Ingeborg Refling Hagens ekspresjonisme: Loke saar havre (1922) og Fostersverdet (1928) lest som politisk litteratur

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on two of Ingeborg Refling Hagen’s early works: Loke saar havre (1922) and Fostersverdet (1928). In 1995 Vigdis Ystad proposed that Refling Hagens early works could be labelled as “Expressionism”, despite Norway’s cautious history of applying this term to our literature. Refling Hagen’s 1920s literature was at the time known for being strange and difficult to read and understand, but despite her authorship being acknowledged as something original in Norway’s literary history, very little research has been done to try to understand her works. In this study I test Ystads hypothesis. I collect what Norwegian literary researchers have qualified as Expressionistic in other Norwegian texts, both aesthetic features and what ideas lie behind, as well as what international research has theorized about the term. Using the literary features and devices comprising existing expressionist literature, I attempt to decipher and analyse these two strange novels to expand our current understanding of their contents. The authorship and these books are highly relevant research objects for investigation in the field of Norwegian literary expressionism, which is at current, a mostly unexplored terrain. Ystad (1995) has suggested that these books could potentially change the our impression of pre-World War 2 literature in Norway. This paper will hopefully contribute in putting Refling Hagen on the academic map as well as bring nuance to the image so often painted of Norwegian literature before the 2nd World War: a landscape almost entirely made up of Realism. This dissertation reveals that Expressionism is a highly useful term in understanding Refling Hagens early literature. Refling Hagen’s Expressionism is reflected not only through the aesthetic, but through a continuing search for profound truths about humanity and our society, heavily leaning on her political values. I find that Loke saar havre through a tapestry of expressive images, thematises the battle between good and evil within us, how creating unjust systems and societies, and treating outcasts as animals, not only causes immense spiritual damage to the individual, but also in effect to society itself, to our common future. I find that Fostersverdet purposefully and masterfully use Expressionistic devices to disguise Refling Hagen’s early warnings and fear about the rise of fascism as an ideology in Europe. In this regard this dissertation highlights not only an Expressionistic authorship and Expressionism as a political device, but also a glaring hole in research on Norwegian literature opposing the development in Europe in the 1920s.