting, a seemingly mundane setting filled with supernatural tendencies, as Hansson notes an evening in July with a feverish atmosphere. He writes, "
This fragment is the shortest of the stories in the collection, yet it possesses strong depictions of the supernatural woman who preys on the weakened man without reason and leaves him senseless. While the fragment is beautifully written with poetic phrasing and a mysterious tone that makes readers want more from this story, its negative portrayal of the woman's effect on the man leaves a reader without hope that the bewitchment led to a productive purpose. In Nordic Literature of Decadence, one
The depictions of this work are worthy of study for stylistic aspects in the writing as explained in the aforementioned descriptions of the themes in the literature. Hansson's depictions of women share the dreamlike qualities inherent in the late nineteenth century literature, as these women develop through dreams or induce dreamlike states. Furthermore, they possess traits of the supernatural and influence the men's emotional and mental states. Yet, I hold back from including them in this colle
While many of the essays in this collection take an academic tone, they show a progression from academic to an artistic to a narrative voice to reveal the different aspects involved in literary study. Few literary analysts will take this direction, and I am certainly not suggesting that they should, only that some investigations elicit different parts of a literary analyst. In showing them as judiciously as possible, I remain faithful to the investigation. To say that dreams direct the progressi
The supernatural qualities of the dreamlike depictions and dreamlike characters allude to the idea of the marvelous fantastic. According to Tzvetan Todorov's notion of the marvelous fantastic in The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, this term explains for stories that show the hesitation of accepting the supernatural aspects or attempting to use reality to explain for the supernatural. Todorov further explains that ultimately the reader accepts the supernatural aspects of the
Since the history of the unconscious connects to the supernatural itself, the supernatural aspect of my discussion emerges within my investigation. In her study, Ghostly Matters: Haunting and the Sociological Imagination, Avery F. Gordon defines haunting as a part of modern social life and a point of observation and inquiry that is not a premodern superstition or a phenomenon that shows the ways one's psyche invents ghosts. Taking the postmodernist and poststructuralist ideas into perspective, G
The way of the ghost is haunting, and haunting is a very particular way of knowing what has happened or is happening. Being haunted draws us affectively, sometimes against our will and always a bit magically, in the structure of feeling of a reality we come to experience, not as cold knowledge, but as a transformative recognition.
By associating empirical knowledge with cold objectivity and feeling with transformative experience, Gordon opens the notion that knowledge construction might entail feeling an experience with a topic or a particular subject. She examines female novelists and female subjects and uses the representation of ghosts as a tool and subject of study. Throughout her examination, she alludes to the way that ghosts as an inquiry offsets the accepted norms of academic and empirical investigation. Though sh
When considering the direction of the book, I also allude to discussions from Marcel Proust and Gilles Deleuze as metaphors for this investigation. A few years ago, I wrote a long-term research study that alluded to Proust's notion of memory to talk about the notions of time. In Difference and Repetition, Deleuze describes the narrator's reminiscence of Combray, a fictional town based on the French town Illiers. Deleuze expresses, "Combray reappears, not as it was or as it could be, but in a spl
I do not recall if Deleuze ever mentioned Proust's quick anecdote of the Celtic belief of souls trapped in objects. In Swann's Way, Proust mentions that such objects remain lost until we pass by it and "obtain possession of the object which forms their prison." He then mentions how the spirit inside "tremble.call us by our name, and as soon as we have recognized them the spell is broken." Suddenly I start rethinking the phrase when someone buys an antique because they felt it call out to them. I
Through my experience of ghostly matters, I examine the pattern of sublimation as it occurs in the literary works to better understand them, but I also examine the role of sublimation in my pursuit as a way to reconstruct the process of using art as ennobling affection. By alternating literary analysis with reflective academic braided essays and illustrations, I show a blended approach that encompasses the way that Hamsun's work engages my critical faculties and artistic sensibilities. While thi
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Chapter 1 The Dream of the Shoes
Illustration: Study of Boots
"Da gjorde jeg noget jeg angrer på og endmu ikke har glemt. Hendes sko faldt av foten, jeg grep den og slængte den langt bortover vandet, av glæde over at hun var nær eller av trange til a gjøre mig gjældende og minde hende om at jeg var til, -jeg vet det ikke."
[Then I did something I regret and haven't yet forgotten. Her shoe slipped off her foot, and I grabbed it and flung it far out over the water - whether for joy at her being so near or from some urge to assert myself and remind her of my existence, -I don't know.]
In this scene in Pan, Glahn sits in a boat and hurls Edvarda's shoe into a lake, an act that shows his awkward behavior in front of a woman he likes. I turn to the part of Pan where Glahn acts in a bizarre way to capture the attention of Edvarda-the mortal woman who contrasts to the nature spirit that I write about. This particular scene opens up the mysterious nature of human behavior in romantic pursuits, which makes me consider whether all romantic pursuits involve detective work of some kind
After I awoke from the dream, I sit upright the morning after with a cup of coffee and jotted some notes regarding the details of the dream, as I could still experience the chaotic sensation of seizing a pair of shoes and hiding them from everyone. I turn on the light from my nightstand to write down crucial aspects of the dream before the day's events work their way into my consciousness and make me forget all of the dream, as occurs when one's obligations deter from one's deepest inquiries.
As I glanced up from my notebook, my eyes caught sight of a dark object next to my nineteenth century chair. My old Steve Madden shoes lay across from me. Their coarse leather was weathered by the years of wear and tear, but they still fit my feet. But I don't recall taking those boots out of my closet. Did I wear them after coming back from my late-night workout? My recollection of my dream is slipping past me.must stay focused.
In my dream, a group of people I had never seen before told me they were writers. These were not older writers but contemporary writers in present time Los Angeles. They gathered to play the game Mafia, which entails assigning different people in certain roles, such as such as doctor, the detective, the townspeople, and the mafia members. Usually, this process entails handing out a number of cards and indicating that the players with certain cards, such as the jack of hearts or queen of diamonds
Throughout my dream, the writers ran around and pretended to kill the townspeople by pantomiming their attacks, while those assigned townspeople also played along and fell to the ground, cushioning their fall, as if acting on stage. Stunned by the display of staged chaotic behavior, I had the role of detective, but instead of partaking in the performance, I stood watching everyone running around and falling, playfully laughing with each other. Some took ketchup to portray the blood coming from t
I stood still, and no one interacted with me. As I stepped back, I noticed the seemingly more accurate portrayal of the "killing"
as each minute passed, more players attacked each other with more force. For a moment, I thought of saving only myself.
I momentarily turned around and saw a small lake and a boat at the shore, thus breaking away from the suburban setting. The boat was still docked midway through the sand and the water. Hamsun sat inside it. I walked closer to the boat and farther away from the shouts of the other players. After noticing the light upon his head, I paid more attention to the time of the night, which I noted as dusk. The small scant light in the horizon line against a dark night sky was a backdrop to Hamsun in a sm
It was at that moment that I saved Hamsun's shoes.
When I reflect upon the strange nature of the dream, I recall Jacques Lacan's "The Seminar of the Purloined Letter," in which Lacan spends some time discussing Edgar Allen Poe's short story of a detective's explanation of how he retrieved an important stolen letter even though the French police frantically searched for it without success. The letter contains secretive communication between a member of the royal family, and D-, the thief who stole the letter, wished to extract it. Dupin, the dete
As signifiers of Hamsun's existence, I take the shoes to symbolize his identity but also the power within his writing ability. Due to the manner that scholar Stefanie von Schnurbien discusses the shoes as signifier, I can affirm that the shoes allude to a theme in Hamsun's writing. When considering the shoes as emblematic for his writing theme, I consider the idea that I am trying to catch the essence of its meaning. Throughout the dream, I asked myself, "Why am I seeing these shoes? Why are the
Many scholars write about Hamsun's work, especially the work in the 1890s, delivering brilliant analyses of the political implications of his work, aesthetics, and his role as the predecessor of modernism. Yet like many other scholars, I feel the need to establish a new analysis of his work, though I seek to do so with an archaic psychoanalytic framework. The ability to see the shoes and hold onto them indicates a role I have taken. Earlier in the dream, I took the role of a detective, which is
When Lacan speaks of the difference between the Symbolic and the Real, he uses the meaning of the letter to both exemplify Poe's use of it in the story but also to detract from it. He writes:
For it can literally (á la lettre) be said that something is not in its place only of what can change places-that is, of the symbolic. For the real, whatever upheaval we subject to it, is always and in every case in its place
it carries its place stuck to the sole of its shoe, there being nothing that can exile from it.
Lacan uses the analogy of the shoe to refer to how the real is stuck like a sole of a shoe. In using this analogy, he indirectly refers to the role of the detective as a gumshoe, since the term itself entails the fact that the detective must walk quietly in order to be effective in her search. In this meaning, the term also exemplifies synecdoche, or the figurative term in which a part represents the whole. n this way, the term of detective is represented through the shoe, yet also the act of be
Given the significance that the role of a literary investigator is similar to that of a detective, it only makes sense that my dream refers to my role as a gumshoe. I was given the shoes in order to uncover details in Hamsun's work that have been previously minimized in other discussions. Yet, the power itself is also extrinsically linked to my ability to find meaning in his work, even if the meaning I make gathers from only looking at the symbols. I look at the symbols in order to find the real
Lacan's description of symbols and their relationship in defining a person shows the power that they have in controlling not only how others perceive a person but how that person perceives herself. Inherent in this description is the idea that symbols limit self-awareness for they impede on the subject's access to the Real. Lacan states:
Symbols in fact envelop the life of man with a network so total that they join together those who are going to engender him 'by bone and flesh' before he comes into the world
so total that they bring to his birth, along with the gift of the stars, if not with the gift of the fairies, the shape of his destiny
so total that they provide the words that will make him faithful or renegade, the law of the acts that will follow him right to the very place where he is not yet and beyond his very death
Lacan's allusion to supernatural aspects aptly describes the relevance of the supernatural. The symbols indeed convey a power to determine one's fate, such as the way that a person uses the stars to guide their future or the way by which a protagonist tries to please the fairies in the fairytales. By investigating these symbols, especially the supernatural as alluded to in the "fairies" and "stars," I examine how they inform an understanding of Hamsun's work. The investigation into the supernatu
The dream depicted a game that people performed, yet it was the vivid details in the acting that I recalled. In particular, the anger that one writer had to stab Hamsun is understandable given Hamsun's political choices and shortcomings. A number of scholars expound on their criticism of his politics and personal biases such as his bias against women's liberation, the indigenous Sami, the integration of African-Americans into American society, and his ill treatment of Jewish people in his travel
In her book, Knut Hamsun: The Dark Side of Literary Brilliance, Monika Zagar aptly summarizes the themes of Hamsun's literature as "the return to the idealized land, the return to traditional gender roles, the acceptance of one's social role, and ignorance of politics" and the way they coincide with "the ideological propaganda of National Socialist parties." In Hamsun's depiction of the Sami, he relegates their culture and connection to nature as flat characters in his work. In Zagar's assessmen
Such assessment mirrors James W. McFarlane's critique of Hamsun's treatment of women. McFarlane closes his article, "The Whisper in the Blood: Hamsun's Early Novels," with an assessment of Hamsun's cruel opinion of women: "He claimed that woman is inferior to man, physically and intellectually, and that she is therefore driven to exercise a tyranny over him by unworthy methods." In other words, Hamsun's ideas and political biases ensured anger from readers. While his literature vividly portrays
In his article "Prophet of Regeneration: On Two Fascist Readings of Knut Hamsun," Dean Krouk examines two studies on fascist thought in order to show Hamsun's fascist tendencies. A consistent theme in Hamsun's writing is a "mythical use of a vanished or imagined past to construct a political alternative to liberal modernity." While many authors refer to the mythical past, Krouk aptly gives a distinction that in fascist thought the imagined past is perceived as the key to eradicate any liberties
Insofar as Hamsun's early work helped to show how social norms control much of human behavior as seen in the how the characters step outside of convention, it was revolutionary in literature to depict humans as fractured. Through the unleashing of their repressions, characters could confront deeper fears, desires, and frustrations. Some confrontations with one's deepest emotions make the person experience the emotions more intensely, particularly if the person has not previously admitted such em
Referring back to my dream, I consider the issue of the shoes and the strange behavior from the other writer when I found Hamsun in the boat. Enacting the role of the mafia game, the other writer wanted the power in the shoes, but didn't want the shoes themselves.or I took the shoes faster than he could take them.
In Pan when Hamsun states Glahn's motivation for throwing Edvarda's shoe in the water, he wishes to assert his existence, to remind her of him. His act symbolizes a willingness to show his existence, or at least prove it to her. He becomes aware that he does exist, and he wishes to show this same consciousness to her. In regard to my dream, the shoes signified of Hamsun's rigor in his writing. Since the shoes manifested Hamsun's writing ability or aesthetic in his writing, they acted as a part o
The sunlight has made its way into my room, removing all traces of that early morning when darkness still fills the room with last night's wishes. Was the dream a clue to my investigation? Why did it feel more like a part of my existence than an actual dream? Perhaps the essay on sublimation is making me preoccupied with the idea. After all, I do wish to convey my ideas clearly. I am excited about the upcoming gathering where I do get a chance to report my analysis on the literature.
I go to my desk and pull out a sheet of paper to capture the shoes. Using different forms of lead pencils to layer lines of darkness on the page, I emphasize the creases and the bruises on the shoes. The different traces of dirt permanently discolored them after I neglected to clean them after particular moments of wear. In my drawing, I position the shoes so that the viewer cannot look at anything else but these shoes. Their gaze would remain on the misshaped form of the leather and the differe
Due to the fact that I never wanted to give them up or throw them out, I kept them a despite their worn-down condition. One might say that I kept them around to remind me of the days when I would go out in the middle of the night and find myself looking into bathroom mirrors where I realized that my gaze looked differently than I remembered. Or perhaps it is just my recollection of my younger years when I was at an age of abundant creativity, a time when one cared about the passing of time, as o
Once I was able to properly examine the shoes through rendering it, I could see how the laces constrained the form. They were worn and discolored in the toe area and misshaped from years of wear. The leather was thin and vulnerable to weather. One shoe buckled in the back, while the other was a bit firmer and held onto its shape. Both shoes, though, lost their shape during the years of different transitions in dressing style. I don't wear them as much as I used to. And now, they are standing in
While the shoes do stand in for the time of remembrance of one's young life filled with affection, they stop becoming what they once were for me. I don't wear them but instead, consider them as a visual cue to continue this experiment. Even if no academic has tried this approach before, it is worth doing so to uncover what might occur, as one art form inspires another. This sort of detective work does not entail putting together all the clues to generate a solution to the overall puzzle, but rat
Eventually I do buy new boots that have fabric on the sides extending up past the ankle, so they no longer constrict my ankles when I walk around. These boots don't have a heel and make walking around more comfortable. Months later, after I finish drawing the older boots, I do not find them anywhere when going through my closet. I recall making a mental note to give them away to a second-hand store, but I myself do not do so. At least, I do not remember doing so.
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Chapter 2 Iselin as Object of Desire and Creative Dream in Hamsun's novels Pan and Victoria
Nature and Vitalism
Iselin and Sublimation
Illustration: Sea Holly with Light
Knut Hamsun's novels Pan and Victoria focus on the tragedies of the attainment of love and then, its subsequent loss due to the pressures of social conventions and responsibilities. In Pan, the male protagonist, Thomas Glahn, meets Edvarda, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, and attempts to consummate his love for her. Due to an inability to engage in social interactions as he relates more to nature, Glahn cannot properly continue his relationship with Edvarda. In Victoria, Hamsun writes of Joh
In Pan, Hamsun initially introduces Iselin as an amorous nature spirit, a legend that comes alive when the protagonist enters the northern forest. In Even Arntzen's article, "Munken Vendt-på sporet av Knut Hamsuns mytiske estetikk," he considers the characters fantasy characters that arise from Glahns's mind. Once again, in Victoria, Iselin appears as a character from one of Johannes's fictional writings. Johannes creates Munken Vendt, as his poetic voice, and through the narration of Munken Ven
Though her role is less significant in Victoria than in Pan, Iselin alludes to mystical creativity, a manifestation of feminine energy manifested through male fantasy. By evoking libidinal impulses within the male protagonists, they experience sexual feelings for a nature spirit but sublimate this energy in order to create art through stories. Through an investigation of Lacan's ideas of sublimation, I consider the relationship that Hamsun's male characters have with Iselin, as a deity, and obje
Hamsun's emphasis on nature is not a new insight, as many scholars continue to address it in their work. In Monika Zagar's book, The Dark Side of Literary Brilliance, she aptly explains the Norwegian cultural background during the nineteenth century as involving a conflict between modernism as seen in the crowded urban cities, use of newer forms of technological advancements, and the Norwegian focus on nature as the primitive ideal. As part of the earlier preoccupation with finding a Norwegian i
When discussing Pan as part of the fin de siècle literature that exposes ennui as opposed to aesthetics for the artistic restless behavior, Pål Bjørby describes Hamsun's novel as a return to nature. Aptly connecting the pattern between the women and nature, Bjørby states, "Hamsun describes exhaustion, anxiety, and nervousness in a destabilized bourgeois male self, who is uncertain about how to live in a modern world and whose effort to salvage the self requires a return to nature.The restoring o
When looking into the theme of the occult in Western history, Antoine Faivre delineates four characteristics in the esoteric aspects in Modernism. They include the following: 1. The idea of correspondence, the idea that explains the parallel nature between the outer planets and the human
2. Nature as a living entity that binds the human to the divine
3. The role of rituals in the symbolic transaction between the human and the divine
and 4. The transformation of oneself as a another being, and
The focus on nature relates to Frode Lerum Boasson's assertion of the vitalistic impulse that Hamsun's male characters honor as seen in particular in their return to nature after having failed social interactions. Hamsun's expression of man's natural impulse refers to his goal in literature to uncover the mimosa sensibilities, or the acute sensitivities that the mimosa plant experiences upon touch. Moreover, Hamsun's use of the Greek mythological figure, Pan, in the eponymous work, Pan, demonstr
In his lecture series on Ethics in Psychoanalysis, Lacan initially contributes to Freud's notion of sublimation, which Freud defines as "a process that concerns object-libido and consists in the instinct's directing itself towards an aim other than, and remote from, that of sexual satisfaction." Although other accounts of Freudian sublimation reveal it to be some form of repression, substitute desexualized symptoms, and a defense against repression, a more important defining factor of sublimatio
By examining the function of courtly love poetry, Lacan illustrates that humans want an object that is idealized to the point of not being real. When the poet reframes the woman as a symbol and metaphorically refers to the symbol itself in lieu of the woman, he explicitly alludes to her in a sexual way. By doing so, the poet constructs the object of desire as unattainable and necessitating multiple barriers in order to increase the feeling of desire. Even in terms of her qualities, she is glorif
When Lacan discusses the Das Ding as a primordial object that originates desire, he posits that it is comprised of different parts that signify different meanings in addition to being an object "refound" and never truly lost. The vase is a dualistic object that creates a void only to fill it and represents the notion of Das Ding, a void in which one fills yet also that which creates the same object to be filled. Both previous descriptions of the vase exemplify the idealization of Iselin as a myt
While not specifically commenting on Iselin's character in Hele Livet en Vandrer i Naturen, Henning Howlid Wærp mentions Glahn's sympathy toward nature arises as an experience that eradicates the division of Glahn as a perceiving subject and nature as the object being perceived. In other words, a reader might consider Wærp's assessment of the narrative shift in Pan as a way to explain for Iselin's creation as a character. Since she is part of the forest and comes alive only when Glahn comes to t
When Hamsun first mentions Iselin in Pan, he does so through Glahn's solace of solitude and the forest, thus associating her with a mythological forest spirit. The time is one o'clock in full spring when birds are alive and the sun descends for a short while before rising once more. Hamsun imbues her with nature in the repeated line that acts as a simultaneous description of the early morning sun descending into the sea: "Men solen dukker skiven ned i havet og kommer så op igjen, rød, fornyet, s
Through Glahn's experience with her, readers perceive Iselin as a nature spirit, a manifestation of love for the forest. Iselin's breath is more like "en iling [at] går gjennom skogen" ["A rush (that) sweeps through the forest"]. Glahn notes Iselin's presence "pusler i græsset" ["rustles in the grass"] as if they could be "løv som faldt til jorden.også være trin" ["leaves that fell to the ground.also (could)be footsteps"]. Then, Glahn fantasizes about Iselin as a prayer to different hunters, an
By giving Iselin attributes of the beautiful yet mysterious nature spirit, Hamsun imbues Iselin with a beauty that simultaneous lures lovers but also ironically drives them away. Insofar as Iselin has different lovers, she visits them at different occasions, thus alluding to periods of time without satisfaction. In relation to Lacanian desire, the point of desire is not to satiate it but to maintain the feeling of desire and change not only the men who desire but the men's relation to Iselin. La
In the essay, "Field and Function of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis," Lacan explains how desire causes the object disappear and reappear in the guise of what the subject's alter ego, or ego ideal, wishes it to be. Though Lacan addresses the Fort Da! game that Freud's grandson played, he means to offer this anecdote as an explanation for what occurs when the subject uses words from his language to locate and name an object of desire. As in the Freudian anecdote of the boy's game of using a
The quest for the Beautiful also relates to the role of the artist or poet in so far as they lure their audience to experience multiple emotions by using different signifiers. Some examples of such signifiers include objects such as the parasols, hats, hands, shoes, and eyes as partial objects, or objects that Stefanie von Schnurbein refers to as fetishistic objects. While such signifiers refer to Glahn's focus on mortal women, he starts noting their distinctive features as a reaction to his exp
In a similar manner, Hamsun depicts a bit of fear in Iselin's narrative because she mentions her fear of making noise three times in her initial narrative of being with Dundas: "Jeg var rædd for at han skulde høre det...Jeg var så rædd for støien av hans store støvler.Jeg var også så rædd for den knakende" ["I was afraid that he should hear it.I was so afraid for the noise of his big boots.I was also so afraid for the cracking one"]. This mix of anticipation and fear of alerting others to her ni
As Iselin herself becomes synonymous with having multiple lovers, in this respect, collecting different lovers, it inspires Glahn to make the necessary sacrifices that might incur more desire. When Glahn leaves a party because he hears nature, like the sound of birds, he leaves at 1 a.m., showing how the different sounds of nature and time are signifiers for Iselin. When Glahn chooses nature over Edvarda, he actuates the similar actions that Iselin does, foregoing one lover for another. Furtherm
Like Iselin, Glahn is also described as having intense eyes. Initially describing Iselin as giving him a sign of her infatuation for Glahn, he indicates "Hun vil gi mig et vink med øinene å forstå efter" ["She will give me a hint with her eyes to make me understand after"]. In her own narrative about her Scottish lover, Dundas, Iselin admits that when she looks at herself in the mirror after her encounter, she remarks "Min Gud, jeg hadde aldrig set på mig selv med de øine før" ["Good God, I neve
In reference to Victoria, Hamsun correlates Johannes's identity to Iselin in a more subtle way. During the more natural interactions between Johannes and Victoria, Hamsun writes of both characters picking flowers or walking along the forest. In addition to the aforementioned example of the start of the story, Hamsun writes about how Johannes wanders around the side of the lake, the thicket, and the quarry to pick flowers, and Victoria intentionally meets him there to invite him to the Castle par
In conjunction with Pan, Hamsun situates Johannes as belonging to the forest, a position that places Victoria as the hunter. While these examples do not directly allude to Iselin, a reader perceives the correlation of Johannes as Iselin when considering the similarities in pastoral setting that intensifies the feelings of admiration from the hunter. In this case, Johannes differs from Glahn since Glahn positions himself as a hunter who goes out to nature to contact the nature spirit, while Johan
Finally, the identity of the artist arises in the form of fantasy and writing that occurs when the men start associating their creative behavior-whether through storytelling in Glahn's case or writing in Johannes's case-with their fixation on Iselin. The act of writing becomes the new ideal that the male characters relinquish their satisfaction. Lacan asserts that sublimation-in the form of art or courtly poetry-diverts libidinal energy to create a new object, superimposing the form of desire it
To deal with the sudden loss of Eva, the person who shows devotion to him in the way he showed Iselin, Glahn creates an elaborate fantasy that shows the devotion in the act of desiring without necessitating the reciprocation of love. To put it briefly, the narrative shifts into first person, Glahn's personal writing, and depicts a maiden locked away into a stone tower away from a lord to whom she willingly gave. In return, the lord gave himself to another woman who cared less about his willingne
In Victoria, Hamsun mentions her in a line when correlating Johannes's heartbreak over Victoria's betrayal to his travels abroad. Through his poetic voice as Munken Vendt, Johannes indicates that Diderik is emphasized as someone "Gud slo med klærlighet" ["God struck with love"]. Since Diderik is mentioned in relation to Iselin, a parallel to Johannes's reaction to Victoria, one can only assume that the one Diderik loves is Iselin. Near the end of the novel before Johannes tells Camilla to go wit
Johannes' obsession with writing diminishes his sense of reality, as he depicts scenes from "Slekten/The Genus/The Spirit of Life." In the Norwegian text, the title refers to "The Genus," meaning the second to the last name in the biological classification system. Typically the genus is the common name for a living creature, a group prior to any living creature's specific species. By writing Johannes' story as "The Genus," Hamsun intends to unify all the living creatures. Considering that Johann
After Victoria's fiancé dies, Johannes writes smaller fairytale stories, the one in particular is about the mother in blue with two dark-haired daughters who love the same man. Depicting a love triangle in which the older sister loves the man who in return loves the younger sister, Johannes inserts himself as the man who pleads to the younger sister, who reluctantly refuses him. While one might debate that Johannes writes the younger sister as Victoria, the small vignette occurs prior to Camilla
As seen in Boasson's description of vitalism as an impulsive bond to nature, Hamsun writes about Glahn as becoming part of nature and trying to find life after social conventions destroy nature. According to Boasson, the close association between literature and nature suggests Hamsun's vitalistic goal of allowing nature to speak to one's senses. Hamsun uses the character, Iselin, as a way to show the natural impulses or the unconscious factors that humans are only sensitive to if they are akin t
Though I do not describe Iselin from Munken Vendt, the drama, in detail, it is worth mentioning that she tortures her beloved, Munken Vendt, in a natural setting, the woods. Instead of showing her more tender aspects, Iselin in Munken Vendt is beautiful yet cold and proudly tortures Munken Vendt despite her feelings of affection for him. Buttry suggests Munken's initial refusal of Iselin as motivation for Iselin's decision to torture him by binding him to a tree and binding his hands filled with
Pan and Victoria both address the way that sensuous nature prevails over the social norms mandated in social interactions. Iselin functions as the sensuous and natural form that inspires the men, Johannes and Glahn, to depict her in writing and storytelling. This devotion to writing correlates to the writing fetishism that von Schnurbein discusses. In her explanation of writing fetishism, she shows how Glahn as a lonely wanderer finds two mythological nature spirits, Iselin and Diderik, who func
Furthermore, the stories become emblematic of the aesthetic process in artistic creation. Indeed, von Schnurbein comments that the mini narratives within the novels show how "all artistic creativity, all narration remains dependent on the same 'perverse' fetishistic and thus both modern and 'primitive' structure that the texts criticize." In other words, she criticizes the contradiction in the layering of narratives and its function as serving as a critical way to comment on the main narrative.
Jan Sjåvik further incorporates a Freudian analysis of a writer's fantasy when he states that the author satisfies his desire to write his narrative in a particular way to control the reader's interpretation of it. He refers to another point he made about how a main theme in Pan was the connection between writing and sexual activity. Alexandra Columban mentions that the unconsummated love between Glahn and Edvarda inspires the creative activity, which implies that the sublimated drive shifts int
Pan pursues the nymph Syrinx, who runs away from him and disappears among the reeds. In his rage, he cuts down the reeds, and that, Longus tells us, is the origin of the flute with pipes of unequal length-Pan wanted, the subtle poet adds, to express in that way the fact that his love was without equal. Syrinx is transformed into the pipe of pan's flute.
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Chapter 3 Death's Symbol: The Lyktemann's Daughter
Split in Identity
The Fairytale of Lantern Man's Daughter
The Fairytale as a Sign of the Struggle in Self-Belief
Illustration: The Tower
In Mysterier, Hamsun introduces his eccentric protagonist, Johan Nagel, who develops stories to simultaneously lure the women in a small town and mystify his own sense of self. Unlike Glahn in Pan, Nagel partakes in social gatherings where he delivers the long monologues that reveal strange personal stories and political views, none meant to be taken seriously. Throughout the long novel, Nagel falls in love with two women in the story, young Dagny and older Martha, who are simultaneously fascina
To clarify on sublimation, its depictions in Mysterier differentiate from the Lacanian influence as discussed in the chapter on Iselin. As a preface, Nagel's association with nature, erotic feelings for Dagny, and storytelling tendencies compares to Glahn's feelings in the forest, erotic feelings for different women, and storytelling techniques. Nagel's sublimation functions more as a result of blind faith in his own ego-ideal, a version of himself that he postulates to the women of a party. Nag
For the purpose of this discussion, Freud's initial distinction between ego formation and sublimation helps clarify one's understanding of Nagel's use of the fairytale, a detail not generally discussed In his early essay "On Narcissism," Freud mentions, "It is true that the ego ideal demands such sublimation, but it cannot enforce it
sublimation remains a special process which can be prompted by the ideal but the execution of which is entirely independent of such prompting." In other words, sub
In his book, Sublimation, Hans W. Loewald's assessment of sublimation as a reconciliation between the ego and the passions explains for Nagel's use of the fairytale. While Freud might indicate that sublimation is apart from the execution process of creative discovery, Loewald suggests that the ego formation itself constitutes the sublimation process. Loewald asserts "an essential ingredient in sublimation is the higher value of certain aims and objects, including
Part of Nagel's process of creating a myth is his ability to state the Norwegian huldre as a pedestrian version of folktales in contrast to the Chinese dragon before taking on some of the huldre's abilities. Nagel mentions that the Norwegian folktales are commonplace and set in the countryside as opposed to some magical place. His behavior, however, shows how he presents himself as a mythological creature, as he uses his tale to cunningly lure the women, especially Dagny.
According to Reidar Christiansen's Folktales of Norway, the huldre is a supernatural maiden who belongs to the huldre-folk, or the hidden people. They live at the borders of the forest and human shelter, either at the edge of a small village or city. The term "huldre" derives from hylja, which denotes "to cover" or to "conceal." Various Norwegian folktales depict huldres as a being that strikes some caution, marking a distinction between huldre people and humans. Some folktales reveal huldres to
In this example, Nagel indirectly compares himself to the female huldre whose foxtail she hides from the human male mate. Instead of hiding a tail as a huldre would, Nagel uses his tales as a way to hide his affection but also present his identity as a myth. He conceals his affection and identity while presenting a different meaning to Dagny in order to lure her. Coinciding with the huldre's affinity for nature, he cites how much he belongs to the forest. When saying how happy he is in Dagny's c
Han var i en gåtefuld tilstand, fyldt av psykisk behag
hver nerve i ham var våken, han fornam musik i sit blod, følte sig beslægtet med hele natur, med solen og fjældene og alt andet, kjendte sig omsuset av sin egen jegfølelse fra trær og tuvet og strå. Hans sjæl blev stor og fuldtonenede som et orgel inde i ham of aldrig glemte han hvorledes den milde musik likefrem gled op og ned i hans blod.
Referring to the psychological aspect of Nagel's experience with nature, Kittang asserts that the text refers to some return of a projected view of himself onto nature, thus alluding to the narcissistic aspect to this fantasy. Kittang furthers this connection between them when describing how the interaction itself demonstrates a contraction and expansion between Nagel and the natural world. Kittang portrays that Nagel does engage in the same type of behavior as the fantasy entails mainly an expe
In the party scene prior to telling his fairytale, Nagel demonstrates his ability to play with symbols and creates a beautiful scene. By portraying beautiful scenery, he begins his journey to presenting himself as a confident and poetic man, one whose sensibilities provides Dagny with a memorable detail that she uses to defend against all other inconsistences in his character. Describing a dream, Nagel charms Dagny as well as the other women in the party by stating "båt av duftende træ of med et
In fact, in Hele Livet en Vandrer i Naturen, Henning Howlid Wærp conducts a close reading of Nagel's meetings with Dagny and Martha in order to ascertain the Nagel's reliability. Investigating deeply into the chronology of events, Wærp aptly proves the inconsistences of the plot in Mysterier since Nagel imagines his meetings with Dagny and Martha. Showing that the novel reveals a mixture of imagined events and reality and poem and prose, Wærp concludes that Nagel creates his perception based on
Without bringing too many examples of the negation where Lacan explains this difference, his view can be summarized as the difference between the enunciated and the enunciation is similar to the disappearance of the subject in desire. A person who desires makes a comment, and the comment takes hold over the person. The meaning that arises through the use of symbols from each male character functions as the significant issues arising when the male characters as subjects disappear and enter into a
This particular difference-his desire for myth and his confrontation with his real self-could be furthered explained as the difference between meaning and being in speech. While in being, he opens up about his strange actions and mysterious intentions, as traits that define him, yet he also feels the beauty of the forest and in Dagny's presence that inspires him to produce his meaning, a man of myth. The fairytale further shows the interpretation of Nagel as a mythological creature that furthers
Through Nagel's fairytale of the Lyktemann's daughter, Hamsun reveals Nagel's desire for both the betrothed mortal woman, Dagny, and his love for the forest. As in the previous legend of the imprisoned woman in Pan, the devotion that Nagel instills both in the fairytale and in his devotion to Dagny incurs loss. Although the fairytale reveals the height of Nagel's motivation to create a mythological story, the story itself shows the power of the female mythological that Nagel internalizes and thr
Regarding Nagel's ability to craft a beautiful story, Buttry's asserts how Hamsun's characters portray their deep sensitivities that enable them to access an internalized subconscious creative impulse. In her article, "The Muse and the Mimosa," Buttry examines Hamsun's stories and his personal letters and looks at the role of nature, art, and his sensitivity functions as a conduit to artistic expression. Buttry analyzes the trend in Hamsun's writing that details failed erotic pursuits as the mea
As a mirrored statement to his previous observation, Ingar Sletten Kolloen writes about Hamsun's male characters: "Nagel, Glahn, and the central figure in Hunger had all failed to capture the women they loved. And any of his characters who had been affianced or married had always suffered betrayal." Kolloen is apt to make such an assessment of Hamsun's work, as it proved to be a reflection of the Hamsun's thoughts on the modern women and his own preoccupation with how disinterested he becomes on
Thus, Nagel's feelings in regard to Dagny fuel his fantasy as being part of nature and expressing this as a key reason why he was given entry into the scene where the fairytale takes places. Regardless of whether Nagel is sincere in his words, his fairytale paradoxically reveals yet also conceals Nagel's wishes. He uses the story as a figurative device to shield the terror of love but also proclaim it at the same time.
During the second part of the fairytale, Nagel shifts the mood of the tale from suspenseful and terrifying to wonder and amazement. He hears beautiful music during the night as little fairies fly around in the tower. At that moment, the fairytale takes some significance to the beauty in music and light. Similar to Glahn's sexual adventure with Iselin at 1 a.m. in the morning, Nagel notes that the lovely music and sight of tiny naked fairies fluttering around in darkness occurs at 1 a.m. Using a
The next day, the fairy furthers her protection over Nagel. As he leaves, he gives the woman two kisses on her forehead, and she gives him her black ribbon that he ties around the wrist. She cries and asks him if he sees his town, and then he declares his love for her. After describing her as beautiful with the sunlight on her hair and "hendes sorte øine var herlige" [her black eyes were lovely], he falls at her feet after kissing her. This act induces her to give him her black ribbon and a sad
Despite a loss of the ability to see in the mortal sense, she offers him the sight of magical fairies flying around him, the revelation of different souls. This power that separates him from the mythological world helps her situate when Nagel is closer to his city, so when she asks him if he could see the outskirts of the town, she knows that their bond is nearly over. This power of spatial distance as equating an end to their short-term relationship conveys knowledge that the supernatural femal
Nagel sublimates his desire for Dagny by crafting a beautiful fairytale, and an analysis of the key characters helps to show how the death of Lykteman's daughter foreshadows Nagel's lack of belief in his ego ideal, or the subject's form of ego that is built upon the subject's social interactions with others and incorporation of society's roles into the subject's mind. To be more specific, the ego ideal is one form of the ego that is based on the symbolic connection one develops through social in
Alluding to his bond with nature, Nagel does show some harmonic connection between death and happiness, as his experience with nature shows a loss of the notion of Nagel's selfhood, or his experience as a human. While Kittang presents Nagel's preoccupation with death, I consider his analysis to further assert how his use of language pushes him to adopt a persona while disregarding his true preoccupation with death. His lovely words show how Nagel has an otherworldly demeanor, at least he wishes
So far, a reader achieves the interpretation of the fairytale as Nagel's creation of myth to cover his true identity as a psychologically fragile person. When perceiving this tale as another example of sublimation of Nagel's desire, readers perceive this story as Nagel's defeat in capturing Dagny, as she is already engaged to a man of an admirable status. Both of these interpretations make use of how Hamsun portrays the shift in energy and motivation to deal with his inner conflict. For Kittang,
As a final note, a reader cannot ignore the presence of Lyktemann himself, a figure who symbolizes Minutten, the dwarf social outcast in the northern Norwegian town Nagel visits. At first, Nagel tries to help and defend him from the police and other townspeople, yet he quickly finds that his dreams about Minutten trouble him and show Minutten's hidden nature. Minutten is Nagel's ego-ideal, his uncanny double, despite that uncanny doubles usually entails two characters who look almost identical.
Regarding the discussion of the uncanny double, Mladen Dolar explains how the double functions as that figure who has the "object a" of the subject, as opposed to functioning as the object of desire. Moreover, Dolar states that the double functions as that which disrupts the subject's path to pleasure and his desire. As Mladen Dolar explains, the subject is separated from his self-recognition and his jouissance, or enjoyment of sexual pleasure, thus the mirrored self already refers to castration
At the same night when Nagel tells his fairytale, he mentions a dream he has of Minutten. When he initially describes his dream to the women at the party, he portrays how Minutten pursues him through an open moor with tree roots lying everywhere. A few details alarm the reader of this strange interaction. One involves the description of the tree roots like "underlig forvridde ormer" [strange twisted worms] that stymied his progress to get to Nagel. Another related detail is that Nagel gets close
The marsh land with tree roots gives Nagel the advantage, as he seems imperceptible, like a ghost. Only when Minutten can sense him is Nagel caught. During the chase, Nagel notes how he can see Minutten despite the distance and hear his groans and perceive Minutten's eyes "fulde av lidelse" [full of suffering]. While the dream itself is not related to the fairytale, it sets up the friction between the characters. Later when Nagel confronts Minutten of his dream of him, he even suggests that the
If a reader considers the function of the Lyktemann in the fairytale, she considers how it depicts the danger of the Lyktemann as having those strange eyes that peer at him, just as Minutten also examines Nagel. The figure, the Lyktemann-Jack-o'-lantern in the English translation-peers at Nagel with uncanny eyes, hinting at the fact that the gaze is familiar to Nagel as Minutten looks at him in a similar way. According to Kittang, the Lykteman symbolizes the father in the triangular structure th
Nagel's strange outbursts, as beautiful and vivid as they may be, indicates a lack of self-awareness. In Jørgen Elbek's examination of Hamsun's early work during the 1890s, he asserts that Mysterier shows the inner psyche of a man's troubled perspective, thus explaining for the way that different characters represent parts of a person's mind. Citing Pan as the story of love and Nature, Elbek describes this work as referent to the Symbolist movement and Mysterier as showing the psyche. According
By doing so, Nagel presents how he uses symbols to fabricate a reality, thus concealing his true identity-death in the sense that he stifles his true preoccupations and suicide. On the one hand, this fairytale functions as an expression of Nagel's desire to attain the power of Lyktemann's daughter and her world of beauty, hence surpassing humanity and human limitations. Both interpretations pertain to the idea of the fairytale as an ellipse in psychoanalytic speech, in which it interrupts the ma
The fairytale foreshadows his impending death, while simultaneously showing the myth that failed to be. Adding to the drastic nature of his fate, Nagel believes his ring gave him power but succumbs to his own destruction when he loses it. When Nagel drops his ring and drinks the flask, he decides to commit suicide, yet by coincidence, he does not die as he intends yet dies due to the fact that he lost the ring. In so far as the ring functions as his last shred of evidence for his belief in his m
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Chapter 4 What Remains Omitted
Illustration: Transitional Space
During those early years of my investigation, I revealed my vulnerability to a mixed audience of Norwegian and American scholars, thinking that it would prove my intent to become a scholar in Norwegian literature. Right before I gave my talk, I listened to my friend's presentation on a Swedish textile artist. Though I tried to focus on his words, as any supportive friend would, I felt the mixed sensation of anticipation of my own presentation with my own feelings of admiration for the topic that
By the time I had to present, I was on a panel of Norwegian scholars. When I started speaking, my voice eased into a soft breath, especially when I pronounced the Norwegian text that I had little knowledge of. The topic of eros in the forest transported me there, reducing that harsh tone I usually use into a breathy voice more akin to how I read my paper to myself in an enclosed room. I looked at the audience from time to time and tried to not let their stares detract me from my eccentric readin
Paulo Coelho, in The Alchemist, portrays the wise words of a man to a boy about the lure of beginner's charm during his pursuit of his personal legend. When one first takes a risk to pursue their goals, they have little issues due to the fact that they need to get a taste for their journey before they realize larger risks. My beginner's luck surfaced through so many comments on my talk, a time when I did not know the Norwegian language. The luck lasted a few months after the conference when I ta
During the first days of class, I stood at the front of the room waiting for all the students to arrive. I had been writing a few instructions on the board when I heard the sound of rolled wheels stop abruptly followed by a sharp sound of a board on a floor and the door open. Turning on my heels, I picked up one of the syllabi to give to the student who had just walked in. From the corner of my eyes, I could see sneakers and the edge of a skateboard. I looked up and accidentally touched the hand
Months later I realized the source of the jolt-the fire had transformed into an electric spark.
Sometime before the conference, I had a dream where a man in sepia had kissed me at a train station. I had been hat-shopping at a little cart with my sister. Yet, I wandered to look at the train station. The train was off at a distance in the sunlight. I walked closer to it to inspect if it was a train from the past or streamliner. I recall someone touching my hand, making me turn toward the person. I saw a tall young man with a head full of hair that shined blond and red but was chestnut brown
I regained my breath once I awoke from the sun's rays. After a series of similar dreams with this man in sepia, I recognized the pattern. Instead of writing about the sensation of these dreams right after I awoke, I composed an email to a mentor about a logical explanation to these dreams. I expected a response on Sigmund Freud's notion of dreams as wish-fulfillment, as even I knew that I longed to be the next up and coming scholar on nineteenth century Norwegian literature, particularly a Hamsu
My mentor's emailed response, however, made me stare at the computer screen in longer than usual.
In Specters of Marx, Jacques Derrida defines the specter as "a paradoxical incorporation, the becoming body, a certain phenomenal and carnal from of the spirit." Inherent in his definition, Derrida mentions the contradiction within the specter as an entity that transgresses the incorporeal and the carnal, prompting the living person to take a particular course of action. Basing his analysis on Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Derrida defines the specter as "neither soul nor body, and both one and the
This flow of light which captures or possesses me, invests me, invades me, or envelops me is not a ray of light, but the source of a possible view: from the point of view of the other.It is because there is something other that watches or concerns me. This Thing is the other insofar as it was already there-before me-ahead of me, beating me to it, I who am before it, I who am because of owing to it.
He attributes a competitive aspect to this specter in relation to the subject. By indicating that the specter is an entity that lives prior to the subject, Derrida infers that the specter from the position of the other has an advantage of life experience and knowledge of death. In doing so, the specter can look at the subject in a way that the subject cannot. In this perspective the specter takes on a certain vantage point, one apart from the subject to better grasp the subject's subjectivity. A
This presence addresses a researcher's quest for learning more about an author's motives for writing the work. Yet, its power as a commanding alterity makes me consider whether the researcher has written something that disturbs the alterity that harkens its presence. Or is it the opposite? Does the researcher write content that makes the writer address the researcher as a way to beckon them more to the true motive of their writing? If the researcher has experience as an artist with all the accom
A year before a strong fog disrupted our means of traveling, I continued working on another conference paper that involved my analysis of a man's mysterious entrance into a northern Norwegian village. In one particular dialogue, a man told a woman what he admires about the difference between the Norwegian huldre and the beliefs of other cultures. He mentioned that the direction of the sun affects the way people think and their customary diets. While I wrote about the way that this man attempted
I was in an unknown yet familiar city, as I knew my way around it. For example, I knew that a particular sandwich shop was two blocks west from where I walked just as I knew that I would need to take a cab to the post office. The city center was cleaner than Los Angeles and had a central park in the form of a square. A series of buildings framed the park. Although I had never seen this city before, I had the same feeling that I once had in my early twenties when I walked around Westwood during t
He was dressed in warm clothing, a plaid shirt and jeans. When he stood before me, he took off his hat as a means of respect and said, "Por favor, el señor tiene un mensaje." Initially, I stammered and replied that he was mistaken. I excused myself and kept walking briskly, as a woman never knows when or how her safety might be jeopardized.
He then tried to stop me by moving in front of me. He held his hat in his hands. There was a faint look in his eye, the way that the eyelashes touched the folded eyelid, that seemed like I had seen it before, like in the expressions of my ancestors that I had seen in my maternal grandma's photo album-he was my great-grandfather, Herman.
Perhaps it was this familiarity that made me stop to listen to him. I followed him up to an old building with columns. Seeing that we walked into a library we rushed inside, I stopped feeling as if he would threaten me, as nothing could happen in a library. At least, I felt this way at that moment we passed by the columns and walked straight into the building.
He led me into a large room with a man sitting at a desk. He had his chair facing the wall behind him. Upon hearing my entry, he turned around quickly. My eyes scanned the place. The walls surrounding us were filled with books from wall to ceiling-a researcher's paradise. My gaze fell back onto an older gentleman who wore a suit and sat behind a desk. This man and this desk faced me with the stack of neatly arranged books as his backdrop. He did not say a word, but only gave me a knowing smile.
I stared at the man whose smile widened with a sense of taunting, as if he had uncovered something that I kept hidden. I started raising my voice, shouting "How dare you scare a poor man just to get to me? Why didn't you just tell me anyway?" Yet, the man sat behind the desk with a knowing smile and did not answer.
I awoke with the sight of the man in the library still fresh in my mind along with the repeated words, "El Señor tiene un mensaje, El Señor tiene un mensaje, El Señor tiene un mensaje, El Señor tiene un mensaje." Though my great-grandfather Herman was summoned to deliver a message to me, I never heard the message itself. Before I could even state the possible messages, I had to accept that the lack of a message was a sign itself. The message was never meant to be delivered, only the lack of ackn
2. Signified Love
1. Signifier Roses
II Signified
3. Sign (Passion for a person)
I Signifier
III Sign (Signification)
4.1 Barthes' chart
2. Signified
1. Signifier
II Signified
3. Sign
Form of roses in photography or painting
I Signifier
Passion for a person
III Sign (Signification)
Passion identified but concealed/the properties demonstrated in particular art form
4.2 Barthes' chart with Lisa's Explanationsof Barthes Second Order System (Myth)
A part of my text, later to be redacted in future edits of this conference paper, mentioned the second-order signification process in which the original signifier and signified become the sign in myth. Roland Barthes defines myth as "a mode of signification, a form." Prior to his explanation of myth as a second order signification process, Barthes breaks down the idea of signifier leading to the signified, or the concept, and the sign, the correlation between the two terms. Giving the examples o
For Barthes, his understanding of the sign in reference to the dream is the "functional union" of the dream content and the manifest meaning, or the behavior of the person recalling the dream. But upon more introspection in mythology, a dreamer's intention in behavior is the actual signified in the second-order signification process. Since I had read and reread the text many times but failed to mention Barthes' use of Freudian ideas, I understood that the message redacted in the dream was in fac
The same mentor who had emailed me the suggestion on specters had once expressed concern that factoring in identity in one's analysis might weaken the work, a claim that I agreed with. The French thinkers I reference, however, felt so natural and common sense to me, as if their thoughts permeated my own. Though the different French thinkers often obfuscate their meaning with analogies, metaphors and abstract terms. I do the same in my writing and often work hard at clarifying my intended meaning
Yet, later I stated my concern about presenting my work as an American to a European audience, mainly filled with Norwegians. When I texted my sister my concern over appearing too weak as a scholar due to a lack of many years of scholarship in the area in combination with my beginner's level in the Norwegian language, she had responded that I had the benefit of having a Latina background. I read and reread the text in confusion - but what did that background have to do with studying Norwegian li
In light of interpretations, I consider Cathy Caruth's work, Unclaimed Experience, that has her discussion of Lacan's reinterpretation of Freud's discussion of the father's dream of the burning child. Caruth explains how this dream shows the father's responsibility of parenthood becomes disrupted through his wish to continue dreaming. She states, "The bond to the child, the sense of responsibility, is in its essence tied to the impossibility of recognizing the child in its potential death." Caru
In the first order of signifier and signified, the signifier are the words of my great-grandfather, "El Senor tiene un mensaje [the man has a message]," which leads to the signified of the older man's smile and knowing glance and a lack of message. In the second order signification process, this dream becomes a new signifier, which French thinkers can agree that lead to different signifieds. One signified that I am examining is the combination of the omission of my reaction to my sister's words
Expanding on Derrida's idea of the specter, Davis suggests that the specter presents an opportunity to explore certain liminal boundaries of the living and the dead, perhaps between the writer researched and the writer doing the researching. When he expresses the exploration of ghosts as "push[ing] at the boundaries of language and thought," I consider the ways that another examination of a text, in particular about the supernatural itself, garners closer study, especially if an analyst is takin
In terms of the need for other interpretations of older literature, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock states that the specter's liminal position demonstrates resistance toward binary structures, hence taking on significance in the deconstructive method. In particular, when he refers to the ghost as "neither living nor dead, present or absent," he also shows how one cannot define it as belonging in one category. More than just a metaphor for additional literary interpretations, the spectral turn that Wein
Thus, in the context of literary research, scholars hint at this wonderful meeting of two minds through the plurality of interpretation. As Todorov mentions in his explanation of the fantastic, one must suspend their doubt of the supernatural as a means of figurative expression in order to judge a work as such. A researcher can, however, hold both beliefs-one in the supernatural, the other in reason-to engage in the total view of a work of literary art if the work uses aspects of the supernatura
In context of my own heritage, if I uphold the view that Great-Grandfather Herman came to send me to a man whose smile reminded me of information I knew, I need to remember that I overlook an important fact. I used to believe that Hamsun's oversight of naming the cultures of people of the sun implied that I was not able to partake in the growing community of scholars. Yet, the opposite is also true. If a cultural background is not mentioned In regard to a discussion that seems to invite my parti
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Chapter 5 Art Manifests as Humans
The Statue as Replacement for the Woman
The Statue as the Immortalized Woman
Illustration : Woman in Cloth
In an earlier chapter, I discuss a Lacanian perspective on sublimation to explain for the way that Glahn transforms his desire for Iselin and the forest and starts to emulate her behavior, thus inferring a change in his identity. This portrayal illustrates the way that sublimation changes not only the object of desire but the subject as well. Within this discussion, I include Johannes's withdrawal from society and his disappointment over love to show how his seclusion into creativity changes the
In all of these examples of sublimation, Hamsun demonstrates how the creative energy changes the male protagonist and empowers the female supernatural being. It is significant to note that these female characters are not significant characters in the entire novels, yet they shift the behavior of the male protagonists. By doing so, these often-overlooked women elicit a new perspective on their significance.
In the next discussions of sublimated love and affection, I examine three different instances that involve main female characters who inspire male artists to use art as a means to depict their feelings for the women. While Hamsun's respective portrayals of sublimation reveal a shift in the men's identities and focus on men's creative behavior, these upcoming narratives more strictly portray the role of art. For two examples, the men sublimate their feelings for the women and use to depict their
To briefly summarize "Dronningen av Saba," a narrator tells his event of having met a woman during his travels to Sweden. This woman gives him her hotel room when she overhears that he needs a room but doesn't intend to give him more than her kindness. The narrator, however, takes it as a sign of her interest and recalls her several years later when he continues to misinterpret her actions to the point where he follows her to Kalmar, Sweden. To give himself a reason to travel other than stalking
This narrator resembles Nagel in their similar way of connecting idealized supernatural women to mortal women and in their need to have credibility from others. This narrator, however, does not exhibit signs of a death wish that Nagel does, my discussion shows
the narrator only asks for belief in his originality in his writing, while Nagel creates beautiful imagery as the last attempt to hold onto life. For this reason, the discussion of "Dronningen av Saba" and Mysterier remain in separate cha
The narrator's fascination with the Swedish woman centers on the myth of the Queen of Sheba, as he compares her not only to the mythological Queen of Sheba but also to his own critique of Julius Kronberg's painting of this mythological queen. The narrator mentions his review of the painting and references it, so when he first sees the Swedish woman, he attributes the beauty of the Swedish woman and likens her to the Queen in Kronberg's painting. Moreover, his analysis of Kronberg's depiction of
A few scholars comment on this conflation of pursuits but also the choice of the mythological figure, the Queen as Sheba, as a Western man's desire. Buttry describes this story as the sensitive male writer's artistic pursuit and confrontation with a female character who accentuates his artistic pursuit. Despite the inability to conquer what he longs to pursue and resulting despair, the strained difficulty in the chase gives meaning to the narrator. In other words, the pursuit for the artistic id
In Elisabeth Oxfeldt's book, Nordic Orientialism, she describes Freud's layers of sublimation and cites Peter Kierkegaard's discussion of sublimation in the story. For instance, Oxfeldt explains Kierkegaard's critique of the story as means of sublimating the Swedish woman and turning her into a muse for his writing, thus turning the mortal into a legendary figure. Oxfeldt furthers indicates that the narrator uses his high estimation of art to give himself satisfaction. This assessment coheres wi
In the original story of the Queen of Sheba, a queen visits King Solomon and seeks wisdom from his insights and confirmation of the grandeur of his palace. In the biblical account 1 Kings 10, the queen arrives in a large caravan and witnesses the wondrous sights in King Solomon's palace, some including the food on the table, the officials, the cupbearers, and the burnt offerings. In response to the sight of all his treasures, she expresses, "But I did not believe these things until I came and sa
Furthermore, she credits that King Solomon must have pleased Yahweh to have His goodness bestowed on King Solomon, thus attributing the power of the divine onto a human. She states "Praise be to the Lord, your God, who has delighted in your and placed you on the throne of Israel." So, the issue of the story is that her witness of King Solomon and his home proved the validity of the reports, whose validity required proof. The key detail in this biblical story is that she herself states that she "
Kronberg's painting Drottningen av Saba represents the Queen and enacts her beauty and power in her looking away from the viewer to assess the value of Solomon's wealth. Oxfeldt credits the direction of the Queen's gaze as a way of erasing the separation between the world in the painting and the world of the viewer. The painting shows a woman whose gaze is off to her left side, as if she looks at the statue of a lion. Holding a thin staff with one hand, she looks amused, showing a slight indicat
By identifying the woman as European looking, the narrator conveys that an exotic woman would make the gaze unknowable and less of a gesture that compels the European man, at least at the time, to relate to her. He also addresses her dark hair as concealed with the effect of the shimmering aspect of the silver diadem. His words about her eyes, however, shift the previous comments about the preference for the knowable European woman into disarray. By focusing on the fact that the eyes reveal the
Kronberg's painting offers an artistic interpretation of the biblical story by focusing on the queen instead of on King Solomon's wisdom and palace, thus emphasizing the queen's act of looking as opposed to the actual riches itself. This focus on the gaze references the biblical story where she expresses how she had to see with her own eyes. When the narrator writes his article about the woman in Kronberg's painting, he focuses on the woman's gaze by expressing the following words:
Kun hendes Øjne har den mørke Farve som røber hendes Hjemstavn, det paa engang tunge og fyrige Blik som bringer Beskueren til at fare sammen. Man vil ikke glemme disse Øjne, man vil huske dem langt borte og møde dem igen i Drømme.
[Only her eyes have the dark color that reveals her hometown, that at once heavy and fiery gaze that brings the viewer to perish. One will not forget these eyes, one will remember them far away and meet them again in dreams].
The narrator focuses on the gaze in the painting and decides to write about the gaze and its passion in the figure in the painting. Initially indicating that the woman does not look Ethiopian but rather European with much time spent under the sun, the narrator portrays her as a woman he can relate to, since someone too exotic would threaten his sense of emotional security. The narrator does experience satisfaction from the painting, but the painting is itself a product of Kronberg's fascination
When the narrator perceives the Swedish woman, he incorporates the gaze of desired woman with the gaze of the Queen in the painting. For example, when the Swedish woman stands up in the carriage, she examines him before stepping down from the carriage after standing tall and proud as a queen. This look stuns the male character, and he is left speechless with amorous feelings. By his own admission of how he likes the detail in his writing about the eyes, he comments that he will refer to this wom
Considering that the narrator also wishes for credibility and validation as a writer and as a potential male lover, he sublimates the love for Kronberg's version of the Queen of Sheba that he then chooses to portray in his praise of the painting in his assessment of it. Thus, the narrator's satisfaction in his writing process itself shows an additional layer of sublimation, as he admired the sublimated form of a mythological woman. The narrator's interest in the Swedish woman connects to his nee
The Swedish woman does get away from Hamsun's narrator, as she is betrothed to another man, thus her refusal to engage with him asserts a particular power over him. Furthermore, Kronberg's depiction of the Queen of Sheba possesses the narrator and displays a type of supernatural hold over him. This latter form of power supersedes the Swedish woman's appeal, as the Queen's appeal is more abstract and idealized. Without a way to effectively express this attraction and make sense of it, the abstrac
In his novella, Korset, Obstfelder presents a love story filled with heartache about a woman who enchants different men and shares strong bond with the narrator despite his discovery of her genuine affections after her death. As Mary Kay Norseng writes of this novella, it is a story of a man who "experiences life more profoundly than ever before." The male narrator does experience some epiphanies through his interactions with beautiful Rebekka as well as after he realizes her amorous past with o
When Bredo shows the protagonist the statue built on Rebekka's likeness, the protagonist immediately senses that Rebekka betrayed him due to the intimacy of how Bredo represents her. The protagonist feels as if her soul is in the statue, "så var der dog altid deri noget af hendes legemes sjæl, hendes lemmers melodi" [so there was always therein some form of the soul, the melody of her limbs]. While a reader might attribute this likeness to Bredo's talent, she recalls that the narrator had previo
The narrator reflects on her ability to perceive her surroundings deeply, a power that makes her inspire men around her to act accordingly. He states, "I naturen, i kunsten, i manden, i altet var det ét, hvrofra alt stråled ud og flød tilbage-det øie!" [In nature, in art, in man, in everything, there was one from which everything radiated out and flowed back -that eye!] Her ability to mediate between Bredo and the narrator crushes the narrator particularly because he feels that both Bredo and Re
In the case of Bredo's statue of Rebekka, Bredo successfully renders the accuracy of her likeness to the point where the narrator discovers her infidelity to him. Yet, for Bredo, the statue manifests all his amorous feelings for Rebekka that he cannot express due to her love for the narrator. While Bredo provides his own explanation of his suffering according to his situation with Rebekka, the words apply directly to the narrator's fascination with her. Bredo mentions,
Men Kanske må kunst betales. Kanske må det Promethesverk her i dødens rige at ville trænge ind i algudens eget tabernakel, - harmoniens hjem, - skabelsens mysterium,--kanske må det bødes med titanens smerte.og titanens...savn
[But maybe art has to be paid for. Perhaps the Prometheus' work here in the realm of death must need to penetrate god's own tabernacle, - the home of harmony, - the mystery of creation, - perhaps it must be punished with the titan's pain ... and the titan's ... lack].
For Bredo, his artistic inclination requires that he must long for the woman for the sake of art, as loss in love is part of art's mystery. Alluding to the mythological, Bredo suggests that the creation process is akin to the ability to create from the destruction or death of love in order to communicate effectively. While Bredo's words arise from his own drunken reflection of his loss of love, they aptly frame the way that one should regard both Rebekka's influence on Bredo and the narrator. Si
The mythology that Bredo alludes to in the act of creation shows how art misguides people into falling for the human versions of the image. In his conversation with the narrator, he stutters that he saw Rebekka in the park, though he does not address her by name. Through his admission, he reveals his passion for her as he describes her unique qualities, her manner of walking, her dress, her dark hair. Prior to his monologue where he describes her in the park, he mentions how she left him, and hi
The statue's likeness to Rebekka references mimesis, which Otto Reinert defines as the "replication of the world of sensory phenomena in words." Considering the Platonic and Aristotelian ideas of mimesis, Reinert asserts that it involves interpretation of a dramatic performance, as it functions as a mirror to the audience. It involves the audience members to use their intellect, as they consider the moral issues portrayed in art as a way to reflect on their experiences. As indicated in Robert Sp
Reinert's assessment of the artist's function is similar to Bredo's hopes in rendering Rebekka's beauty. He writes,
The artist figures forth (represents, expresses, imitates) something within. How it all got there nobody knows, but there it all is-facts, imaginary facts, memories, obsessions, traumas, ideals, nightmares, visions, repressions, and the dread that nothing makes any sense. To communicate something vital to others is the artist's goal. And all that can be communicated is first in the mind.
This realization causes both men pain, as they realize that they love the same woman. While Obstfelder does not make clear as to whether Bredo sublimates his love for Rebekka, the statue captures Rebekka's essence and show a level of intimacy that causes grief to the narrator. Yet, in this case, art does not murder the individuality in the mortal woman, as it's the strong similarity in likeness and spiritual essence within Rebekka that makes the narrator feel betrayed. Though neither he nor Bred
In regard to sublimation, Obstfelder's novella shows how both men connect Rebekka's sublime essence to Bredo's depictions of her. He uses his creation of art as a replacement for his lack of consummation with Rebekka. She does not reciprocate his feelings for her, as her confrontation about her true sentiments are addressed to the narrator. For this reason, Bredo has no other option but to transfer his feelings for Rebekka onto his artistic abilit
Consequently, Bredo's creation also evokes passionate feelings within the narrator, showing the way that art captures Rebekka's essence. As previously stated, Bredo's sculpture shows Bredo's feelings for Rebekka, but also a culmination of the narrator's feelings for Bredo and their connection. Since they first met, the narrator feels a close connection to Bredo in a way that seems more intimate than friendship but not erotic as his bond to Rebekka. When he meets Bredo, the narrator expresses exc
In his acquaintance with him, the narrator notes his connection with Bredo to the point where he tells Rebekka about him. He says the following: "De mænd, jeg ellers i den tid var sammen med, havde jeg vel ikke fundet såmeget ved, at jeg havde føld denne higen. Det var anderledes med ham. Han havde gjort et sterkt indtryk på meg." [The men I was otherwise with at the time, I had probably not found so much that I had felt this aspiration. It was different with him. He had made a strong impression
Shortly after Rebekka tells him in a stern way not to ask her again, the narrator spends his time with Bredo. He confesses to the reader,
Ialfald følte jeg den [en egen sympathi] for ham. Der var noget hos ham, som jeg ikke havde fundet ved andre, og som gav mig en fornemmelse af, at det jeg kunde føle, se og tænke, ikke var bare særheder, som ikke kunde være til hos andre end mig, med at det same kunde skjælve også i andre menneskers bryst, måske i nogen af de bedste, dem hvem livets music griber sterkest.
[Anyway, I felt it for him. There was something within him that I had not found in others, and that gave me a feeling that what I could feel, see and think were not just quirks that could not exist in anyone but me, but that the same could also tremble in other person's breast, perhaps in some of the best, those whom the music of life grips the strongest.]
This poetic phrasing captures the narrator's feelings about meeting a person with similar sensibilities, and it foreshadows the torture of the betrayal. Due to Bredo's similarity to the narrator, one implies that Bredo's connection to Rebekka manifests itself in his understanding of her soul as witnessed in the sculpture. Bredo could replace the narrator due to their similarities, thus supplanting him in the narrator's pursuit of Rebekka. Thus, the narrator's heartbreak occurs due to this unders
Taking place in a resort in the south of Norway, Når Vi Døde Vågner [When We Dead Awaken] focuses more on the backstory of the two characters, Rubek and Irene, and the psychological tension in their reunion. At a sky resort, Irene - clad in white - finds Rubek, whom she addresses informally, and confronts him on her feelings about his manipulation years prior when she was his model for his sculpture titled "The Resurrection." As soon as Irene walks across the stage, a reader perceives the way th
When they talk about the art-making process, Rubek describes the tension of feeling sensuous desire for Irene, but due to the necessity of creating art, he sublimates his desires for her in a traditional sense. The common understanding of traditional sublimation is that it entails the act of pushing aside earthly pleasures in order to portray such pleasures in a more abstract or spiritual way through an artform. He uses his feelings for Irene and channels them into his recreation of his image of
Norwegian scholar Per Buvik writes of the sublimation in the drama in his article, "Kunstneren, Kjønnhet, og Kvinnen om Når Vi Døde Vågner." Buvik clarifies that through Irene's admission of Rubek's statue as their child, she infers how she experiences an erotic relationship with art. When she modeled for him, Rubek senses the erotic connection between them, yet Buvik claims that he "bestreber seg på å overskride, eller altrså subilmere, sin egen mannlighet" [strives to transcend, or sublimate,
Alena Zupancic, in her article "On Love as Comedy," explores Lacan's notion of sublimation as a process of ennobling the desired person to a higher deity and then the idea of sublimation as the goal of desire. Regarding the former explanation, I explored it in great detail in my chapter on Iselin, yet I examine Rubek's relationship with Irene as manifesting the latter explanation of sublimation. Zupancic explains that the sublimation allows for love to arise within a desirous moment, but only th
During his conversation with Irene, he recalls his previous admiration for her, thus showing proof of his earthly desires: "Og den overtro fyldte mig, at rørte jeg dig, begærte jeg dig i sanselighed, så vilde mit sind vanhelliges, så at jeg ikke kunde skabe færdigt det, som jeg stræbte efter" [And the superstition filled me that if I touched you, if I desired you sensually, then my mind would be desecrated, so that I could not complete what I was striving for]. In
In response to his confession, Irene mentions that she has died within, as she has given her soul to Rubek's sculpture in order to give life to it, thus forgoing her own mortal life. Despite the metaphorical nature of their discussion, Irene lacks humanity since she cannot give into her sensuality. In her conversation with Rubek about making a pilgrimage to the sculpture, she asks him, "Tror du kanske, jeg vilde død en gang til af det?" [Do you think maybe I would die one more time from that?].
When viewing Ibsen's plot twist in Irene's confrontation with Rubek, one perceives that sublimation helps reveal her power and hidden aspect of the artist's relationship with the model. Irene makes the choice to confront Rubek with her appearance of a ghostly statue come to life because this dramatic presence is the only way to awaken him, and perhaps herself. Her words define Rubek's life and critique his mission. When she utters, "Når vi døde vågner.Vi ser, at vi aldrig har levet" [When we dea
Furthermore, she addresses him as an embodiment of a statue, "Din unge opstandne kvinde kan se hele livet ligge på ligstrå" [Your young resurrected woman can see her whole life lying on a limb]. This claim changes the nature of Rubek's actions, causing him to become more passionate in his gestures and words. Through Irene's bold demeanor and confrontation, she enacts the sublime by addressing herself as "Din unge opstandne kvinde" [your young resurrected woman], and in doing so, Rubek accesses h
In the act of desublimation, one decenters the noble aspects of the object to compartmentalize and allow for the person to experience jouissance. Yet, in this last encounter, Rubek and Irene do desublimate
instead of focusing on the banal aspects of each other, they only address the noble, thus pursuing each other as sublime people, the dead to die once again. The following interactions demonstrate how they perceive each other's sublime aspects and come back to life due to this process:
Rubek: (slår armene voldsomt om hende): Så lad os to døde leve live ten eneste gang tilbunds-før vi går ned I vore grave igen!
Irene: (henreven i lidenskab). Nej, nej,-op i lyset og i al den glitrende herlighed. Op til forjættelsens tinde!
[Rubek: (slaps his arms violently around her): So let us two dead live for once--before we go down to our graves again!
Irene: (ravished in passion): No, no, up into the light and in all the glittering glory! Up to the mountain peak of promise!]
Although the terms "voldsomt" [violently] and "henreven i lidenskab" [ravished in passion] suggest more sensuous emotions, the words spoken address more sublime imagery of the dead dying again in the highest peak. Furthermore, Irene's full agreement to follow him only occur after she feels transfigured. By definition, a transfigured being is one that has transformed into a more noble and beautiful person, and its religious connotation further makes use of the mountain peak to heighten its sublim
Rubek's sculpture, while not shown in the play, manifests itself indirectly through Irene's presence and actions. Through her presence, one perceives the role of art as an entity that destroys life, but also restores it after humans confront their previous misdeeds with it. As previously stated, Irene and Rubek lose their humanity through the art-making process as a means of sacrifice, yet they quickly gain it as Irene embodies the statue itself. For this reason, sublimation here becomes a secon
Relevant to the pathos in the time of publication, this interpretation of rebirth refers to the trend in writing at the time. In Elinor Fuchs's article "The Apocalyptic Ibsen: When We Dead Awaken," Fuchs describes the climax moment as a moment of rebirth for both the "life-denying artist" and the "life-starved Irene" as they "advance ecstatically up.to an invisible peak beyond to consummate their spiritual union, reawakening to life.at the highest level of consciousness." While Fuchs is clear to
Spoo focuses his discussion on the way that art offers the male artist a way out of repressing his fears. When Irene addresses the statue as her child with Rubek, it "merges maternal and biological images with the more traditional aesthetic rhetoric of transcendence and immortality, hinting at the link between male fascination with the aestheticized female form and the fear and loathing inspired by the unheimlich maternal body." Through Spoo's explanation of Freudian repression of the maternal b
Spoo further captures the idea of art as a crime when he writes of the negative portrayal of how being a model for such a grandiose sculpture killed Irene. Spoo writes,
Instead of giving her love, Rubek conferred on her an artistic immortality which spelled the death of her soul. The aesthetic act becomes an act of murder inasmuch as it must raze human individuality before it can rear its place a universalized art form. Art murders to create.
In this assessment, Spoo confers the difference between human individuality, one gathered through the process of being mortal, and the universal content in art. Rubek transfers his emotions of lust for Irene in order to justify them in an artform. Furthermore, Spoo explains that such a crime of killing a mortal woman in order to immortalize her through art has its origin in repression of male fear of the maternal body. Yet, in Rubek's case, lustful feelings are not the only emotions he represses
In Rubek's discussion of his lust for Irene, he confesses that he must sacrifice them for the sake of his art, thus art spoils the experience of living. For other artists, however, the creation of a statue functions as the replacement for the desired woman. Thus, the act of immortalizing unrequited love leaves the model and artist unharmed in their humanity, save for the artist's longing for a woman who does not love him.
Yet, some scholars consider Irene's power as resistance against his power as an artist, thus showing the literary trends in the late nineteenth century. Helland aptly explains,
I denne forstand ser Irene ut til å legemliggjøre en kritikk av kunsten i livets navn. Det ser ut til å ligge en motstand ot Rubeks prosjekt i selve gjenstandsmessigheten hos Irene
det at hun er natur, og slik objekt ffor hans blikk, konstituerer samtidig en motstand mot det livstømmende ved kunstnerens blikk.
[In this sense, Irene seems to embody a critique of art in the name of life. There seems to be a resistance to Rubek's project in Irene's objectivity itself
the fact that she is nature, and such an object for his gaze, constitutes at the same time an opposition to the life-draining nature of the artist's gaze].
In other words, Helland's assessment is that Irene's last actions in the play critique the function of art or the choice of art. This discussion of Ibsen's play serves as a conclusion to the portrayal of sublimation. In the other works, sublimation functions more as an alternative reality from the male character's mortal existence, or a psychological break from reality. Usually the women as objects are detached from the male character, either as figments of the character's imagination or an othe
Furthermore, Buvik's assessment about Rubek and happiness extends to the other men in the discussion, all sensitive and creative men who struggle with finding happiness in line with their artistic endeavors. Buvik states,
Mennesket er ikke skapt for lykke, og den skapende (Rubek) og den følsomme (Irene) aller minst. Lykken, definer som et lykkelig forhold mellom mann og kvinne, kan bare bygges på illusjoner som alltid brister for kunsteren, den intellektuelle og den sensible.
[Man is not created for happiness, and the creative (Rubek) and the sensitive (Irene) least of all. Happiness, defined as a happy relationship between man and woman, can only be built on illusions that are always broken for the artist, the intellectual and the sensitive].
These words aptly capture the reason for the sadness in the men's struggle between their creative illusions and their pursuit for love. Only when they wish to conflate the two, do they experience hardships, as they feel they would have to choose only one. Buvik mentions the artist, the intellectual, and the sensitive, which describes the characters not only in this section but throughout the book. Such individuals cannot find happiness due to the nuanced observations of life that these traits en
Beret Wicklund aptly expresses the literary trend of the artist and the muse and its seemingly equalizing of the genders, only to bring up a disappointing result for the muse. She states:
Kvinnen har en suveren plass som den som beånder mannen og inngir ham inspirasjon, mens mannen er den som bearbeider inspirasjonen til et produkt. Han realiserer den ivirkelighetens verden. Musens rolle er dermed bade guddommelig og opphøyet, men den ligger samtidig utenfor den faktiske virkeligheten. Mannens dirking og idealisering av sin kvinnelige muse innebærer dermed at han samtidig holder henne fast i en posisjon utenfor realitetens verden. Dyrkelsen av kvinnen er dermed en form for undert
[The woman has a supreme place as the one who inspires the man and gives him inspiration, while the man is the one who processes the inspiration into a product. He realizes it in the world of reality. The muse's role is thus both divine and exalted, but at the same time it lies outside actual reality. The man's cultivation and idealization of his female muse thus means that he simultaneously keeps her firmly in a position outside the world of reality. The worship of women is thus a form of oppre
Yet, Ibsen's play resolves the discussion of sublimation in this essay but also in the previous discussions of Hamsun's early novels. In all these instances, the men attribute supernatural powers onto the women, and only in the case of Iselin and Lyktemann's daughter are these female characters set aside from the main female characters in the story, who possess strong yet typical mortal traits. When contrasting Når Vi Døde Vågner with the other stories and excerpts of the novels, one perceives t
Through an exploration of sublimation in all these cases, one also perceives a framing of sublimation, as if the process were an artform itself. Since it does involve a creative endeavor through the lessening of the libidinal drive, sublimation entails an artistic pursuit and comments on the artist's process in their pursuit of their goals. Yet, each piece of literature frames this process as if the pursuit, and not the result itself, is an object worthy of examination. In Ibsen's play, the enti
Nonetheless, the three examples show how art imbues the artistic object-painting or stature or story-telling, as seen in the previous two chapters-with a feeling of affection, as if the object could possess traits that might satisfy the artist. Even though it does not completely satisfy all three men, they each experience a momentary pause where the art object did capture their emotions and suspended their human expectations. Only when they remember their human connection to women and the cost o
While the points that female objectification and the incompatibility of art and romance are true, these confrontations with the artistic ideal and reality direct readers to the power of the unspoken, the issues that only art brings out to the open. Since the object of artistic acts and creative acts involve women, these women elicit a form of power that supersedes their objectification. As I discussed earlier in the case of Iselin and Lyktemann's daughter that these women symbolize life, lust, a
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Chapter 6 A Walk Among the Roses
Illustration: The Allegory of Flattery
[Julius] Kronberg's painting produces a sense of instability both because its subject matter is incomplete and because the Sheban queen's gaze (as well as that of nearly all the other figures) transgresses the beholder.
Elisabeth Oxfeldt, 2003
On a cold Wednesday in February, I go to the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens to take pictures of L'Amour Captif de la Jeunesse, a statue created after Simon-Louis Boizot and located under a gazebo-like structure. Inspired by Ibsen, Obstfelder, and Hamsun, I consider the idea that art might mediate amorous feelings that a person might feel. I am experimenting with the idea that a particular sculpture might serve as a model for the analyses of sublimation from the aforementio
Set in the Rose Garden, I walk amongst the different roses and duck when bees fly by me. I approach the female figure and take pictures, but I get a strange feeling that this figure seems too rapt in mischievous love. L'Amour Captif de la Jeunesse seems like an apt name, but the feeling behind the statue clashes with the intention that I wish to create in an illustration. The female figure smiles while her shawl exposes her breast and unaware of the cherub's presence. A little cherub, possibly t
After considering how Ibsen's Når Vi Døde Vågner displays the troubling aspects of sacrificing life for art, I realize how the different depictions of sublimation might reflect trends of the late nineteenth century. As Per Buvik mentions in his assessment of Irene and Rubek in his article "Kunsten, Kjønnet, og Kvinnen," he indicates how his depiction of Irene shows the literary theme of showing women as having a sexual nature with a deadly destructive tendency. Furthermore, he mentions how write
This view allows Buvik to assess that Ibsen portrays the fight between the genders for a grasp of power through art and sexuality. Art captures a way to frame societal dangers even in the gaze of love-its destructive gaze, at least in the nineteenth century women, perceives men as they are and stops them in their paths. The stories using art show the folly of men who get caught in the lure of this gaze, yet it freezes the strength of women in one image as if a camera could capture an abstract tr
Meandering through the far western end of the rose gardens, I find the path to the Scholar's Garden blocked. This predicament does not worry me, since most of the statues that I consider drawing are back past the entrance of the rose gardens. I have no other recourse but to retrace my steps back to the entrance of the rose garden.
When I turn to the left, a nearly hidden couple of statues face me. The mud is freshly wet, so I head over by the tips of my toes. I nearly slip on a particularly soft patch of mud to get closer to this unnamed couple of statues. In the center of four slender columns, a naked woman sits blindfolded as a small cherub stands on tiptoes to hold the scarf that shields the woman's eyes. The woman holds the cherub's head of curls with one hand while extended her other hand. The outstretched fingers fr
Just to clarify, the different concepts of Medusa contribute to the way that writers use this figure to suggest a strong woman with a lure that destroys men. The Freudian myth of the Medusa figure symbolizes castration, as her head represents the mother's genitals, thus bringing the threat to men. Freud suggests that the sight of Medusa brings desire while also paradoxically frightening the male, since he is turned into stone and erect. In contrast to the negative association of Medusa, Susan R.
In contrast to the pre-Olympian Medusa, the Greek story of her origin shows a lack of power and insinuates female rivalry. Bowers explains the story of how Poseidon, god of the sea, rapes beautiful Medusa in Athena's shrine, causing Athena to transform Medusa's lovely hair into a snakes. Later in the story, a brave Perseus uses a shield to protect his gaze from Medusa and reflects her own gaze back at her and beheads her. He then uses her head as a way to counter his enemies by holding it to the
According to older literature on psychoanalysis, the Medusa figure symbolizes a rupture in the relationship between women, specifically mothers and daughters. In Arthur A. Miller's psychoanalytic account of a patient's dream of three Gorgons, he asserts how the symbolic meaning of Medusa in dreams reflects his patient's relationship with her mother and her need to have her mother perceive her as an independent woman. Miller further details how his patient's associations of competition with other
While such portrayals differ in the treatment of Medusa's power, both accounts underscore her presence as difficult to look at and perceive. In the discussion of literature, these portrayals of Medusa's influence and power reflect the treatment of the mythical and mysterious female figure in late nineteenth century Norwegian literature. Some of the writers explore this power and depict it in supernatural women, while others directly reference Medusa as a distinctly decadent female-the sexually c
Standing before the nameless statues, I wonder if the sentiment behind this scene and the L'Amour Captif de la Jeunesse fit the female figure I wish to draw. Based on my analysis of Irene and Rebekka, I do not find these statues appropriate in sentiment. While the stories conveyed blindness in love, the statue evinces a lighthearted feeling to this predicament. In the woman's embrace of the cherub who blinds her, she seeks to blind herself, an act that the women in the works I analyze do not do.
I keep thinking about the role of Medusa. Why does she keep lurking in these depictions? The relevance of her gaze as that which freezes and enraptures men in return stops me from further making striking points about the text. I am not saying anything new
rather, I retrace the steps others have taken. They stopped in their tracks, so I must examine why they did so and continue because they unearth an underlying assumption that is so clear that we refuse to voice it. Yet, in remaining quiet abou
While analyzing Ibsen's work in particular, I discovered Beret Wicklund's discussion of Irene and Rubek's relationship as scopophilic, a term that indicates that the relationship is based on the gaze. Since this term describes other interactions between characters I discuss, I start evaluating the different connections between the male and female characters. It is the gaze that gestures a sign of admiration, lust, a romantic connection to the point where the authors feel a strong connection, a s
Wicklund explains how the gaze and its ensuing feelings elicited from the people looking at each other take the place of the physical relationship. She gathers that a scopophilic relationship allows "det seksuelle begjær å komme til uttrykk samtidig som den kroppslige siden ven seksueliteten fornektes." [sexual desire to be expressed while denying the bodily side of sexuality] Like sublimation, sexual expression occurs but not in the way that allows for a typical expression of a romantic or lust
I walk toward the open field where hedges border its perimeters. I come across Agostino Testa's The Allegory of Flattery, a young female figure who plays the flute while a lamb arches its head upward in adoration. Waves of hair crown her head, as all the hair is gathered at the base of the neck before extending down her back. She wears a short-sleeved blouse and a skirt that ties around the back. The lamb's head pushes the skirt upward and exposes her legs. The woman stands playing a flute, as i
When checking the Oxford Dictionary, I find several entries of the word as a verb, noun, and even in literary theory:
Verb: look steadily and intently, especially in admiration, surprise, or thought.
Noun: a steady intent look.
In literary theory: a particular perspective taken to embody certain aspects of the relationship between observer and observed, especially as reflected in the way in which an author or film direction unconsciously or otherwise directs attention.
An interesting note - gaze is derived from the late Middle English term gaw or gawk.
The definition of the word implies a relationship between an observed and observer, yet it does not necessarily indicate the type of connection, if there is any. When I consider the definition of gawk, I find it to mean to stare or gaze stupidly, attributing the action with an amount of ridicule, as if the looker is caught in surprise to the extent that they no longer possess an intelligent thought. Yet, a gawk is a particular kind of gaze, so the latter term need not involve the former's connot
Since this relationship does not limit an observer to a specific time nor the observed to a particular setting, I wonder about extending a gaze to an examination of the literature I study. The men in these stories gaze at certain women, some whose intense stare beckons them to return the gesture. More importantly, I see their gaze as their psychological framework that affects their fascination with these women no matter how slight their connection. My investigation peers into the actions of thes
The wind blows and competes with the sun's attempt to warm me. I take some pictures and quickly draw the contour. In my earlier years in art school, I used to proceed quickly to the details of the figure in live model drawing sessions. Time has not changed this tendency. By shading the dark eroded parts, my notice of the statue's unintended flaws shows up in the drawing, even though that feature impedes on the statue's beauty. Yet, the darkened areas juxtaposed to the highlights on the statue's
Considering the layers of this experiment, I wonder if my gaze seeks to penetrate the literary works and further enhance my understanding of the works by drawing an art piece while reflecting on my analysis. By looking at all the intertextual signifiers of the text, artwork, my analysis, and my rendering, I think about my gaze in a psychoanalytic content. Hal Foster connects the Medusa's petrifying gaze to Lacan's discussion of the painting as a metaphor for his description of the screen in the
When speaking about the gaze in relation to subjectivity, Lacan discusses the scopic field and how one's vision, and in particular, one's eyes, limit one's perception of self. He defines the gaze as "In our relation to things, in so far as this relation is constituted by the way of vision, and ordered in the figures of representation, something slips, passes, is transmitted, from stage to stage, and is always to some degree eluded in it-that is what we call the gaze." Lacan's discussion refers t
Considering the difficulty in giving a concrete example of this predicament, I wonder if this abstract theoretical discussion of the Lacanian gaze prohibits any scholar from making the correlation between our criticism of older literature and the subject and the gaze from the Real. Yet, this gaze is not the gaze that I am discussing for I am still working within a human subjectivity that does not annihilate the works. If I am indeed using my gaze to annihilate the works of these Norwegian writer
After making myself a cup of tea, I settle at my desk and take out the drawing. Artists always say to draw from one's observations in reality instead of drawing from an image, albeit a digital image whose lighting distorts the reality of the image. I check my phone to see 80 percent battery power and head to my room where I draw The Allegory of Flattery. I email the image to my computer where I can look at it, while using my phone to play music. I put water in a small plastic cup and open up my
I darken the parts where rain damaged the statue, hardening her look to better reflect Irene's condition, a beautiful statue-like woman whose disappointments stiffened her physical form. These aspects still attract Rubek and compel him to follow her up a mountain, an act that inevitably leads him to his death, or a reawakening to life. Or does it reflect Rebekka? The sensuous nature in which Bredo, the artist friend of the narrator in Obstfelder's Korset, displays in his rendering of Rebekka all
Oxfeldt mentions that the narrator initially finds the figure ambiguous in terms of gender and ethnicity, making her appear more European than Oriental and a curious mix of gender attributes. Then, Oxfeldt explains that the Sheban queen's gaze in Kronberg's painting addresses the narrator's feelings about witnessing this painting. She states, "Subsequently the narrator uses his descriptions of her eyes to convince himself (and his interlocutor/reader) that what he felt upon seeing the painting w
My experiment ends with the selection of this particular drawing as the one to illustrate the ideas from the essay I am writing. Though Medusa's gaze pertains to different connotations of female sexuality and female power, one might refer to it as a penetrating gaze that seeks to understand the complexities of the way the male characters love the women. In the works that I analyze, art functions as the receptacle of seeing one's love reflected for the sake of understanding, at least momentarily
Unlike the Lacanian Real, I go deeper into symbols to prolong the enjoyment of reading these works and understanding them. The natural progression of ideas does not surprise me when I consider Jan Jagodzinski's discussion of art and the construction of the ego-ideal. He states, "Lacan's discussion of the evil eye that accompanied aphanisis, the fading of the subject and its alienation as a castrating eye (of the Freudian Medusa), always took the form of a sublimation, the need for art to protect
For me to better understand the role of sublimation-or rather, my fascination with it-in the works that I analyze, I follow the compulsion to continue the trend of using art to frame my own love for the subjects. This love, however, does not endanger me to the paths that the male characters endure, only has me find my own path along a similar direction, though in different contexts. The intertextual richness in Hamsun's "Dronningen av Seba" shows how the narrator finds some clarity in his feelin
For this reason, the choice of the flute-playing figure as the model is apt in that I use the figure to illustrate key ideas, and that figure also engages in the art practice. Months later, I discover the coincidence of my choice of this sculpture and my decision to end my essay on Pan and Victoria with Lacan's allusion of the myth of Pan and Syrinx. Whether my intuition or unconscious tampered with my decision, some essence directed me on that day in February.
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Chapter 7 Iselin Revisited: Mystery of Two Identities Resolved
Similarities between Pan's Iselin and Iselin of Munken Vendt
Illustration: The Red Beret
In my earlier days of analyzing Hamsun's work, I was told to examine the lesser-known play, Munken Vendt, to resolve the differences between it and my analysis of the characters of one well-known work. This play reveals a haphazard plot structure and chronicles the rebellious actions of a monk who pursues different women and shuns them for spite. After reading this play, I resolve the mystery of how Hamsun used the same names of characters in Pan with seemingly different personality traits. My d
Zupancic's essay "Love as Comedy" immediately draws out Lacan's definition of sublimation as a process that condescends the desired object in order for the subject to experience jouissance. In my original analysis, I had made the distinction of desire and love but did not consider it as clearly as Zupancic. She presents an analysis of the Lacanian notion of love as comical since it supposes a different aim than desire and consists of a different process. She initially poses the question to the r
She defines love as the process of "preserving the transcendence in the very accessibility of the other." Following this logic, one sees how one loves different sides of a person. She states that one accepts the sublime and banal aspects of a person, and also the slight difference between what one knows of a person and what one does not know. This slight difference is what Zupancic refers to as minimal difference or "the Other as different from her-or himself" though her explanation using a Char
Without having to rearticulate all my analyses on the subject-otherwise I should just reread my own essays-I do consider how the writers write about men who use creativity and artistic means as a way to maintain the desire. I consider how the means of art might also enable love despite the fact that art is a means of beautifying and ennobling one's perspective of an object represented. By using the means of drawing aspects of the objects that the characters sublimated, I seek to understand this
I question whether the object I draw makes this object-what scholars in this trajectory refer to as "Das Ding/The Thing"-concrete or pushes it farther in the inaccessible realm. While the different associations of objects, the signifiers, continue to spread as different readers enjoy the literary works, I stop to consider the drawing that reflects how I think about the Thing of each literary work. In the case of Hamsun, it is Iselin, Iselin as creativity, the Queen of Sheba, and the way art capt
Yet, in Hamsun's examples, the creative act either through storytelling and writing about art also generates a way that the drive extends beyond the woman. For this reason, his protagonists fail in capturing the women they love, though I can now see that it may allow them to persist in their desire for the women. After comparing his representation of it with other authors who take on the same theme, I am more aware of how correct I am of my assessment of his work. In his case, he represents love
Most Hamsun scholars analyze the characters Iselin, Didrik (Diderik in Pan), Dundas, and Svend Herlufsen as they appear in different ways in Pan, Victoria, and Munken Vendt. According to Buttry, she describes Iselin from Munken Vendt as having no resemblance to Iselin of Pan, as she is not the "embodiment of eros," as even I myself alluded to in an earlier essay. Buttry mentions that Blis from Munken Vendt possesses more of the feminine traits that Iselin of Pan conveys, as Iselin from Munken V
Similar to the views of scholar Even Arntzen, I agree that these characters are mythological in Pan and Victoria, but they take on a more realistic portrayal in Munken Vendt. As Arntzen states in his assessment of Iselin in Pan, main character Lieutenant Glahn mixes reality and myth until he cannot tell the difference between the two, so this fact supports the view that when he perceives Iselin, he cannot tell if she is appearing in reality or just in his mind. For this reason, the entire play M
I take the oppositional view that these characters from Pan and Victoria are the same characters in Munken Vendt. The difference between depictions between Iselin in Pan and Iselin in Munken Vendt becomes clearer when one takes the view that the play positions the characters as mortal characters who then become mythologized in Pan and Victoria. By examining certain similarities to Iselin of Pan and examining her role as one who elicits creative energy, as seen in her interaction with Svend Herlu
This eight-act play differs from the content in Pan and Victora, thus it focuses more on Munken Vendt's decision to transgress social norms and then repent for them. Since the play comments on the importance of human will as opposed to a belief in God, the characters demonstrate a change in fate, such as the loss of a home or conversion into Christianity, which are important topics for discussions on human will as the determining agent in bringing about a particular fate. For the context of this
While I do not deny that Iselin in Munken Vendt is colder and more severe than her counterpart in Pan and Victoria, I find clues to suggest she is the same character. In Pan, Lieutenant Glahn mentions that Iselin has Didrik, Dundas, and Svend Herlufsen as her lovers, and Glahn as the main protagonist claims to love her. While another character, Blis, does act as sensuous as Iselin does in Pan, Iselin of Munken Vendt elicits attention and desire from these men, though she refuses them due to upho
Even when Munken Vendt first sees her, he stares at her for a long time and invites her to his camp in a nearby mountain. Dundas and Svend joke with each other that Iselin does not give them hope that she returns their affections. Even at the end when years have passed, Esben Skomager still addresses her and mistakenly refers to her when Munken Vendt admires a pretty young woman. During this brief exchange, a group of young women in addition to Didrik driving a carriage with Iselin inside, Munke
Pan's Iselin is known for her gaze and her ability to be in her garden during the midnight sun. She embodies the abundance of nature. Though these are minor details, they offer evidence of Iselin's character that coincides with her from earlier depictions. When Iselin of Os meets Munken Vendt at the beginning of the story, she notes his fiery gaze at Blis. She remarks on it and states, "Hun tækkes Jær, Pigen der" [She likes you, the girl there] and "Hvorhelst I end vender Jærs Øje saa træffer de
I længes fasted til den Pige som gik? Se se hvor det traf. I fik Ild I Jærs Blik. Fortæl mig hvad meget I lærte paa Skole. Stor blev I derude og snar som en Fole.Det falder mig ind, I har Hjem i et Fjæld, til Vinteren kommer den lange Kvæld,--jeg byr Jær en Stue som ingen bor i. Den kunde I ha for Jær selv. Hvad tror I?
[Are you longing to go to the girl who left? Look where it hit. You caught fire in your gaze. Tell me how much you learned at school. You got big out there and fast as a foal.It occurs to me you have a home in a mountain, until the winter comes the long night, I offer you a room in which no one lives. You could have that for yourself. What do you think?]
Despite not propositioning herself to be his lover, Iselin does invite him to stay with her and beckons him to consider her thought by asking him for his opinion. Though not overtly sexual, she does break the norm of a passive woman who merely accepts a man's proposal. In addition to rejecting the proposals of Dundas, Svend, and Didrik, she reverses Munken's invitation to go with him to his mountain and accepts him on her terms. Similar to Pan's Iselin as a nature spirit who invites Glahn into h
In Pan, Iselin addresses her first time of intimacy with Dundas and mentions being in her garden in the morning and not awakening her maid. This softness in tone does show remarkable similarities to Blis. After all, Blis marries Dundas and has an affair with Didrik, so readers might easily attribute her character with Iselin of Pan. Yet, in her early conversation with Dundas, Iselin gives him the ambiguous answer of "Nej, Ung Dundas, I ved vi er kvit" [No, young Dundas, you know we are done.] wh
Even though Hamsun does not suggest that Iselin experiences intimacy with any of her male admirers, he does allude to a repressed sexual nature that only comes out through his observations of her and through her interactions with Svend. At the end when Iselin and Munken share a revelation of his motives concerning his return to her property in Os, Iselin refers to him as a wolf and surmises correctly that he will fight endlessly and relentlessly. In this interaction, however, she admits a part o
One example of her sin might be her attempt to emotionally connect with Munken. When Munken tells her to meet her the next day, it disrupts her usual day to day expectations. Didrik asks her about her changed attitude and his words address the changed behavior as he himself states that her words are "den stærkeste siden vor hele Forening" [the strongest since our entire union]. In regard to her behavior, he states, "Din Færd, dine ændrede Skikke, din søvnløse Nat, dine slørede Blikke. Jeg spurgt
As Buttry mentions, Munken declares to love Blis, then Alexa as a symbol of Blis' innocence, yet chooses to visit Iselin and not pursue Blis. This discrepancy between his proclaimed love and hidden desire marks the difference in love and desire as better explained in Zupancic's discussion of the Lacanian Real. She states the following:
The whole point of the Lacanian concept of the Real is that the impossible happens.It is not something that happens when we want it, or try to make it happen, or expect it, or are ready for it. It always happens at the wrong time and in the wrong place
it is always something that doesn't fit the (established or the anticipated) picture. The Real as impossible means that there is no right time or place for it, and not that it is impossible for it to happen.
Yet also, Zupancic mentions a similar disorienting experience when considering the difference between desire and love as an experience that happens outside of its time and context. By framing her analysis of the concept as similar to the time warp in science fiction novels, she explains:
This time warp essentially refers to the fact that a piece of some other (temporal) reality get caught in our present temporality (or vice versa), appearing there where there is no structural place for it, thus producing a strange, illogical tableau. Something appears where it should not be and thus breaks or interrupts the linearity of time, the harmony of the picture.
In both assessments, Zupancic refers to love occurring without expectation since it arrives without the intention of either person. In the context of romantic love, it exists as a factor that disrupts the norm. In both assessments of two different processes, I find the correlation between time and linearity worth noting. Of the Real, she notes that "it happens at the wrong time and wrong place" and "breaks or interrupts the linearity of time." Another similarity involves the example of the pictu
This explanation offers this discussion a few benefits. It helps to resolve the difference between the Iselins, as it explains how Munken Vendt separates love and desire in a way that Glahn could not. Zupancic's explanation of love in the Lacanian Real helps readers to understand Munken's strange actions toward both Blis and Iselin
he claims to love one while seeking to talk to the other, a claim that Buttry states when she assesses Munken's transgressions and inconsistency in behavior. His las
Zupancic states of love occurring at the wrong time and place and forming a strange tableau, and such descriptors refer to the comical frustration that Svend feels as he proclaims his love for Iselin and her subtle yet cunning gestures towards him. In the main interpretation of the play, readers see how Iselin only loves Munken yet marries Didrik. Nonetheless, she treats both coldly. Though her actions have ulterior motives, she persists in showing kindness to Svend while flirting with him. Her
Despite receiving long monologues from Munken, Iselin does inspire poetic imagery from Svend, whose admiration for Iselin continues into their middle-aged years. A minor side character whose poetic diatribes elicit humor and amusement from the reader, Svend contrasts with Dundas whose easy-going disposition allows him to dispel of love's refusals. In Pan, Hamsun mentions Svend as one of Iselin's lovers but does not offer any other descriptions of him. In my previous analyses when I comment on ho
Throughout the play, she shows favoritism toward him. At the beginning when Didrik, Dundas and Svend enter her place, Iselin ensures that he receive a favorable seat as she expresses, "Svend Herlufsens Sæde Skal være just dèr, paa det blødeste Klæde" [Svend Herlufsen's seat must be right there, on the softest cloth.] Later in the play when Svend needs to demand payment from Didrik in court, Iselin coyly persuades him not to do so. Though she has ulterior motives to not lose money through her hus
Iselin: Da kender jeg daarligt min skattede Ridder. I kaldte mig engang Jærs Hjærtes Besidder--?
Svend Herlufsen: Det er I.Jeg mener, vig bort fra min Vej..
Iselin: (lægger Haanden paa hans Arm) I vil ikke fordre den Bøde?
Svend Herlufsen: (forvirret) Jo..Nej.
[Iselin: Then I hardly know my treasured Knight. You once called me the possessor of your heart?
Svend Herlufsen: It's you.... I mean, get out of my way...
Iselin: (puts her hand on his arm) You won't demand that fine?
Svend Herlufsen: (confused) Yeah...No.]
Though readers never see the scene where Svend calls her the possessor of his heart, his response to her confirms it. After years pass, Didrik's debt become so large that he loses Iselin's farm, prompting Svend to make a payment so that she can get it back. In a court scene, Iselin demands attention by speaking in a loud and clear voice to express Svend's intentions. She states,
Svend Herlufsen staar her. Vor kæreste Ven vil sikkert bestaa os sin Yndest igen. Vil Didrik, min Mand, købe Gaarden tilbage er Svend den Vorherre som alting kan mage. Hans Ord bør vel høres til sidste Slut.
[Svend Herlufsen is standing here. Our dearest friend will surely bestow his favor on us again. If Didrik, my husband, wants to buy the farm back, Svend is the Master who can do anything. His words should be heard to the end].
With words that show more praise to Svend than she does to her husband, Iselin masks her admiration for him through her motives to save her livelihood. Certainly she wishes to have the life she is accustomed to, but her words show her esteem for Svend. By referring to him as a dearest friend and the Lord who can do anything, Iselin makes her regard for Svend public, though he wishes to see it through intimacy. Given the contrast of her extreme caustic behavior toward Didrik and Munken, this soft
As Zupancic explains, love in the Real comes at the wrong time and the wrong place, thus making it possible that the manifestation of love in this play develops between two unlikely characters. Since the union between Svend and Iselin is not the focus of this play, readers consider their interactions impertinent to the main plot and theme of the story. Yet, their interactions point to the accidental love relationship between them, the interaction that happens outside of the usual discussion for
Similar to my discussion of Iselin as a creative force in Pan and Victoria, Iselin from Munken Vendt inspires Svend to develop his poetic monologues that describe his feelings for her but also portray his perspective of the events at hand. Though they often elicit amusement for Dundas, they do provide a way to counter the main narrative. At the beginning of the play when Dundas, Didrik, and Svend flirt with Iselin, Dundas asks Svend about his feelings about his love, and Svend responds with the
Der lever i Ostindien en Rov-Edderkop af Skabning og af Farve som en rød Orchidé. Den ligger midt i Dagen forat ses og at se, med Ben til alle Kanter og med Bugen vendt op. Den ligger der saa længe og urørlig som Døden.
Og Sommerfuglen kender ej den Rov-Edderkop, han svirrer om den herlige, den røde Orchidé som ligger midt i Dagen og hver Sommerfugl kan se.
Han flyver ned paa Blomsten. Han flyver aldrig op. Han fløj i Favn med Døden.
Saa ligger Orchidéen der saa livløs som før. Men nye Sommerfuglegyrer søger den-og dør. Og hver Gang ligger Blomsten der urørlig igen.
Min Kærest er som den.
[There lives in the East Indies a predatory spider of the form and Color of a red Orchid. It lies in the middle of the day to be seen and to see, with legs to all sides and with the belly turned up. It lies there as long and immovable as Death.
And the Butterfly doesn't know the Predatory Spider, he flutters about the glorious, red Orchid that lies in the middle of the day and every Butterfly can see. He flies down on the flower. He never flies up. He flew in the arms of Death.
Then the Orchid lies there as lifeless as before. But new Butterfly ants seek it-and die. And each time the flower lies there immovable again.
My love is like that].
By constructing a powerful imagery of the spider that appears as a luring red orchid that captures its prey, Svend portrays his feelings about desiring-though he uses the word love-a woman whose response to him kills him. Dundas responds with a jest that his description of his love is so accurate that she is as red as Iselin's beret, yet in this comment Dundas addresses the accuracy of Svend's metaphor. This metaphor of Iselin as a spider who looks like a red orchid depicts her as someone lovely
During another scene when Svend asks for a sum of five thousand speciedaler, which was the Norwegian currency before the kroner, in court and asks for it before the magistrate, Iselin's flirtatious behavior makes him rescind his demand, yet he still offers a poetic monologue in the middle of court. Since he takes back his charge for the payment five thousand dollars due to Iselin's request, readers perceive that he still admires her. While not as coherent as the first monologue, Svend does admit
Jeg steg mig ind i Stuen, kun Maanen stod og saa derpaa.og der var blot et Mundens Nej hos Duen, hun krummed sig og krammed sig saa fro. Vi brused blinde sammen begge to. Saa døde Ild og Gløder ud paa Gruen. Mit Hjærte det laa rødt og grovt og lo.
Og vældigt havde Kærligheden hende, hun var mig helt hjærtinderlig min Brud. Men denne Gang tog al min Fryd en Ende: Jeg nejer mig i Grus paa hendes Bud, jeg ber til henne som jeg ber til Gud-forgæves alt.Fy Fanden, for Elende, en Pibebrand som aldrig slukkes ud!
[I climbed into the living room, only the moon stood and watched.and there was only a no from the dove's mouth, she crouched down and hugged herself then. We both burned blindly together. Then the fire died and glowed on the crane. My Heart lay red and rough and laughed.
And love had her very much, she was my bride with all my heart. But this time all my joy came to an end: I bowed myself in gravel at her bidding, I prayed to her as I pray to God-all in vain...Damn, for misery, a pipe fire that never goes out!]
Clearly admitting his love for her, Svend also depicts a few transgressions on Iselin's part, if one believes he speaks truthfully. According to his statement, Svend will always have a feverish love for Iselin, whose actions do hint at reciprocation of this love. When Svend mentions that she hugged herself in the living room and crouched down while telling him no, Svend depicts a woman who states she does not want to partake in any act with Svend but secretly longs for it. Then, in his allusion
In the last monologue as an elderly person, Svend pieces together different imagery but cleverly masks his feelings about Iselin, as he begins to feel its effects more. While initially alluding to the nighttime during spring, he asks "Hvad--venter du Stilhed i Natters Tide naar Vaaren og Livet gryr?" [What do you expect silence in the night time when spring and life are dawning?] followed by his reason for asking that "Det direr af Kampe saa vid tog vide som Dyr monne møde Dyr." [It vibrates wit
If readers believe that Svend and Iselin do not partake in an amorous bond-social norms would not allow her to do so-then these poetic words are simply sublimated words that soften the blow of their inability to be together. Sublimation reframes the repressed feelings in order to protect the lovers, but in Hamsun's depiction, he allows it to persist in the poetic allusion. Considering that this affection between Svend and Iselin persists throughout the play despite consummation, it comes to life
As a result, Iselin resolves the confusion caused by the seeming inconsistency in her characterization. Only through the lens of sublimation and the view of love between her and Svend can one perceive in the possibility that she is the same Iselin in Pan. Her depiction in Pan becomes the mythological version of her desired being in Munken Vendt. As Didrik witnesses a change in her being toward the end of the play, she transforms in her being by giving into her restlessness and reflecting on her
With this assessment, I resolve the tension that sometimes presents itself in academic articles, and in doing so, I finally attempt to solve the case I was given years ago. Unfortunately, I also had no idea that I had to resolve this particular case, the incongruency between Iselin's character in Pan and Iselin's character in Munken Vendt. I thought I had to explore other cases, but this is in fact the case that I was given years ago in a dream with the shoes. Like many cases involving literary
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Chapter 8 Making the Impossible Happen
Illustration: Little Spring Bouquet
Illustration: Tree in Fog
Illustration: Teacup
When we love something, we mythologize it. We soften its weaknesses and eliminate its deficiencies. We highlight its beauty. Its gaze over us blinds our vision when we create an artifact to construct a concrete version of it. Yet, the result is the same
nothing ever truly captures our desire or experience of it. Due to this failure of image and words, we persist to capture and recapture precisely because it sustains our bond to it.
Lisa Yamasaki
"The Real is not a specifiable object endowed with laws of movement on its own, but, on the contrary, something that only exists and shows itself through its disruptive effects within the Symbolic." (Ernesto Laclau as quoted in Caleb Cates, M. Lane Bruner, and Joseph T. Moss III 2018, 152)
During a recent presentation on Norwegian authors, I was asked a question about the way that I became involved with Nordic authors and culture as opposed to the content in my presentation. Initially, I offered the answer in one word, as this phenomenon motivated me to continue reading, translating, contacting senior scholars on the topic, and researching perspectives during the time period in order to inform my writing. Despite having done all this work to provide the best foundation for my rese
My previous investigation on a video game series was successful, and one of its themes was based on the premise where a particularly sweet-tasting dessert was proven to be a lie. In this story, the dessert was the incentive for players to continue playing the game, and I had written about the dessert as a means of disguising the desire for death. Such darkness surrounded that inquiry, yet my analysis also predicted the façade of my ease in it or any initial promises of future success that I woul
In the process of reading a collection of Norwegian folktales, I find John Bierhorst's Black Rainbow: Legends of the Incas and Myths of Ancient Peru, a book on Peruvian legends, and in particular, one legend, "The Llama Herder and The Daughter of the Sun," interests me though not for its account of ill-fated love. Still, its intriguing tale warrants a description of its details. Romantic in nature, the legend chronicles a daughter of the sun who meets a llama herder and falls in love with him, a
Since legends and myths possess an element of historical value, they are part of a culture's distinctive beliefs and customs. While not everyone from a particular culture adheres to the same beliefs, the legends, myths, and fairytales provide additional insights to others to better understand the culture at hand. Even in the omission of a particular character, one gains the understanding that the legend explains for the existence of a particular mountain range, so any other outlying detail outsi
I once believed that when one experiences a profound feeling or event, one then tells and retells the story, creating a myth about the experience until the storyteller's own understanding of the event or feeling changes. Some details become embellished, while others dim in significance. Nonetheless, the storyteller accepts this mythologized version, consciously or not. These minor omissions, however, suggest that any further telling of the minor details, such as the whereabouts of the younger si
So, when I was asked how I started my work in Nordic literature, I had to quickly develop an accurate account of the main events that formed my decision to abandon my other research and engage in research on nineteenth century Norwegian literature. While the other panelists did not have any questions about my work, they expressed interest about my path into Nordic studies without any regard to the work I had done previously. Upon reflection of this story, I recount the following myth based on re
When accepting entry into my doctoral program, I went into a well-known public research university with the specific goal to establish a new educational philosophy that focuses on the teacher-student intersubjectivity phenomenon. Such an investigation entailed looking into the teacher's subjectivity as well as the student's subjectivity, and I needed to gain more expertise into psychoanalytic ideas and further elaborate my knowledge in this area. Consequently, I learned that such an abstract and
So far, this story sounds like a typical demystifying process of acclimating into the academic world from a master's program onto a doctoral program, where much emphasis is placed on strategy and foresight. Yet, I offset this plan by accidentally responding to an email.
After my data collection resulted in data analysis for my first investigation, I received an email to being a teaching assistant for academic writing classes in a literature department. Since I did take some classes in writing pedagogy, I had the qualifications to teach the class, though I was a bit unfamiliar with the literature. On a whim, I responded to it and submitted my resume and qualifications. Though I was not hired that summer, I did get an email asking about my interest during early f
While I edited the analysis of my investigation on a video game, I absorbed the information in the classes I taught. Though I was only meant to be a hire for the fall quarter, I was asked to continue onto the following quarter and then to finish the year. Some of the students from external departments, like myself, moved on from their assignment and graduated. During my second year as a teaching assistant, I was finalizing my analysis from my investigation and had a feeling that it would be my l
But one day in 2015, I sat with my co-teaching assistants and smiled at ease, as I took notes on the lecture on Knut Hamsun's Hunger. Oh goodness, this book again, I thought to myself. This book just chronicles one starving artist's inability to write and love with a minimal plot. I just have to push past this book and anticipate the next book in this class. I looked at the presentation slide with a picture of young Hamsun with a monocle. He smiled at everyone in the audience, as if he were plea
I was supposed to read Hunger and then move on and apply to other jobs. But once I found his short novel, Victoria, I could not move onto my plans. I spent the spring reading a list of books that would eventually form the reading list for my summer class that I taught as the instructor.
Eventually, I did graduate with my doctorate. The plan was to turn that first investigation into a formal report and attain other positions where I would work with a mentor on other investigations similar in nature-investigating the video game narratives in other games. But in my plans to execute that goal, I wrote the supplementary material without any foresight into the way that the opportunities might enhance my future. Nonetheless, my proposals were adequate
I snuck in some more reading of
After the second summer of teaching, I had a moment-changing conversation with a new mentor who showed genuine sympathy and compassion. After our conversation, I acknowledged that I had two paths set before me, both meandering with their own dark shrubbery yet separate from one another. They would never meet at a clearing in the distant future. One path revealed the choice to pursue older literature and obtain an adequate level of Norwegian to help me translate the old Dano-Norwegian text, while
I chose life.
Running down that dark meandering path required that I initially feel my way around the trees and thick branches before I analyze. I needed to carefully watch my step. At times, the abundant sunlight showed me ways to prance around different walkways among the line of trees, as the extended days enhanced my vision. In taking this path, I also had to prepare myself in those days where the sun did not come up at all. Instead of giving into fear, I learned to adjust my sight. Though I did sometimes
Thus, this myth explains how the impossible happens: a disruption in the main path supplants that same path for set of numerous possibilities. Instead of focusing on the intended way out of the woods, I uncover the small details, the flowering of a blossom in spring or the charming change in the direction of the sun in autumn. I note its details in writing and in drawing as the combination of the two encapsulate a narrative informed by symbolic significance, distinct imagery, and the enigma of t
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Chapter 9 The Last Dream
Illustration: The Open Door
A woman sees me walking up a long walkway to a dark house. The air is chilly, like that time when I was in Norway. I zip up my jacket to better contain my body heat. The house is two-story with light trimming and a high pointed roof, like the ones I used to draw as a kid.
The door opens without having me turn the doorknob. A light comes in, as I walk inside the house and accompanies me as I approach a woman who stands in the middle of the living room and greets me warmly. It's the same woman from that first dream, only now she smiles as me as a welcomed guest. This time her hair is pulled up in a loose bun, and she wears a long dark dress.
I look around and see that the kitchen is tidy and clean but hot as if the oven had been turned on. A tea kettle rests on the stove, and I do not notice whether steam rises from it. Still, the woman brings a cup to me. Though I should be cautious-a woman brings me a cup of a liquid whose contents I am not aware of. I take a sip-hmm, chamomile.
As it is always the case with older nineteenth century people, she looks at my face and hair and remarks how lovely it is. How the future holds such eccentric people yet so familiar to us at the same time. She says it, and it aptly defines the look on the faces from people in the past. Before the automobile, people traveled less frequently and did not get a chance to relocate as compared to now. For the past couple of generations, my family moved to different countries, carrying their last names
I wander upstairs and look at the simple décor, just a few paintings in the hallway. A few small bedrooms and a bathroom. There is a small window at the end of the hallway, and the sun casts its light onto that space on the landing. Though there is no furniture there yet, I imagine how it would be perfect for a reading nook. I feel myself pulling away from this house, as the light forces me to open my eyes.
No, not yet.
I walk downstairs and find the woman still waiting for me. Is this dream somehow more meaningful as it refuses to shift and change until I get its intention?
I hand her my cup that I have finished. After putting it aside on the kitchen counter, she grabs my hands and firmly grasps them. Though I might be frightened in usual situations where this would normally arise, I am not in this particular meeting.
"I know he would have wanted you to stay here to work on the book," she tells me. "Had he lived long enough to see you. I will give you the key for whenever you are ready to come here and work. This place is yours. It doesn't have to be today or tomorrow, but whenever you are ready and find work here, you have a place to stay. He would have wanted it to be that way."
I do not ask her to whom she refers. We both know. She says something else that alarms me yet validates the other dreams I have had as truth-it is the only way that all those dreams in the succession that they occurred make sense. She nods as a gesture indicating for me to accept her words, as I feel tears stream down my face. I do not know why I cry, but it might have to do with the fact that I want to believe in what she says. I feel the immense sunlight fill the room, and I open my eyes to fi
Within a few months, I decide to pause my teaching. With the exception of a few students, the most claim that their minds fogged up when reading the older literature. They could see the words just fine, but when they would try to understand them they could only see the literature in context to recent iterations of similar storylines and characters. They would not see the names of the characters nor the storylines in the nineteenth century context, but rather the settings within an Americanized c
I believe that analysts are selected by their objects of study, and not the other way around. If I am to understand the works of these writers, I constantly navigate between my known American world to that of the Norwegian past. When I say, "Unnskyld," as a way to pardon any interruption or disruption as to the flow of events, the corresponding meaning of the sound of that word in English do not escape me. It comes up when I seek to excuse my obstinance for defending the ghosts. "Un" and "shield
The best way to defend what one loves is to not speak of it. When people now ask me what I am passionate about, I always say "Norwegian literature" but do not qualify which authors I read the most. Americans generally do not ask for further details
they simply nod and smile. I do not tell them that this literature moves me to forget my previous preoccupations with ideas that I thought would give me a favorable reputation as an academic. I leave aside that old document where I had once written m
I only have time to focus on the present, though the present consists of going back into the past. I protect the past and remain in my armor, but I am slightly bothered that I do not know where this preoccupation leads me. I wish I could say that it would take me to Norway, the way I once thought back in 2019. Though I will find my way back, I do not know whether I should worry about the path, but more so how I know what skills will best suit what I am becoming. I feel a heaviness, either due to
For now, I remain open, yet standing guard at the particular clearing in the woods, not the deep heavily forested area, but more like a forest within a city.
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Endnotes
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Index
Decadence in Nordic Literature-7-10
A
Deleuze, Gilles-13-14
The Alchemist-67
Derrida, Jacques-69-70, 75-76
Arntzen, Even-29, 34, 42, 126
Desublimation-96, 98-99, 123
Diderik (Pan)-38-40, 42-43
B
Didrik (Munken Vendt)-125, 127-130, 133-135, 137, 139
Barthes, Roland-72-74, 76
Dolar, Mladen-61-62
Bierhorst, John-144
Dream-1-9, 12, 17-18, 20-22, 24, 37, 52, 54, 59, 61-63, 68-69, 72, 74-76, 87, 112, 124, 126-127, 139, 144-145, 150, 153-155,
Bigelow, Benjamin--41
Bjørby, Pål-31
Blind fairy (also see Lyktemann's daughter)-47, 54-60, 63-64, 103-105
E
Boasson, Frode Lerum-31-32, 41
Bowers, Susan R.-111-112
Elbek, Jørgen--64
Bramble, John-8
Buvik, Per-95, 102-103, 110
F
Buttry, Dolores-34, 42, 44, 54, 83, 125-126, 130-131
Fairytale-40-41, 47-48, 50, 52-64, 144-145
C
Faivre, Antoine-31
Fantasy-29-30, 38-40, 43, 51-52, 55, 61
Caruth, Cathy-75
Christiansen, Reidar--49
Freud, Sigmund -1,4-6, 32, 35, 43, 48, 69, 74-75, 84, 100-101, 111, 119
Coelho, Paulo-67
Copjec, Joan-38-39, 96
Fuchs, Elinor-99-100
Columban, Alexandra--44
G
D
The gaze (Lacanian)- 84, 116-119
Dagny-47-50, 52-55, 58-62, 64, 73, 81
Ghost-12-13, 15, 63, 69-70, 76-77, 97, 155, (see specter)
Das Ding/The Thing-33, 35, 124
Glahn-23, 32, 37-39, 42-43, 46-56, 50-52, 60-65,68, 70, 99, 150, 152, 154, 156, 160
Davis, Colin-70, 76
Decadence-7-10,
J
Gordon, Avery F.-12-13
Jagodzinski, Jan-119
H
Johannes-29, 31, 37-43, 47, 61, 81
Jouissance-62, 96, 98, 123
Hamlet-69, 75
Hamsun, Knut-1-9, 15, 22-24, 29-31, 33-34, 41-42, 81, 86-88, 105, 123, 125, 129, 138-139, 147-148
K
Kittang, Alte-51-52, 54, 60, 63
"Dronningen av Saba"-82-89, 110, 118, 120
Kolloen, Ingar Sletten-54-55
Kronberg, Julius-83-88, 104-105, 109, 118-120
Munken Vendt (the play)-29, 34, 42, 123, 125-139
Krouk, Dean-23
Mysterier-47-52, 53-65, 73-74, 76, 83, 126
Kruszelnicki, Michal-64
Pan-17, 24, 29-40, 44, 47, 54-55, 64, 67, 123-124, 126-129, 132, 134, 139-140, 148
L
Lacan, Jacques-19-22, 32-35, 38, 44-45, 53, 75, 84, 96, 116-117, 119-120, 123, 130-131, 155
"Unconscious Life of the Mind"-1-4
Victoria-29-30, 37-44, 61, 67, 120, 125-127, 134, 148
"Field and Function"-35
Seminar on Fundamental Ideas-53, 116-117, 119,
Hansson, Ola-9-11
Seminar on Ethics-32-35, 44-45
Helland, Frode-95, 102, 110
"Seminar of Purloined Letter"-19-20
Huldre-49, 53, 70
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens-109, 113-114, 118-119
Libidinal drive-38-39, 61, 104
Libidinal energy-30, 32, 37-38, 44, 57, 84
L'Amour Captif de la Jeunesse-109, 113
Libidinal impulses-30, 32, 39, 41,163 (footnote)
Allegory of Flattery-114, 118-119
Llama Herder and the Daughter of the Sun-144-145
I
Loewald, Hans W.-48
Ibsen, Henrik-15, 82, 94-97, 99-100, 102, 104, 109-110, 114, 124
Lunde, Arne-31
Lyktemann-54, 56, 61, 63-64
Når Vi Døde Vågner-82, 94-104, 110
Lyktemann's daughter (see Blind fairy)-- 54-60, 63-64, 103-105
Iselin (Munken Vendt)-29-30, 42, 125, 127-139
M
Iselin (Pan)-29-30, 32-45, 47-48, 56-57, 81, 96, 103-105, 124-129, 139
McFarlane, James W. -6, 23
Medusa-110-113, 116, 119
Miller, Arthur A.--112
Q
Mimesis-91
Minutten-61-65
Queen of Sheba (biblical)-83-85
Modernism-1, 6, 8, 20, 29, 31-32
Modernism and the Occult-8
R
Munken Vendt (the character)-29, 38, 42, 126-127, 131-132, 134, 138-139
The Real-21, 117, 119-120, 130-134, 138-139, 143, 155-156
Myth (in Barthes)-72-74, 174
Rees, Ellen-83
Myth-44, 47-49, 53-55, 57-61, 64-65, 70, 83-84, 88, 104, 111-112, 120, 124, 126, 134, 144-146, 150
Reinert, Otto-91-92
Repression-6, 24, 32, 48, 92, 100-101, 168 (endnote)
Mythology-11, 31, 33, 43-44, 48-49, 52-54, 57, 59, 74, 81-83, 88, 91, 97, 125-126, 139
S
Signifiers-20-21, 32, 35-36, 39, 43, 53, 73-74, 116, 124
N
Sjåvik, Jan-43
Nagel-47-65, 73-74, 81, 83
Specters (also see ghosts)-69-70, 76
Narcissism-48
Specters of Marx-69-70, 76
Nature-3, 6, 8-9, 17, 22, 29-39, 41-45, 47, 47, 49-52, 54-55, 59, 64, 90, 102, 124-125, 127-128
Split (psychoanalytic)-35, 53, 60, 62, 117
Spoo, Robert-91, 95, 100-101
Nettum, Rolf, N.--64
Sublimation-xiii, 12, 15, 30, 32-33, 38-39, 44-45, 47-49, 53, 60, 81-84, 88, 92, 95-97, 99, 101-102, 104-105, 110, 114, 119-120, 123, 125, 138-139, 150
Nietzsche, Fredrick-8, 11
Nineteenth Century Realism-6
Nordic Orientalism-84, 86
Norseng, Mary Kay-89
Nyromantikken-6
Svend Herlufsen-125-129, 131-139
Nærup, Carl-5, 89
Symbols-21-22, 30, 55-56, 65-66, 73-74, 80, 142, 144, 146
Næss, Harald-6-7
The Symbolic-20-21, 119, 143, 155
O
T
Obstfelder, Sigbjørn-15, 82, 89, 92, 109, 118, 124
Todorov, Tzvetan-12, 77
Korset-82, 89-94, 104, 118
The Fantastic--12
Oxfeldt, Elisabeth-84-86, 109, 118-119
U
P
Uncanny-1, 6, 61, 63, 101,
Proust, Marcel-13-14
V
Victoria (the character)-29, 37-38, 41-43, 61
Vitalism-32, 41-42, 44, 57, 163 (endnote)
Von Schnurbein, Stefanie-35, 42-43
W
Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew-76-77
Wicklund, Beret-103, 114
Women's independence-7
Wolfreys, Julian-77
Wærp, Henning Howlid-22, 33, 52
Z
Zagar, Monika-22-23, 30
Zupançiç, Alenka-96, 99, 123-125, 130-132, 134, 136-137, 139
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