On a tear

I started the day with a library run. On more or less a whim I picked up a recent collection of articles on Welhaven, and I found the perfect jumping off point for my little polemic on Norwegian Romanticism, an article by Eirik Vassenden called something like "Welhaven og den andre romantikken." He does a great job of presenting the perfect evidence for my claim, and then turns around and essentially argues the exact opposite. So strange!

At any rate, it really got me going, and I wrote quite a bit in response, and also did some digging in the literary histories. I checked out Edda's editorial policies, and noticed that they also have a shorter category of article that the publish that the designate as debate contributions. I'm wondering if I perhaps should aim for that format?

WORDS WRITTEN: 923

Progress, of sorts

I finished off reading the introductory chapters to the books by Nemoianu and Aarseth that more or less form the core of the analysis I'm trying to make of Norwegian literature 1814-1848 in relation to Biedermeier. I still feel on very shaky ground, but a few things fell into place while writing today, and a rudimentary article form is starting to materialize in the roughly five pages I have now. Did I mention that I'm writing it in Norwegian? Always a challenge, though easier and easier the more I live and work here. I was not as convinced today that I really have something to say about this "problem," which yesterday seemed so blindingly important, obvious, and overlooked. I had a critical voice droning on in my head almost the whole time I wrote today. I hate that, but sometimes it does keep one from making really big bloopers.

WORDS WRITTEN: 1226

Raptus

Today was a weird day. After critiquing a colleague's article draft I settled down to reading background material for chapter two. I had a total aha experience from reading the introductory chapter to Virgil Nemoianu's  The Taming of Romanticism: European Literature and the Age of Biedermeier (1984). The book presents a two-stage understanding of romanticism that the author divides into high romanticism (roughly 1790-1815) and the watered-down (or more rational, depending on your point of view) Biedermeier (roughly 1815-1848). This makes total sense to me, and I am really enjoying reading his comparative study, which argues that the specifically German term "Biedermeier" makes sense in other literary contexts as well. He doesn't mention Scandinavia (at least not as far as I can tell so far), but much of what he says applies directly to what I'm working on.  


It struck me that Biedermeier really is a term that could shed new light on that backwater in Norwegian literature. I'm really stoked about pursuing this further, and banged out a little over a page that I think may turn into a new article. The current working title is "Romantikk, poetisk realisme, Biedermeier: 1814-1848 som norsk litteraturhistorisk problem." I'm really excited about this! At first I was thinking that I could some how integrate it into chapter two, but it really is a different (though tangentially related) subject.


So no writing on the chapter, but I got a lot of relevant reading done and apparently have started a new project...


WORDS WRITTEN: 625

Romantic

This morning I was able to wallow in potential texts for inclusion in chapter two. Which is to say I downloaded searchable  PDFs of first editions of important early nineteenth-century poetry collections and other works, and poked around for references to cabins. Rather unexpectedly, I was reminded of a Wergeland text that I taught last year, "Endelig slaaer ogsaa min Klokke" from Hassel-Nødder, which gives a wonderful account of Wergeland's search for a cabin to buy. It fits perfectly with his play Fjeldstuen, which is the key Wergeland text in this chapter. I added a section on that, and I also added a little bit to the section on Herre. During a break with a colleague I was able to talk the Wergeland bit over, and was reminded of the term Biedermeier, which is big in Danish romanticism but not Norwegian. I'm now wondering if it applies to Wergeland in any meaningful way.

Finally, I also made a library run and got a bunch of articles on Romanticism and the authors I'm working on. I read an article by Henning Wærp on ruins, an article on Scandinavian romantic drama, an article on the nineteenth-century critical reception of Maurits Hansen, and an article on Bernhard Herre's position in the Norwegian canon. Next up is what I think will be a very important secondary source, namely Odd Arvid Storsveen's article on Wergeland's views on class: "Håpet om folkets oppvåkning: Fra For Almuen til For Arbeiderklassen." I'm particularly excited to read that one.

After today's session, I'm thinking that I may actually have enough primary texts, now that I've added Hassel-Nødder. My guess is that all the contextualization that I'm getting from the secondary sources will easily fill the rest of the chapter.

WORDS WRITTEN: 680

Yes!

I'm in shock! I woke up this morning early feeling obligated to push a little further on the Herre section of chapter two. I started working my way through the last of the three narratives I'm going to discuss, "Skogene," and as I started writing about it things quickly started to fall into place. I took a break and took a shower, and as so often happens I had a moment of clarity where I was suddenly able to see the conceptual differences between the shielings I wrote about in chapter one and the cabins I'm writing about in chapter two. Suddenly it all makes sense. I sat back down and wrote out the beginnings of a conclusion to chapter two where I try to sum up these important conceptual differences. I'm so excited! I'm also excited about the fact that through the course of all this I produced a bunch more text, and am now on page 25.

Next up is to read the scant secondary literature on Herre and look at the poetry that I mentioned in my previous post. That can wait until Monday. For now my work here is done, and it's only 9am!

WORDS WRITTEN: 1076

Friday the 13th

Today I had about six hours of work time to divide between some administrative work, a job application letter, and chapter two. Contrary to my usual practice of doing research first, I did the administrative stuff first, then the job letter, and left the writing to last. It worked out okay, though I was pretty uninspired about writing initially. Or rather, it's not so much that I was uninspired as out of practice. Once I got going it went okay, though nothing stellar. I started filling out the section on Bernhard Herre's En Jægers Erindringer, which turns out to be a little pearl of a book. Three of the stories directly link class and cabins. The secondary literature says that they were pretty heavily redacted by Welhaven and Asbjørnsen before publication, which really makes me want to go to the National Library and take a look at the original manuscripts, if they're there. I'll try to do that Thursday or Friday next week.

I still feel like I'm missing a text for the chapter. I'm thinking that there are two areas I can look: one is more of the early material to fill in around Storm. My old master list of cabin texts includes a Poul Juel book from 1721 (already in the introductory section of this chapter), two poems by Johan Nordahl Brun ("Den norske Agerdyrkning" and "Den gamle Nordmand eller Gjenlyd fra Norge &c."), and a poem by Claus Frimann called "Jetersang" (1790). The other option is the poetry and travel writing of J.S. Welhaven.

WORDS WRITTEN: 717

Burst

My son wet the bed at 4am, which turned out to be a great thing. I spent last night reading articles, and so when I was jolted out of sleep at dawn my head was filled with my chapter, and I started fretting over what's wrong with chapter two. Rather than toss and turn, I got up and decided to start writing. Two hours later I have nearly two pages of material that totally clarifies how I need to focus this chapter. I'm thrilled. Thank goodness for bed-wetting episodes, otherwise I'd never be able to write!

WORDS WRITTEN (before 7am): 527

ETA: crazy day. Didn't get much time to work on the article, but I passed the magical half-way point for word count: 6041 words.