I finally saw Trollhunter, the Norwegian monster mockumentary notable for having achieved some box office success last summer in the U.S. (at least here in Seattle). Trolls, the terrifyingly mishapen griants out of Norse mythology, are real; the Norwegian government, like the American government in the Xfiles, conspiratorially keeps this secret from the public. Occassionally, the monsters stray from their remote wilderness territories, threatening human and animal life. It then falls to Hans (Otto Jespersen), the government's designated troll hunter, to track down and exterminate them--humanely, if possible, but above all discretely. Under no circumstances are the people to discover the truth, that trolls are real. Human fatalities of troll attacks are blamed on bears. But, disgruntled by the thankless task of "troll management," Hans permits three determined college students to observe and film him at work. After all, the people "have the right to know."
Though I found Trollhunter a satisfying blend of horror, humor, science fiction and satire, it left me slightly disappointed. The word-of-mouth recommendations I received were all glowing. I let my expectations get high. It's a good movie--unpretentious, funny and fun. Early on, it achieves genuine suspense. It just didn't live up what I wanted to see.
Sadly, an American remake of Trollhunter is already in production. Americans are a parochial people. Like baby birds, we need our cinematic fare chewed up and regurgitated for us: Americanized. Scandinavians watch Holywood movies all the time.They don't require, as we seem to require, their own specially-tailored versions of even the pulpiest of motion pictures. What's the matter with us?
I predict the American Trollhunter will
(1) have twenty times and budget of,
(2) and be less than half as good as the original.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Utoya Massacre Update
Confessed mass murderer Anders Breivik, self-described "military commander in the Norwegian resistance movement and Knight Templar Norway," had his first public court hearing in Oslo on Monday. "I acknowledge the acts, but I do not plead guilty," he said, adding that the court had no legitimacy because it was sanctioned by multiculturalism, "a hateful ideology that aims to destroy Norwegian society." The judge remanded his custody through early February. Breivik's lawyer, Geir Lippestad, has asked that his client be freed. He must also be insane.
Brievik requested permission to address the relatives of his victims, who had been permitted in the courtroom with him for the first time. What might he possibly have said to the mothers and fathers of the children he slaughtered? The judge denied Brievik's request, and ruled that he is to remain in solitary confinement. He will be allowed access to newspapers and visitors next month. His "sadistic torture" continues.
Breivik's trial is tentatively scheduled to begin in April. Before then, the courtroom will be restructured to double its current capacity, and include a press center for the hundreds of journalists expected to be covering the trial. Breivik faces up to twenty one years in prison. That's not a typo. It's not a sick joke. The man who murdered 77 people, most of them teenagers, in a record three hour killing spree last June, could be a free man under Norwegian law by the time he reaches his mid fifties. If additionally charged under "crimes against humanity" he could be out by his early sixties.
I can't honestly imagine that, law or no law, Anders Brievik will ever walk free. Some loophole, even in liberal, rights' vigilant Norway, surely will be found to keep him locked up in a cage forever. In a perverse way, it's unfortunate. If by some miracle he ever was released, vigilante justice presumably will quickly, finally, end his life. But I believe he'll spend the rest of his existence confined within and provided for by the very maternalistic state that he railed against.
Maybe that was his deepest intention of his apocalyptic rampage. To crawl back into the symbolic womb of the state.
Brievik requested permission to address the relatives of his victims, who had been permitted in the courtroom with him for the first time. What might he possibly have said to the mothers and fathers of the children he slaughtered? The judge denied Brievik's request, and ruled that he is to remain in solitary confinement. He will be allowed access to newspapers and visitors next month. His "sadistic torture" continues.
Breivik's trial is tentatively scheduled to begin in April. Before then, the courtroom will be restructured to double its current capacity, and include a press center for the hundreds of journalists expected to be covering the trial. Breivik faces up to twenty one years in prison. That's not a typo. It's not a sick joke. The man who murdered 77 people, most of them teenagers, in a record three hour killing spree last June, could be a free man under Norwegian law by the time he reaches his mid fifties. If additionally charged under "crimes against humanity" he could be out by his early sixties.
I can't honestly imagine that, law or no law, Anders Brievik will ever walk free. Some loophole, even in liberal, rights' vigilant Norway, surely will be found to keep him locked up in a cage forever. In a perverse way, it's unfortunate. If by some miracle he ever was released, vigilante justice presumably will quickly, finally, end his life. But I believe he'll spend the rest of his existence confined within and provided for by the very maternalistic state that he railed against.
Maybe that was his deepest intention of his apocalyptic rampage. To crawl back into the symbolic womb of the state.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Axel Axgil
Axel Axgil, the gay rights activist instrumental in making Denmark the first country in the world to legalize same sex marriage (1989), has died. He was 96.
Originally named Axel Lundahl-Madsen, he and his partner, Eigil Eskildsen, defiantly amalgamized their first names into the shared last name of "Axgil." They were in prison for distributing pornography at the time.
In 1948, Axel organized "the Association," one of the earliest gay rights groups, upon being terminated from his job for being a homosexual. Forty one years later, he and Eigil were the first gay couple to be legally married in European and, I presume, modern world history.
Originally named Axel Lundahl-Madsen, he and his partner, Eigil Eskildsen, defiantly amalgamized their first names into the shared last name of "Axgil." They were in prison for distributing pornography at the time.
In 1948, Axel organized "the Association," one of the earliest gay rights groups, upon being terminated from his job for being a homosexual. Forty one years later, he and Eigil were the first gay couple to be legally married in European and, I presume, modern world history.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Nordic 9/11
The government buildings that were ripped open in last July's bombing are still cordoned in Oslo. Nearby Utoya, the island where the bomber then slaughtered scores of children, remains riddled with hundreds of hollow point bullet holes. The scars of a devastating terrorist attack are fresh on the Norwegian landscape.
They're also fresh on the Norwegian national psyche. "We haven't got to the stage where people have gotten mad yet," said Norway's king Harald in a rare interview. "I think we'll go through that as well. That has to come and go before we finish with this. And we have to let that happen."
According to the New York Times, King Harald is widely percieved by his nominal subjects to have performed adaquately in the aftermath of the attack, giving a moving speech on television, and weeping at the national memorial service for the 77 victims Norway's homegrown, right wing Christian terrorist.
His Majesty referred to the attack, predictably, as Norway's 9/11.
King Harald, the first native born Norwegian king since the 14th century, is scheduled to arrive in these United States later this year, with his wife, Queen Sonja. The royal couple will visit Manhattan's ground zero for a second time, before heading off to Minnesota to address the American Scandinavian Foundation.
They're also fresh on the Norwegian national psyche. "We haven't got to the stage where people have gotten mad yet," said Norway's king Harald in a rare interview. "I think we'll go through that as well. That has to come and go before we finish with this. And we have to let that happen."
According to the New York Times, King Harald is widely percieved by his nominal subjects to have performed adaquately in the aftermath of the attack, giving a moving speech on television, and weeping at the national memorial service for the 77 victims Norway's homegrown, right wing Christian terrorist.
His Majesty referred to the attack, predictably, as Norway's 9/11.
King Harald, the first native born Norwegian king since the 14th century, is scheduled to arrive in these United States later this year, with his wife, Queen Sonja. The royal couple will visit Manhattan's ground zero for a second time, before heading off to Minnesota to address the American Scandinavian Foundation.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Swede Wins Swedish Prize
Swedish Poet Tomas Transtromer, 80, whose work "explores themes of isolation, emotion and identity while remaining rooted in the commonplace," according to the New York Times, has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. I'd never heard of him.
Here's one of his poems, "The Couple," also courtesy of the Times.
They switch off the light and its white shade
glimmers for a moment before dissolving
like a tablet in a glass of darkness. Then up.
The hotel walls rise into the black sky.
The movements of love have settled, and they sleep
but their most secret thoughts meet as when
two colors meet and flow into each other
on the wet paper of a schoolboy’s painting.
It is dark and silent. But the town has pulled closer
tonight. With quenched windows. The houses have approached.
They stand close up in a throng, waiting,
a crowd whose faces have no expressions.
Here's one of his poems, "The Couple," also courtesy of the Times.
They switch off the light and its white shade
glimmers for a moment before dissolving
like a tablet in a glass of darkness. Then up.
The hotel walls rise into the black sky.
The movements of love have settled, and they sleep
but their most secret thoughts meet as when
two colors meet and flow into each other
on the wet paper of a schoolboy’s painting.
It is dark and silent. But the town has pulled closer
tonight. With quenched windows. The houses have approached.
They stand close up in a throng, waiting,
a crowd whose faces have no expressions.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Nansen
"I am an enigma to myself," wrote Fridtjof Nansen. After devoting months to reading about him, thinking about him, he remains an enigma to me. A year ago I hadn't heard of Nansen. That fact alone now astonishes me. How is it possible? This much I do know about Nansen: his name needs be known by everyone of Scandinavian ancestry; it deserves to be remembered by everybody.
My job is to convince you. To that end, I have before me a sheaf of notes from various sources, more pages than I care to count, many of them typed and amended. I have educated myself in the history and techniques of polar exploration, the histories of neuroscience and oceanography, the independence of Norway, and post-Great War diplomacy and humanitarianism--the diverse areas in which Nansen left enormous contributions. I have read two biographies of the man. I have read one book by him: Farthest North, his account of the unsuccessful effort to be the first man to the North Pole. I have also perused general histories of Arctic exploration, in all of which Nansen inevitably features prominently. I have reread all the chapters of my several general Scandinavian histories in which his name appears.
But I still can't seen to scale his heights, plumb his depths, or circumnavigate the range of his achievements.
But I retain a shred of hope, as usual, from synchronicity. Last Wednesday, I hiked along a stretch of Puget Sound shoreline with a friend. A bright, blustery cold day turned dark as the sun sunk behind the Olympic mountain range--a superior spectacle to most movies, and free. We visited the massive statue of Leif Ericson which, thanks to the Nordic Heritage Center, stands guard over a harbor full of creaky yachts in north Seattle. But even in the shadow of Leif, it was Fridtjof Nansen who I couldn't shut up about. What he did and what he didn't, and how, and why-- and what a fit I was working myself into by my inability to summarize him, or even formulate a good plan for describing him. I must have tested my companion's patience with my ranting. I can only hope he wasn't listening.
Later, we re-routed to his office, to wait out the southbound traffic and continue our conversation, which had mercifully turned to other subjects. I excused myself to the shitter, grabbed a magazine at random from the several that were available--Outside, as it happened-- opened to a page at random, and met immeidately with an article commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen's conquest of the South Pole (1911). Brief and breezy though it was, the article mentioned Amundsen's mentor, Fridtjof Nansen.
The gods, it seems, won't let my thoughts stray far.
***
Roald Amundsen, by the way, was also once a candidate for the Scandinavian 81. I consider him now a longshot, an honorable also-ran, impressive though his achievements were in every way. He has been overlooked, as the article claimed, in the English speaking world, because he of his British rival, Robert F. Scott. The two of them raced, with their teams, to be the first man to set foot on the South Pole. Amundsen and the Norwegians won by over a month. Scot arrived at the Pole to find a Norwegian flag planted triumphantly in the ice. Scott and his men had little time to regret their defeat--they all froze and starved to death on the return trip. They lost the race, and their lives. But Scott left a journal of the futile expedition. It was discovered with his body, and when published made him a national hero, a martyr to British imperialism, and the focus of national adulation.
Maybe it better for Scott to have died. While one Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, was destroying his dream to be the first man to the South Pole, another, the famous Fridtjof Nansen, was having an affair with his wife. Never in history can an Englishman have been more thoroughly ill-used by the sons of Norway! At least he was spared ever having to learn about it.
My job is to convince you. To that end, I have before me a sheaf of notes from various sources, more pages than I care to count, many of them typed and amended. I have educated myself in the history and techniques of polar exploration, the histories of neuroscience and oceanography, the independence of Norway, and post-Great War diplomacy and humanitarianism--the diverse areas in which Nansen left enormous contributions. I have read two biographies of the man. I have read one book by him: Farthest North, his account of the unsuccessful effort to be the first man to the North Pole. I have also perused general histories of Arctic exploration, in all of which Nansen inevitably features prominently. I have reread all the chapters of my several general Scandinavian histories in which his name appears.
But I still can't seen to scale his heights, plumb his depths, or circumnavigate the range of his achievements.
But I retain a shred of hope, as usual, from synchronicity. Last Wednesday, I hiked along a stretch of Puget Sound shoreline with a friend. A bright, blustery cold day turned dark as the sun sunk behind the Olympic mountain range--a superior spectacle to most movies, and free. We visited the massive statue of Leif Ericson which, thanks to the Nordic Heritage Center, stands guard over a harbor full of creaky yachts in north Seattle. But even in the shadow of Leif, it was Fridtjof Nansen who I couldn't shut up about. What he did and what he didn't, and how, and why-- and what a fit I was working myself into by my inability to summarize him, or even formulate a good plan for describing him. I must have tested my companion's patience with my ranting. I can only hope he wasn't listening.
Later, we re-routed to his office, to wait out the southbound traffic and continue our conversation, which had mercifully turned to other subjects. I excused myself to the shitter, grabbed a magazine at random from the several that were available--Outside, as it happened-- opened to a page at random, and met immeidately with an article commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen's conquest of the South Pole (1911). Brief and breezy though it was, the article mentioned Amundsen's mentor, Fridtjof Nansen.
The gods, it seems, won't let my thoughts stray far.
***
Roald Amundsen, by the way, was also once a candidate for the Scandinavian 81. I consider him now a longshot, an honorable also-ran, impressive though his achievements were in every way. He has been overlooked, as the article claimed, in the English speaking world, because he of his British rival, Robert F. Scott. The two of them raced, with their teams, to be the first man to set foot on the South Pole. Amundsen and the Norwegians won by over a month. Scot arrived at the Pole to find a Norwegian flag planted triumphantly in the ice. Scott and his men had little time to regret their defeat--they all froze and starved to death on the return trip. They lost the race, and their lives. But Scott left a journal of the futile expedition. It was discovered with his body, and when published made him a national hero, a martyr to British imperialism, and the focus of national adulation.
Maybe it better for Scott to have died. While one Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, was destroying his dream to be the first man to the South Pole, another, the famous Fridtjof Nansen, was having an affair with his wife. Never in history can an Englishman have been more thoroughly ill-used by the sons of Norway! At least he was spared ever having to learn about it.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Danes Elect Dame
Meanwhile, in Norway, support for the far-right, anti-immigrant Progress Party plummeted in local elctions, sinking from second to third in national prominence. The confessed mass murderer, Anders Behring Breivik had been affiliated with the Progress Party for several years. The ruling Norwegian labor party, which had been targeted for extermination by Breivik, attained its best results in over two decades.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Swedish Suicide Bomber
Four people were arrested yesterday in the Swedish city of Goteborg by a task force specializing in terrorist threats. An art center, crowded with the premier of a new exhibit, was evacuated, and a section of the city cordoned off. Authorities have declined to reveal anything about the suspects. Whether the timing has anything to do with the tenth anniversary of 9/11 is unknown. There was no panic reported.
Last December, Sweden suffered its first suicide bombing. Taymour Abdulwahab, a Swedish National of Iraqi descent blew himself up in a popular Stockholm shopping district to protest the Afghan war and the publication of a cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed with a dog's head. Although reportedly wearing a knapsack full of nails, he suceeded in killing no-one but himself. Apparently the bomb went off prematurely. There's a metaphor in there, somewhere.
The cartoonist, Lars Vilk, described as a "free speech activist," has lived in seclusion and under guard since a $100,000 bounty was placed on his head by an Al Qaeda affiliate.
Last December, Sweden suffered its first suicide bombing. Taymour Abdulwahab, a Swedish National of Iraqi descent blew himself up in a popular Stockholm shopping district to protest the Afghan war and the publication of a cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed with a dog's head. Although reportedly wearing a knapsack full of nails, he suceeded in killing no-one but himself. Apparently the bomb went off prematurely. There's a metaphor in there, somewhere.
The cartoonist, Lars Vilk, described as a "free speech activist," has lived in seclusion and under guard since a $100,000 bounty was placed on his head by an Al Qaeda affiliate.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Big-Brained Danes
Scandinavians have the largest brains, says a recent report by Oxford phrenologists. Extra gray matter, along with larger-than-average-eyes, according to their hypothesis, helped Scandinavians to see clearly in the low levels of light at high latitudes. The conclusion was based on a study of 55 human skulls from around the world.
Meanwhile, seven Danes, including a family of five, were released after nine months of captivity in Somalia. A Somali pirate named Hussein claims to have received a $3 million ransom.
The Oxford scientists were quick to point out that larger brain size doesn't necessarily indicate higher intelligence. This would seem to be bourne out by the fact that the newly-freed Danes had been pleasure-boating with their children in the Arabian Sea, a known hunting ground of Somali pirates. How smart is that?
Meanwhile, seven Danes, including a family of five, were released after nine months of captivity in Somalia. A Somali pirate named Hussein claims to have received a $3 million ransom.
The Oxford scientists were quick to point out that larger brain size doesn't necessarily indicate higher intelligence. This would seem to be bourne out by the fact that the newly-freed Danes had been pleasure-boating with their children in the Arabian Sea, a known hunting ground of Somali pirates. How smart is that?
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Utoya Massacre Update
Five hundred family members of the Utoya Massacre victims were permitted to visit the island where their loved ones were gunned down in the worst shooting rampage in human history.
The confessed perpetrator, Anders Brievik has been sitting in solitary confinement for most of the two months since. According to judicial ruling, he could be held in isolation until mid-October, and may have to wait until mid November before being permitted visitors and correspondence with the outside world. He is being kept in isolation to prevent contact with possible accomplices, and to prevent him from tampering with evidence. Brievik has complained that this treatment is "sadistic torture." One wonders when in where in history he would have preferred prison to 21st century Norway?
Norwegian police meanwhile have released transcripts of phone conversations that occured between Brievik and police during his drug-fueled killing spree. Apparently "the commander of the Norwegian anti-Communist Resistance Movement" twice called police and offered to surrender. But he went on killing kids for another 28 minutes before they finally arrived.
The confessed perpetrator, Anders Brievik has been sitting in solitary confinement for most of the two months since. According to judicial ruling, he could be held in isolation until mid-October, and may have to wait until mid November before being permitted visitors and correspondence with the outside world. He is being kept in isolation to prevent contact with possible accomplices, and to prevent him from tampering with evidence. Brievik has complained that this treatment is "sadistic torture." One wonders when in where in history he would have preferred prison to 21st century Norway?
Norwegian police meanwhile have released transcripts of phone conversations that occured between Brievik and police during his drug-fueled killing spree. Apparently "the commander of the Norwegian anti-Communist Resistance Movement" twice called police and offered to surrender. But he went on killing kids for another 28 minutes before they finally arrived.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
NazIKEA
Ingvar Kamprad--or, as I called him in my earliest notes, "the guy who founded IKEA"--has been a Scandinavian 81 candidate from almost the start. In a previous post, I mentioned the flatpack furniture tycoon in a discussion on influential Scandinavians with known ties to Nazism. In the mid-90s, Kamprad confessed to having had a teenage association with the SSS (the Swedish Nazi party). It was, he said, his "biggest mistake," a "youthful sin," resulting from "stupidity." He had deeply repented.
A new book claims that Kamprad's Nazi assoications were stronger, and went on longer, than he has admitted. According to author Elisabeth Asbrink, Swedish intelligence files demonstrate activities going well beyond "teenage confusion." Kamprad was an enthusiastic recruiter, says Asbrink, and seems to have been some kind of an SSS functionary. He also maintained ties with Nazi sympathizers at least into the 1950s, she says.
Kamprad spokesmen dismissed the allegations "old news." "The IKEA he created is based on democratic principles and embraces a multicultural society."
Ten or twelve days ago, I got around to ordering two books about Ingvar Kamprad. The first was Leading By Design: The Ikea Story by Kamprad and a collaborator. The second was The Truth About Ikea:The Secret About the World's Fifth Richest Man, by John Stenebo. It advertizes itself as an expose of the dark side of the IKEA empire by a long-time corporate insider. (The extent of Kamprad's wealth is disputed; according to Forbes he's "only" the 162nd richest human being.) These books arrived in my mailbox just a day or two before Ingvar Kamrad and his infamy were back in the news. A perfect example of the synchronicity that has frequently, though still-startlingly, attended to this project.
A new book claims that Kamprad's Nazi assoications were stronger, and went on longer, than he has admitted. According to author Elisabeth Asbrink, Swedish intelligence files demonstrate activities going well beyond "teenage confusion." Kamprad was an enthusiastic recruiter, says Asbrink, and seems to have been some kind of an SSS functionary. He also maintained ties with Nazi sympathizers at least into the 1950s, she says.
Kamprad spokesmen dismissed the allegations "old news." "The IKEA he created is based on democratic principles and embraces a multicultural society."
Ten or twelve days ago, I got around to ordering two books about Ingvar Kamprad. The first was Leading By Design: The Ikea Story by Kamprad and a collaborator. The second was The Truth About Ikea:The Secret About the World's Fifth Richest Man, by John Stenebo. It advertizes itself as an expose of the dark side of the IKEA empire by a long-time corporate insider. (The extent of Kamprad's wealth is disputed; according to Forbes he's "only" the 162nd richest human being.) These books arrived in my mailbox just a day or two before Ingvar Kamrad and his infamy were back in the news. A perfect example of the synchronicity that has frequently, though still-startlingly, attended to this project.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Vikings vs. Social Democrats
My knowledge of 20th century Scandinavian political history is relatively weak. I began at the beginning, and so of course, as yet, I know more about Vikings than Social Democrats. It only makes chronological sense.
So I tell myself. I don't believe me. This is the truth: I know less about Tage Erlander than Erik Bloodax because Vikings fascinate me much, much more than modern statesmen. Maybe this speaks poorly of my character, but so would denying the truth.
Indeed, I dread trying to learn as much about modern politicans, economists, activists and social reformers as I already know about ancient Norsemen. I could die of boredom.
Which may be as good as admiting this multibiography needs another author.
But since I couldn't stop now if I wanted to, here are the names of several Social Democrats newly under consideration for the Scandinavian 81: Tage Erlander, Karl Hjalmar Branting, Ernst Wigorss, Gustav Moller, and Knut Wicksell. They're all Swedes. Along with Gunnar and Alva Myrdal and Olof Palme (and, in Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland) they seem to bear important responsibility for developing and implementating the modern Scandinavian welfare state.
None of them, insofar as I have any reason to believe, ever killed anyone with an ax.
So I tell myself. I don't believe me. This is the truth: I know less about Tage Erlander than Erik Bloodax because Vikings fascinate me much, much more than modern statesmen. Maybe this speaks poorly of my character, but so would denying the truth.
Indeed, I dread trying to learn as much about modern politicans, economists, activists and social reformers as I already know about ancient Norsemen. I could die of boredom.
Which may be as good as admiting this multibiography needs another author.
But since I couldn't stop now if I wanted to, here are the names of several Social Democrats newly under consideration for the Scandinavian 81: Tage Erlander, Karl Hjalmar Branting, Ernst Wigorss, Gustav Moller, and Knut Wicksell. They're all Swedes. Along with Gunnar and Alva Myrdal and Olof Palme (and, in Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland) they seem to bear important responsibility for developing and implementating the modern Scandinavian welfare state.
None of them, insofar as I have any reason to believe, ever killed anyone with an ax.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Utoya Massacre Update
By November 1st, court-appointed psychiatrists are scheduled to make their recommendation as to whether Anders Behring Brievik is sane enough to be tried for murdering 77 people last month in Norway. Brievik has agreed to be evaluated, but has demanded to be also to be seen by a Japanese psychiatrist. "The wish has to do with the concept of honor," explained his lawyer, Geir Lippestad. "He believes that a Japanese person would understand him better than someone from Europe."
Brevik's manifesto supposedly exhibits an admiration for Japanese and Korean cultures--presumably for their unwillingness to admit, assimilate or extend citizenship to large numbers of foreigners.
A few days ago, Brievik returned to Utoya island, where he spent eight hours reenacting his shooting rampage for the police. The simulation was required to clarify details of the attack for the trial. Portions aired on Norwegian television and show Breivik restricted a tether harness, demonstrating details of his murder spree with an imaginary rifle. He was reportedly calm and cooperative. He displayed no remorse for his actions.
Lippestad claims that Brievik spared those on Utoya island whom he considered too young to have been indoctrinated by Labor Party propaganda. Brievik's youngest victim is believed to have been Sharidyn Svebakk-Bohn. She was 14.
Brevik's manifesto supposedly exhibits an admiration for Japanese and Korean cultures--presumably for their unwillingness to admit, assimilate or extend citizenship to large numbers of foreigners.
A few days ago, Brievik returned to Utoya island, where he spent eight hours reenacting his shooting rampage for the police. The simulation was required to clarify details of the attack for the trial. Portions aired on Norwegian television and show Breivik restricted a tether harness, demonstrating details of his murder spree with an imaginary rifle. He was reportedly calm and cooperative. He displayed no remorse for his actions.
Lippestad claims that Brievik spared those on Utoya island whom he considered too young to have been indoctrinated by Labor Party propaganda. Brievik's youngest victim is believed to have been Sharidyn Svebakk-Bohn. She was 14.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Fjordman Revealed
The pseudonymous right-wing, anti-Islamic blogger "Fjordman," who was cited frequently and deeply admired by terrorist mass murderer Anders Brievik, has revealed his identity. Peder Jensen, 36, has professed deep disgust at Brievik's acts. He will no longer use the "Fjordman" pseudonym. He will go into hiding.
Anders Brievik's mother has also absconded; his father, who lives in France, has claimed that he may never return to his native Norway.
In other Norwegian news, a 17 year old Norwegian boy was recent killed by a polar bear on a remote island. This sad story reminds me of the premise of the recent horror film, "Troll Hunter:" A spate of supposed bear attacks in rural Norway turn out to be the work of not-mythological-after-all trolls. The Norwegian government is aware of their existence but, as in the Xfiles and such, covers it up. At least, this is how this movie has been described to me: I haven't seen it yet. I intended to, while it was still playing in Seattle theatres, but then I got distracted by the real monster in Norway.
Anders Brievik's mother has also absconded; his father, who lives in France, has claimed that he may never return to his native Norway.
In other Norwegian news, a 17 year old Norwegian boy was recent killed by a polar bear on a remote island. This sad story reminds me of the premise of the recent horror film, "Troll Hunter:" A spate of supposed bear attacks in rural Norway turn out to be the work of not-mythological-after-all trolls. The Norwegian government is aware of their existence but, as in the Xfiles and such, covers it up. At least, this is how this movie has been described to me: I haven't seen it yet. I intended to, while it was still playing in Seattle theatres, but then I got distracted by the real monster in Norway.
Friday, July 29, 2011
A Perverse Question
I described my project--which is to name and rank the 81 most historically influential Scandinavians--to a Norwegian whom I met a few months ago. Which living Norwegian would rank highest, he asked. I replied "Gro Harlem Brundtland."
Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway's first (and to date only) female prime minister--who is also a former Director of the World Health organization and currently Special Envoy on Climate Change for the United Nations--remains, in my estimation, not only the most influential living Norwegian, but easily one of the most influential individuals ever to have originated from Norway. Off the top of my head, of all Norwegians in history, only Nansen and Ibsen, to date, can definitely claim equal or greater total influence.
Anders Behring Brievik apparently agreed. Gro Harlem Brundtland seems to have epitomized the "Multicultural Marxists" whom he railed against in his manifesto. He called her the murderer of his nation, presumably because of the liberalization of Norwegian immigration laws under her regime.
If Breivik had his way, Gro Harlem Brundtland would no longer be among the "living Norwegians." Just hours before his rampage, the wildly popular Brundtland, a life-long Labor Party member, had given a speech to the summer campers. They were still electrified in the aftermath of her presence when Brievik arrived on his "martyr's mission." Apparently, Brundtland had been his primary target. She departed before he got there.
Now I must finally confront a perverse question. How about Anders Brievik? Is this self-proffesed "knight Templar Crusader" a candidate for the Scandinavian 81? I draw no distinction between positive and negative influence. Vidkun Quisling, the traitor who invited Hitler to invade Norway and ruled it briefly as a Nazi proxy, certainly has a place in the ranking. Nor is there any doubt that Brievik's horrible acts will be influential. They drew, and will continue to draw, the horrified attention of the planet. Norway has already irreperably changed.
I don't believe Brievik will have the influence--as he put it, "the ideological impact"--that he intended. No public tragedy goes unexpolited by politics. Far from inciting a right-wing revolution in Europe, I believe he has helped the opposite cause. His killing spree was a political disaster for resurgent European right, which has for the most part, and not at all surprisingly, denounced him in the strongest terms. But the damage was done. The reputations of all those he cited approvingly have suffered. The whole movement will be on the defensive for a long time. Anyone critical of European immigration policies, European Islamic cultural practices, or (so-called) "Multi-culturalism" will be tainted by the association. This will include, unfortunately, reasonable critics. Everyone but extremists and psychopaths will be alienated.
Brievik's "mission" indeed created martyrs, but he is not one of them. The martyrs are the 77 people (so far) whom he murdered in the coldest of blood.
Anders Brievik is not currently under consideration for placement on the Scandiavian 81. I don't expect he ever will be. But this is not to early to say: July 22, 2011 has replaced April 9th, 1940 as the most infamous date in Norwegian history. And "Anders Brievik" has replaced "Vidkun Quisling" as its most infamous name.
Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway's first (and to date only) female prime minister--who is also a former Director of the World Health organization and currently Special Envoy on Climate Change for the United Nations--remains, in my estimation, not only the most influential living Norwegian, but easily one of the most influential individuals ever to have originated from Norway. Off the top of my head, of all Norwegians in history, only Nansen and Ibsen, to date, can definitely claim equal or greater total influence.
Anders Behring Brievik apparently agreed. Gro Harlem Brundtland seems to have epitomized the "Multicultural Marxists" whom he railed against in his manifesto. He called her the murderer of his nation, presumably because of the liberalization of Norwegian immigration laws under her regime.
If Breivik had his way, Gro Harlem Brundtland would no longer be among the "living Norwegians." Just hours before his rampage, the wildly popular Brundtland, a life-long Labor Party member, had given a speech to the summer campers. They were still electrified in the aftermath of her presence when Brievik arrived on his "martyr's mission." Apparently, Brundtland had been his primary target. She departed before he got there.
Now I must finally confront a perverse question. How about Anders Brievik? Is this self-proffesed "knight Templar Crusader" a candidate for the Scandinavian 81? I draw no distinction between positive and negative influence. Vidkun Quisling, the traitor who invited Hitler to invade Norway and ruled it briefly as a Nazi proxy, certainly has a place in the ranking. Nor is there any doubt that Brievik's horrible acts will be influential. They drew, and will continue to draw, the horrified attention of the planet. Norway has already irreperably changed.
I don't believe Brievik will have the influence--as he put it, "the ideological impact"--that he intended. No public tragedy goes unexpolited by politics. Far from inciting a right-wing revolution in Europe, I believe he has helped the opposite cause. His killing spree was a political disaster for resurgent European right, which has for the most part, and not at all surprisingly, denounced him in the strongest terms. But the damage was done. The reputations of all those he cited approvingly have suffered. The whole movement will be on the defensive for a long time. Anyone critical of European immigration policies, European Islamic cultural practices, or (so-called) "Multi-culturalism" will be tainted by the association. This will include, unfortunately, reasonable critics. Everyone but extremists and psychopaths will be alienated.
Brievik's "mission" indeed created martyrs, but he is not one of them. The martyrs are the 77 people (so far) whom he murdered in the coldest of blood.
Anders Brievik is not currently under consideration for placement on the Scandiavian 81. I don't expect he ever will be. But this is not to early to say: July 22, 2011 has replaced April 9th, 1940 as the most infamous date in Norwegian history. And "Anders Brievik" has replaced "Vidkun Quisling" as its most infamous name.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Radical Christian Terrorist
Complied from reportage in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wikipedia, Reuters, Herald Sun, The Australian, BBC, Sydney Morning Herald, stuff.co.nz, others
I. "Atrocious but necessary"
The New York Times keeps calling it "the bigest massacre by a single gunman in modern times." As if there might have ever been a bigger one before then. It was the biggest massacre by a single gunman, ever.
The death toll has been revised, from 93 down to 76. For a surreal moment, I'm euphoric, as if 17 innocent people had been miraculously resurrected from death. It passes quickly. Many remain unaccounted for--how many, police have declined to reveal. An additional 96 are reported wounded, many of them critically. The death toll may yet climb.
Two hundred thousand mourners, "a wave of good will," washed over the streets of Oslo. The city is said to be "filled with love." Flowers, candles, Norwegian flags, wreathes, photos, and other tributes to the victims soon blanketed the city cathedral. "It would be easy to be angry at this time," said a survivor of the massacre. The perpetrator, Anders Brievik, "wants anger and he wants attention. He's a small person. I don't want to give him the attention."
Brievik, meanwhile, stands charged under Norway's terrorist laws. Police are considering a further charge of crimes against humanity. From his jail cell, in isolation and on suicide watch, Brievik requested a public hearing, and permission to appear in a miliatry uniform. The judge denied both requests. According to his lawyer, the defendent admits to the "factual circumstances" of both the bombing and shooting. But he will also plead "not guilty." He had been trying, as he explained, to save Norway and western Europe from "cultural Marxism and Muslim domination." His actions had been "atrocious but necessary."
II. The Perpetrator
Anders Behring Brievik was born in 1979, the son of a civil servant and a nurse. His parents, who both identified politically as left-of-center, divorced when he was one. He has one sibling, a sister, with whom he appears once to have been very close. He was raised in a middle class neighborhood, primarily by his mother. He blames a "super-liberal, matriarchal upbringing" for "feminizing" him, "to a certain extent."
His best childhood friend, for many years, was a Pakistani. "He resented everything about Norway and Norwegians (me being the exception)," Brievik recalled. "I have known a lot of Muslims over the years which triggered my interest in Islam."
As he aged, Brievik's stance on Islam hardened. He began to resent the ever-increasing influx of immigrants into Norway and western Europe, particularly from Muslim countries: Iraq, Eretria, Afganistan, Somalia. He "latched onto reports of attacks against ethnic Norwegian men and rapes of ethnic Norwegian women by immigrant gangs." For several years he was affliated by with Norway's populist, anti-tax, anti-immigrant "Progress Party," but quit in 2007 to protest its move to the center and the mainstream.
Brievik traced his radicalization to the NATO bombing campaign of Serbia in 1999. "(A)uthorized by criminal western European and American leaders," he saw the war as the betrayal of fellow Christians for the sake of Muslims. It was proof that "a core of Cultural Communist elites" had stealthily seized political power, in order to "destroy western civilization, European traditions, national solidarity, and Christianity."
III. Conflagration
The bomb was allegedly made from the same mix of fertilizer and fuel as the one that Timothy McVeigh used to destroy a federal building in Oklahoma city (1995). Last Friday, at half past three in the afternoon, it exploded out of the trunk of a Volkswagen, parked near the Prime Minister's office in Oslo. An entire complex of government buildings shook on its foundations. Shockwaves ripped open walls and blew out thousands of windows, showering the street below with glass and debris. Fires broke out all over the place. The blast, mistaken by many for thunder, had been heard for miles.
Through the haze of dust and smoke that settled over the complex, survivors described a scene of people "screaming and crying, running around with blood coming out of wounds, covered with blood." If July hadn't been such a popular vacation month for government employees, the bomb would have probably claimed may more lives. As it was, eight were killed in the blast. Already it was the worst act of violence in Norway since World War II.
It wasn't over.
IV. Utoya
About an hour and a half later, just as the first, confused reports of the Oslo bombing filtered through the media, a man in a police uniform stepped off the public ferry onto the tiny, wood-covered island of Utoya, 25 miles north of Oslo, where hundreds of people, mostly teenagers, had recently converged to attend the Norwegian Labor Party's annual youth summer camp. The presumed policeman signaled and motioned to gather a crowd. He anounced that he had been sent to assure their safety after the terrorist attack, and that he had important information. When he had an audience, he reached into his duffle bag, pulled out an automatic weapon, and began firing hollow point bullets.
"I heard screams," said one survivor. "I heard people begging for their lives and I heard shots. He just blew them away...I was certain I was going to die."
For ninety minutes, Anders Brievik murdered with impunity. "He seemed to be enjoying it," said one survivor. "He walked around the island as if he had absolute power." There was nowhere to go. Utoya is accessible only by boat. There was no way for everyone to hide. Utoya had become a 26 acre death-trap. Breivik shot campers in the back as they stampeded away. He shot them as they fled into the lake. (Some of the missing may have drowned.) He shot them as they madly tried to scramble up trees, as they flung themselves desperately down a steep rocky slope. "I'll kill you all," Brievik was heard to say, repeatedly. He dumped extra rounds into fallen bodies to make sure of killing anyone feigning death.
One of the victims, Gunnar Linaker, had been on the phone with his father when it started. "He said to me, 'Dad, Dad, someone is shooting, and he hung up." His father later described him as "a calm, big teddy bear with lots of humor and lots of love." Gunnar was 23. Most of the casualties were younger.
A fifteen year old survivor told later of hiding behind a rock that Brievik was standing on. "I could hear him breathing," she said.
For ninety minutes, Brievik murdered with impunity.
The official rescue operation was a travesty of unprepardness. One of the first to die was a security guard, a 51-year old former police officer. He hadn't been armed; even active officers rarely carry guns in Norway. As the people on the island frantically called special services from their cells, they were ordered off the line unless calling about the bombing. Undoubtedly this had been the assassin's intention; the bomb had been, in part, a diversion.
SWAT units weren't dispatched until 50 minutes after the first calls for help. With no helicopter on standby, it took the team of 10 commandos 20 minutes to drive to the shore of lake Tyrifjorden. It took them another 20 to commandeer boats. One almost sank with the weight of their arsenal; they had to bail water the whole way across. When they finally stormed the island, they didn't fire a shot. They found Brievik awaiting them in a posture of surrender, standing with his hands behind his head, weapons on the ground.
"I'm finished," he said calmly. He'd just slaughtered sixty eight innocent human beings--mostly teenagers.
He still had plenty of ammunition. He'd been planning this for years.
Hours before the first explosion, Brievik emailed hundred of copies of an online manifesto. At over 1,500 pages, it's more than twice as long as Mein Kampf, and it carries the title September 11th 2083: A European Declaration of Indenpendence. It's been described as "part political discussion, part confessional and part action plan." An English forensics psychologist has already described it as "one of the scariest documents I've ever read."
"We, the free indigenous peoples of Europe," it says, "hereby declare a preemptive war on all the cultural Marxists/multicultural elites of Western Europe. ...We know who you are, where you live and we are coming for you..."
I. "Atrocious but necessary"
The New York Times keeps calling it "the bigest massacre by a single gunman in modern times." As if there might have ever been a bigger one before then. It was the biggest massacre by a single gunman, ever.
The death toll has been revised, from 93 down to 76. For a surreal moment, I'm euphoric, as if 17 innocent people had been miraculously resurrected from death. It passes quickly. Many remain unaccounted for--how many, police have declined to reveal. An additional 96 are reported wounded, many of them critically. The death toll may yet climb.
Two hundred thousand mourners, "a wave of good will," washed over the streets of Oslo. The city is said to be "filled with love." Flowers, candles, Norwegian flags, wreathes, photos, and other tributes to the victims soon blanketed the city cathedral. "It would be easy to be angry at this time," said a survivor of the massacre. The perpetrator, Anders Brievik, "wants anger and he wants attention. He's a small person. I don't want to give him the attention."
Brievik, meanwhile, stands charged under Norway's terrorist laws. Police are considering a further charge of crimes against humanity. From his jail cell, in isolation and on suicide watch, Brievik requested a public hearing, and permission to appear in a miliatry uniform. The judge denied both requests. According to his lawyer, the defendent admits to the "factual circumstances" of both the bombing and shooting. But he will also plead "not guilty." He had been trying, as he explained, to save Norway and western Europe from "cultural Marxism and Muslim domination." His actions had been "atrocious but necessary."
II. The Perpetrator
Anders Behring Brievik was born in 1979, the son of a civil servant and a nurse. His parents, who both identified politically as left-of-center, divorced when he was one. He has one sibling, a sister, with whom he appears once to have been very close. He was raised in a middle class neighborhood, primarily by his mother. He blames a "super-liberal, matriarchal upbringing" for "feminizing" him, "to a certain extent."
His best childhood friend, for many years, was a Pakistani. "He resented everything about Norway and Norwegians (me being the exception)," Brievik recalled. "I have known a lot of Muslims over the years which triggered my interest in Islam."
As he aged, Brievik's stance on Islam hardened. He began to resent the ever-increasing influx of immigrants into Norway and western Europe, particularly from Muslim countries: Iraq, Eretria, Afganistan, Somalia. He "latched onto reports of attacks against ethnic Norwegian men and rapes of ethnic Norwegian women by immigrant gangs." For several years he was affliated by with Norway's populist, anti-tax, anti-immigrant "Progress Party," but quit in 2007 to protest its move to the center and the mainstream.
Brievik traced his radicalization to the NATO bombing campaign of Serbia in 1999. "(A)uthorized by criminal western European and American leaders," he saw the war as the betrayal of fellow Christians for the sake of Muslims. It was proof that "a core of Cultural Communist elites" had stealthily seized political power, in order to "destroy western civilization, European traditions, national solidarity, and Christianity."
III. Conflagration
The bomb was allegedly made from the same mix of fertilizer and fuel as the one that Timothy McVeigh used to destroy a federal building in Oklahoma city (1995). Last Friday, at half past three in the afternoon, it exploded out of the trunk of a Volkswagen, parked near the Prime Minister's office in Oslo. An entire complex of government buildings shook on its foundations. Shockwaves ripped open walls and blew out thousands of windows, showering the street below with glass and debris. Fires broke out all over the place. The blast, mistaken by many for thunder, had been heard for miles.
Through the haze of dust and smoke that settled over the complex, survivors described a scene of people "screaming and crying, running around with blood coming out of wounds, covered with blood." If July hadn't been such a popular vacation month for government employees, the bomb would have probably claimed may more lives. As it was, eight were killed in the blast. Already it was the worst act of violence in Norway since World War II.
It wasn't over.
IV. Utoya
About an hour and a half later, just as the first, confused reports of the Oslo bombing filtered through the media, a man in a police uniform stepped off the public ferry onto the tiny, wood-covered island of Utoya, 25 miles north of Oslo, where hundreds of people, mostly teenagers, had recently converged to attend the Norwegian Labor Party's annual youth summer camp. The presumed policeman signaled and motioned to gather a crowd. He anounced that he had been sent to assure their safety after the terrorist attack, and that he had important information. When he had an audience, he reached into his duffle bag, pulled out an automatic weapon, and began firing hollow point bullets.
"I heard screams," said one survivor. "I heard people begging for their lives and I heard shots. He just blew them away...I was certain I was going to die."
For ninety minutes, Anders Brievik murdered with impunity. "He seemed to be enjoying it," said one survivor. "He walked around the island as if he had absolute power." There was nowhere to go. Utoya is accessible only by boat. There was no way for everyone to hide. Utoya had become a 26 acre death-trap. Breivik shot campers in the back as they stampeded away. He shot them as they fled into the lake. (Some of the missing may have drowned.) He shot them as they madly tried to scramble up trees, as they flung themselves desperately down a steep rocky slope. "I'll kill you all," Brievik was heard to say, repeatedly. He dumped extra rounds into fallen bodies to make sure of killing anyone feigning death.
One of the victims, Gunnar Linaker, had been on the phone with his father when it started. "He said to me, 'Dad, Dad, someone is shooting, and he hung up." His father later described him as "a calm, big teddy bear with lots of humor and lots of love." Gunnar was 23. Most of the casualties were younger.
A fifteen year old survivor told later of hiding behind a rock that Brievik was standing on. "I could hear him breathing," she said.
For ninety minutes, Brievik murdered with impunity.
The official rescue operation was a travesty of unprepardness. One of the first to die was a security guard, a 51-year old former police officer. He hadn't been armed; even active officers rarely carry guns in Norway. As the people on the island frantically called special services from their cells, they were ordered off the line unless calling about the bombing. Undoubtedly this had been the assassin's intention; the bomb had been, in part, a diversion.
SWAT units weren't dispatched until 50 minutes after the first calls for help. With no helicopter on standby, it took the team of 10 commandos 20 minutes to drive to the shore of lake Tyrifjorden. It took them another 20 to commandeer boats. One almost sank with the weight of their arsenal; they had to bail water the whole way across. When they finally stormed the island, they didn't fire a shot. They found Brievik awaiting them in a posture of surrender, standing with his hands behind his head, weapons on the ground.
"I'm finished," he said calmly. He'd just slaughtered sixty eight innocent human beings--mostly teenagers.
He still had plenty of ammunition. He'd been planning this for years.
Hours before the first explosion, Brievik emailed hundred of copies of an online manifesto. At over 1,500 pages, it's more than twice as long as Mein Kampf, and it carries the title September 11th 2083: A European Declaration of Indenpendence. It's been described as "part political discussion, part confessional and part action plan." An English forensics psychologist has already described it as "one of the scariest documents I've ever read."
"We, the free indigenous peoples of Europe," it says, "hereby declare a preemptive war on all the cultural Marxists/multicultural elites of Western Europe. ...We know who you are, where you live and we are coming for you..."
Monday, July 25, 2011
The Utoya Massacre
Expect the spectre of Sigurd the Crusader to haunt the aftermath of the bloodbath.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
The Utoya Massacre
I'm numb from this. I'll never comprehend it. Some barriers can't be overcome. I almost can't try. I still don't really believe it. I'm going to wake up and, I hope, not remember the nightmare.
Could one man have done all this alone? Construct and detonate at least two powerful car bombs in the heart of a government building complex and, almost simultaneously, slaughter more than 80 human beings at point-blank range with automatic weapons? It doesn't seem possible. I try to contemplate the logistics--but my mind rebels and will not permit it. Not yet, maybe (and I hope) not ever. But it just doesn't seem possible.
Police are investigating witness reports of a second shooter. The killer, who calmly surrendered to police when they finally arrived on the island, claims to be a part of a larger terrorist organization. I dread the details, whatever they are. And the deluge has begun. The killer's name is Anders Behring Breivik. A stunned neighbor said he seemed like "a regular guy." He apparently had no known links to radical right wing groups. "His main enemy is not Muslims," said the editor of a right- wing Norwegian web site on which Breivik regularly posted, "but what he calls cultural marxists." He is a Freemason and had been a member of the Norwegian "Progress Party," which favors tighter restrictions on immigration, particularly from Muslim countries. Breivik wrote a 1,500 page manifesto published online just before his rampage. In it he rails against the impending Islamization of Europe and he calls for a violent conservative Christian coup, a "Crusade," against the acquiescent European political and cultural establishment. "Once you decide to strike," says the manifesto, "it is better to kill too many than not enough..."
Late last year I decided, half whimsically, to attempt a multibiography of historically influential Scandinavians. I immersed myself in political, scientific and cultural history, collecting almost one hundred pertinent books and other source materials, with no limit yet in sight, towards the goal of discovering just which individual Scandinavians have had the greatest impact, positive or negative, on human history. Over the course of this quest I have discovered, or perhaps projected, strong affinities between myself and virtually every Scandinavian man and woman whom I seriously studied. I came to fancy that, in examining their lives, in attempting to understand and assess their achievements, I was meeting a long-estranged extended family. I was surprised by the depth of affection I found myself feeling for this assortment of scientists, diplomats, explorers, novelists and vikings. Without having consciously sought them, I had found my people.
I'd be lying if I denied that my ethnic connection hasn't personalized and intensified my experience of the Utoya bloodbath. And this is to say nothing of my equal ethnic connection to the monster who committed the atrocity. A Norwegian assassinated all those scores of Norwegians, and others. A Norwegian premeditated and meticulously carried out what is surely, and by far, the most massive slaughter of human beings by a lone (?) gunman in all of history. It makes me sick.
One person with a belief may have the force of one hundred thousand with mere interests. But the perpetrator of this disgusting act, this cold-blooded butcher of helpless, terrified young civilians, is without beliefs. He's the definition of a nihilist.
Norway has no death penalty. Anders Breivik may live to be one hundred. I'll never understand.
These are muddled early impressions.
Could one man have done all this alone? Construct and detonate at least two powerful car bombs in the heart of a government building complex and, almost simultaneously, slaughter more than 80 human beings at point-blank range with automatic weapons? It doesn't seem possible. I try to contemplate the logistics--but my mind rebels and will not permit it. Not yet, maybe (and I hope) not ever. But it just doesn't seem possible.
Police are investigating witness reports of a second shooter. The killer, who calmly surrendered to police when they finally arrived on the island, claims to be a part of a larger terrorist organization. I dread the details, whatever they are. And the deluge has begun. The killer's name is Anders Behring Breivik. A stunned neighbor said he seemed like "a regular guy." He apparently had no known links to radical right wing groups. "His main enemy is not Muslims," said the editor of a right- wing Norwegian web site on which Breivik regularly posted, "but what he calls cultural marxists." He is a Freemason and had been a member of the Norwegian "Progress Party," which favors tighter restrictions on immigration, particularly from Muslim countries. Breivik wrote a 1,500 page manifesto published online just before his rampage. In it he rails against the impending Islamization of Europe and he calls for a violent conservative Christian coup, a "Crusade," against the acquiescent European political and cultural establishment. "Once you decide to strike," says the manifesto, "it is better to kill too many than not enough..."
Late last year I decided, half whimsically, to attempt a multibiography of historically influential Scandinavians. I immersed myself in political, scientific and cultural history, collecting almost one hundred pertinent books and other source materials, with no limit yet in sight, towards the goal of discovering just which individual Scandinavians have had the greatest impact, positive or negative, on human history. Over the course of this quest I have discovered, or perhaps projected, strong affinities between myself and virtually every Scandinavian man and woman whom I seriously studied. I came to fancy that, in examining their lives, in attempting to understand and assess their achievements, I was meeting a long-estranged extended family. I was surprised by the depth of affection I found myself feeling for this assortment of scientists, diplomats, explorers, novelists and vikings. Without having consciously sought them, I had found my people.
I'd be lying if I denied that my ethnic connection hasn't personalized and intensified my experience of the Utoya bloodbath. And this is to say nothing of my equal ethnic connection to the monster who committed the atrocity. A Norwegian assassinated all those scores of Norwegians, and others. A Norwegian premeditated and meticulously carried out what is surely, and by far, the most massive slaughter of human beings by a lone (?) gunman in all of history. It makes me sick.
One person with a belief may have the force of one hundred thousand with mere interests. But the perpetrator of this disgusting act, this cold-blooded butcher of helpless, terrified young civilians, is without beliefs. He's the definition of a nihilist.
Norway has no death penalty. Anders Breivik may live to be one hundred. I'll never understand.
These are muddled early impressions.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Norwegian Death Toll at 17
Norway was attacked today. At least two bombs shook Einar Gerhardsen Plaza, transforming placid mid-afternoon Oslo "into a scene reminiscent of terrorist attacks in Beirut or Baghdad or Oklahoma City," said the New York Times. Almost simultaneously, a gunman impersonating a police officer opened fire with an automatic weapon into a crowd of kids on nearby island of Utoya, where there's a Labor Party Summer camp. The Times reports the death toll at 17. A witness claims to have seen twenty to twenty five bodies.
The alledged gunman, described only as a 32-year-old Norwegian man "not known to have any ties to Islamic extremists," has been arrested. Ansar al Jihad al-Alami, or "Helpers of the Global Jihad," claimed credit for masterminding the attacks. It is not known whether the group actually exists, but Ayman al-Zawahri, the late Bin Laden's successor at the helm of al-Qaeda, had repeatedly threatened to inflict harm on Norway for supporting the U.S. led NATO invasion and occupation of Afganistan.
In Oslo, the explosions set one government building ablaze, and blew out virtually every window of another across the street. Buildings as far as 5 blocks distant were damaged. The prime minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenborg, was present but unharmed by the attack.
I think it's fair to say today was the worst day in Norwegian history since April 9th, 1940.
first postscript:
I went back to the Times. The death toll has been raised to 87. Fuck.
second postscript:
The man arrested in connection to the attacks is allegedly named Anders Behring Breivik, described as blond, blue eyed and probably an ethnic Norwegian, leading to speculations that Right Wing native militants, and not Islamic fundamentalists, were responsible.
The alledged gunman, described only as a 32-year-old Norwegian man "not known to have any ties to Islamic extremists," has been arrested. Ansar al Jihad al-Alami, or "Helpers of the Global Jihad," claimed credit for masterminding the attacks. It is not known whether the group actually exists, but Ayman al-Zawahri, the late Bin Laden's successor at the helm of al-Qaeda, had repeatedly threatened to inflict harm on Norway for supporting the U.S. led NATO invasion and occupation of Afganistan.
In Oslo, the explosions set one government building ablaze, and blew out virtually every window of another across the street. Buildings as far as 5 blocks distant were damaged. The prime minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenborg, was present but unharmed by the attack.
I think it's fair to say today was the worst day in Norwegian history since April 9th, 1940.
first postscript:
I went back to the Times. The death toll has been raised to 87. Fuck.
second postscript:
The man arrested in connection to the attacks is allegedly named Anders Behring Breivik, described as blond, blue eyed and probably an ethnic Norwegian, leading to speculations that Right Wing native militants, and not Islamic fundamentalists, were responsible.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Scandinavian news
Lars von Trier's already-now infamous "I'm a Nazi," quip was apparently part of a rambling response to a question about his German ancestry (Trier, of course, being the name of a German city). He has apologized and insisted that his remarks were in jest. "I am not anti-Semitic or racially prejudiced in any way, nor am I a Nazi," said von Trier. This, however, was not good enough for the Fesitval Directors, who voted to declare von Trier officially a persona non grata for the rest of this year's Cannes.
Also in Scandinavian news... As you probably know, Iceland's most active volcano, the Grimssvotn, erupted last week, spitting a column of ash seven miles high (see above) and resulting in flight cancellations across northwestern Europe. Earthquakes accompanied the eruption. Straddling the rift between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, Iceland is one of the world's most volcanic regions.
Also in Scandinavian news... As you probably know, Iceland's most active volcano, the Grimssvotn, erupted last week, spitting a column of ash seven miles high (see above) and resulting in flight cancellations across northwestern Europe. Earthquakes accompanied the eruption. Straddling the rift between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, Iceland is one of the world's most volcanic regions.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Lars von Trier: Nazi?
Self-described "best film director in the world" Lars von Trier, whose ouevre includes Dancer In the Dark and Breaking the Waves, has admitted to being a Nazi. "What can I say? I understand Hitler," Trier told The Hollywood Reporter at Cannes, where he is currently promoting his new film, Melancholia. "I sympathize with him a bit..."
For all I know, von Trier's disclosure was not serious, and merely a tasteless attempt to elicit attention and controversy. If not, he joins a distressing number of Scandinavian 81 candidates tainted by association with the tenents of National Socialism. Knut Hamson, the Nobel Prize winning Norwegian author of Hunger and Growth of the Soil, was famously a Hitler enthusiast. Norwegian traitor Vidkun Quisling was important for being precisely that. Ingvar Kamprad, the Swedish founder of IKEA seems to have enjoyed a youthful flirtation with fascism. Swedish explorer and writer Sven Hedin may have been a proto-Nazi, of sorts. Even Thor Heyerdahl, some claim, at one point evinced Nazi sympathies, although everything else I've ever read about Thor Heyerdahl makes me skeptical of this.
Fortunately, there are at least as many proactively anti-Nazi Scandinavians of note. Lars von Trier's fellow Dane Niels Bohr played an active role in resucing Jewish physicists from Nazi Germany. Jewish himself on his mother's side, Bohr had to be smuggled out of German-occupied Copenhagen in a thrilling episode of Allied espionage. Once safe in neutral Sweden, he persuaded the reigning monarch to make public his country's offer of asylum to Danish Jews, contributing to the rescue of thousands.
Danish musical-comedian Victor Borge, whose birth name was Rosenbaum, toured across Europe satirizing the Nazis as early as 1933. Norwegian author Sigrid Undset was not Jewish, but an outspoken critic of Hitler from the moment he seized power; Hitler returned the compliment by banning her Nobel-prize winning novels from the Reich. Her son, a Second Lieutenent in the Nowergian army, was killed during the German invasion, but Undset escaped to the United States, where she spent the final productive years of her life pamphleteering on behalf of the victims of Nazi oppression.
Swedish humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg was, in the words of Gordon Brown, "a man who chose to enter into one of the darkest corners of Nazi-occupied Europe for the sole purpose of saving Jewish lives." I will have a good deal more to say about Wallenberg, but not until after I attend an upcoming lecture on him, later this month, at the Heritage Nordic Museum. For the moment, I will remark that he his credited with saving tens of thousands from Nazi extermination camps, more than Schindler.
The Norwegian Resistance to the Nazi occupation is also the subject upcoming lectures. For now, all I need note is that the Resistance, and its leader Gunnar Sonsteby (the very sound of whose name surrounds my heart with a warm, sweet glow) stand an example of heroism that should inspire humanity for as long as humanity exists.
Here at the Scandinavian 81 we maintain a strict policy of moral-neutrality with regard to our candidates' qualifications. This is a compilation of influential Scandinavians, not necessarily positively influential ones. A list of history's most influential Germans, for example, must include Hitler as well as Goethe and Guttenberg. (Please don't point out that Hitler was Austrian.) You must to acknowledge your dastards as well as your saints. Of the former, Knut Hamson and Vidkun Quisling easily qualify for inclusion. Less certain are Ingvar Kamprad, Sven Hedin and Lars von Trier; they're all strong candidates, but by no means locked in, according to the current state of our research. Of the anti-Nazis, Niels Bohr, Raoul Wallenberg, Sigrid Undset and Gunnar Sonsteby are all certainties; only Victor Borge might realistically not make the final cut. Perhaps, on due reflection, we're prejudiced in favor of the saints.
Here at the Scandinavian 81 we maintain a strict policy of moral-neutrality with regard to our candidates' qualifications. This is a compilation of influential Scandinavians, not necessarily positively influential ones. A list of history's most influential Germans, for example, must include Hitler as well as Goethe and Guttenberg. (Please don't point out that Hitler was Austrian.) You must to acknowledge your dastards as well as your saints. Of the former, Knut Hamson and Vidkun Quisling easily qualify for inclusion. Less certain are Ingvar Kamprad, Sven Hedin and Lars von Trier; they're all strong candidates, but by no means locked in, according to the current state of our research. Of the anti-Nazis, Niels Bohr, Raoul Wallenberg, Sigrid Undset and Gunnar Sonsteby are all certainties; only Victor Borge might realistically not make the final cut. Perhaps, on due reflection, we're prejudiced in favor of the saints.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Pop-culture Vikingology
This post currently consists of notes towards an essay in occasional progress on Vikings in popular culture.
****
Everyone knows that Vikings didn't really wear helmets with horns on them. Less well known is that everyone else knows it too. At least, anyone who's ever had even the slightest interest in the subject. I think I knew it when I was ten. From now on, when someone takes it upon himself to "inform" me of this fact, I'm going to feign surprise. "I'll be damned," I'll say. "Really?"
****
I am tempted to call Hagar the Horrible the nadir of pop-cultural depictions of Vikings. (I will admit to having been a fan as a stupid kid.)
****
Everyone knows that Vikings didn't really wear helmets with horns on them. Less well known is that everyone else knows it too. At least, anyone who's ever had even the slightest interest in the subject. I think I knew it when I was ten. From now on, when someone takes it upon himself to "inform" me of this fact, I'm going to feign surprise. "I'll be damned," I'll say. "Really?"
****
The Vikings was an old movie I used to watch on Saturday afternoons when I was a kid. I screened it again recently, expecting it to be terrible. It's not terrible. It's no Spartacus. It's certainly dated. But it's not terrible. Certain scenes I recalled quite vividly; this would have been one of my very earliest encounters with the concept of Vikings, and it's fair to say it made an impression on me.
May years later, although still a long time ago, I saw The Long Ships, apparently an attempt to capitalize on the success of The Viking. The most memorable thing about it is that it stars Sidney Poiter as a Moorish prince.
****
As every indignant fanboy knows --and never ever (ever, ever) gets tired of reminding you-- it was the humble genius Jack Kirby who created the Marvel Universe, and the cheesy hack Stan Lee who stole the credit. That may be. But vis-a-vis the Marvel Comics’ version of Norse mythology, I think the issue, really, is who deserves the blame. For demoting Thor, the great Norse god of thunder, into a clean-shaven, cape and spandex clad superman--who battles evildoers alongside such stalwart allies as Spiderman, Captain America and the Fantastic Four, speaks in ghastly faux-Elizabethan English (why?! ), and, by hurling his magic hammer and hanging on to the wrist strap, can fly—was, in my opinion, a very bad idea. No one, at least, could possibly argue that Marvel Thor was among the better notions from the men (or just one man) who invented Ben Grim, Galactus, the Silver Surfer, the X-Men, the Celestials, Doctor Doom, the Watcher, and dozens upon dozens of far more compelling fantasy characters and concepts.
I am tempted to call Hagar the Horrible the nadir of pop-cultural depictions of Vikings. (I will admit to having been a fan as a stupid kid.)
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Does it violate the blogger code of ethics to edit your published posts? I'm a neophyte to blogger culture. Indeed, not even that. The Scandinavian 81 is less a "web log" than a live online notebook on a work in (not much) progress. When I look at it I find, unsurprisingly, that it's littered with typos, which I correct as I notice them. I see also, again unsurprisingly, that The 81 is shot through with crudities, triviality, vagueness, redundancies: it's a notebook. There are bits and pieces that hopefully, in time, will work there way into polished pieces about the eighty one most historically influential Scandinavians. And so my question. Do I have license to edit? So far, my rule of thumb has been that--excepting typos, as noted--I am free to change a post in any way until someone has commented on it. Then, it's locked. Otherwise, I have changed the context of the comment, which would be rude. The more so because the comments have been so positive and encouraging. Thank you.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Grete Waitz
Legendary Norwegian runner Grete Waitz won a record nine New York City marathons, a gold medal at the 1983 world championships, and a silver at the 1984 Olympics. Sadly, Grete died this month of cancer. She was 57.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Three Views of Jormungandr
In Norse mythology, Jormungandr, the world serpent, is one of the three monstrous offspring of the god Loki. Jormungandr's siblings are Hel, the grim goddess of the underworld, and Fenris the wolf, who is so massive that his jaws fully opened stretch from the earth to the vault of the sky. As for Jormungandr, he lives in the sea and encircles the entire world, biting down on his own tail through the ages. A favorite of mine since I was a child, Jormungandr provides a metaphor central to structure of the Scandinavian 81. I will use his image for the homepage of the accompanying Wiki (which already enjoys a rudimentary existence), as well as the cover of the book-- if on the off-chances that this thing a.) ever gets finished, and b.) published. (At the rate I'm proceeding, it will require several lifetimes.)
Aesthetically pleasing images of Jormungandr have proved surprisingly difficult to locate online. I like these three, but none of them quite suits my purposes. The first is closest to what I envision. I don't know how old it actually is, but it strikes my eyes as closely modeled, at least, on ancient sources. (It also reminds me of Tolkien's artwork.) But the third Jormungandr is my favorite. I consider it the most skillfully rendered. I enjoy particularly how Jormungandr seems less to be biting his tail than spewing it out, as a dragon spews fire: he vomits himself into existence. I don't know whether this is the artist's inspiration or based on some mythological precedent. Either way, I love it.
The current plan is to commission an artist to create an original image of Jormungandr, based perhaps on some combination of these three. As with most of my plans, I've been negligent about implementing it.
On a related issue, I'm told I'm running a legal risk by posting images such as this online. I may receive a cease and desist order, along with a bill, if I'm not careful about what I download. Apparently this holds true whether or not my blog makes money (or "is monetized," as they say). Most of the images so far have been from Wikipedia. I feel fairly safe about these; surely Wikipedia's images, if anyones, are in the public domain. The only exceptions so far, I believe, are these images of the world serpent, which I got found with a google search.
If I do get sued, expect a series of blog posts about it.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Saxo Gramaticus
Today "The Danish history Books I-IX" by Saxo Grammaticus. His chronicle of the kings of Denmark, as I understand it, is at least as propagandistic as Snorri's of the kings of Norway, but a very different flavor of propaganda. Snorri was a Scandinavian, Grammaticus a European. He wrote in Latin, and aimed to portray the Danish kings as embodying Roman virtues. It should be interesting to compare Grammaticus and Snorri covering the same events.
By the first day of summer, I intend to bid the Viking era a wistful farewell, and to move into the Scandinavian medieval period. It contributed far fewer outstanding individuals to history; and yet and the same time, they are among the most extraordinary of my extraordinary Scandinavians. I'm eager, and daunted, in particular, to tackle the subject of queen Margreta. She united Scandinavia, for the first and only time in history, under her sceptre, as much by popular acclaim as military conquest. I cannot find evidence of a biography about her in English; a Swedish historian claimed that there hasn't been one in Swedish. This amazing woman deserves to be far better known than she is, a situation that I hope, by means of the Scandinavian 81, to do my part to rectify.
By the first day of summer, I intend to bid the Viking era a wistful farewell, and to move into the Scandinavian medieval period. It contributed far fewer outstanding individuals to history; and yet and the same time, they are among the most extraordinary of my extraordinary Scandinavians. I'm eager, and daunted, in particular, to tackle the subject of queen Margreta. She united Scandinavia, for the first and only time in history, under her sceptre, as much by popular acclaim as military conquest. I cannot find evidence of a biography about her in English; a Swedish historian claimed that there hasn't been one in Swedish. This amazing woman deserves to be far better known than she is, a situation that I hope, by means of the Scandinavian 81, to do my part to rectify.
Friday, April 8, 2011
two also rans
Victor Borge, "the Clown Prince of Denmark," was a musical prodigy who grew rich and famous by incorporating stand up comedy into his musical performances. He toured Europe in the 1930s, and frequently made the Nazis the target of his humor. This and the fact that his real last name was "Rosenbaum" encouraged Victor to light out for America when Germany overran Denmark in 1940. He quickly learned English and adapted his routines for an American audience; he grew more successful than ever, and became a naturalized citizen. He continued to perform energetically until he died at the age of 91.
I'd heard of Victor Borge, but only recently discovered that he was Danish. Had I known this at an earlier stage of this project, he would certainly have been a candidate. Now, however, he must suffice with honorable mention.
Another honorable mention, this one dearer to my heart, goes to Hrafnkel, of Hrafnkel's Saga. Hrafnkel, a 10th century a duelist, was a devotee of Freyr until a crisis of faith led him to renounce the gods. He is one of several men in Norse legend, apparently, who made a point to do so, choosing instead to rely on his own strength and virtue. He has been called an early atheist, but I'm not sure that's quite true. He may have believed in the gods without regarding them as worthy of worship.
I'd heard of Victor Borge, but only recently discovered that he was Danish. Had I known this at an earlier stage of this project, he would certainly have been a candidate. Now, however, he must suffice with honorable mention.
Another honorable mention, this one dearer to my heart, goes to Hrafnkel, of Hrafnkel's Saga. Hrafnkel, a 10th century a duelist, was a devotee of Freyr until a crisis of faith led him to renounce the gods. He is one of several men in Norse legend, apparently, who made a point to do so, choosing instead to rely on his own strength and virtue. He has been called an early atheist, but I'm not sure that's quite true. He may have believed in the gods without regarding them as worthy of worship.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Who's Scandinavian
There was a nineteenth century political movement to unify Scandinavia. Popular with idealists in all of the Nordic countries, it paralleled the contemporary, and ultimately more successful, nationalistic movements in Germany and Italy. The projected Nordic Union was to be based on "a shared cultural heritage, a common Nordic mythology, and a common linguistic root in Old Norse." The movement was called "Scandinavianism."
I. Shared cultural heritage
II. Common Nordic mythology
III. Common linguistic root in Old Norse
By these criteria, which seem reasonable, Danes, Icelanders, Norwegians, and Swedes are Scandinavian. I'm aware, of course, that Finland is often called a Scandinavian country. And obviously, Scandinavian and Finnish political and cultural history are immemorially intertwined (usually to the regret of the Finns). But so are Scandinavian and Irish, and English, and German, and Russian history. All of these countries share a much closer linguistic affinity to Old Norse. Some of them, particularly Germany, share closely-related mythologies. You have to draw the line somewhere. Therefore: no Finns.
Except Linus Torvalds. The inventor of the Linux kernal, and was born and raised in Finland; I presume he remains a citizen. Why is he an exception? Because Linus Torvalds was born into Finland's Swedish-speaking minority; Swedish is his first language. It's a safe bet that there have always been close cultural contacts between Sweden and the Swedish-Finnish populace. Finland was a Swedish imperial possession for centuries. We can usefully call native Swedish-speaking Finns ethnic Swedes.
And yet... and yet I excluded, on ethnic grounds, Thorstein Veblen, author of the famous and influential Theory of the Leisure Class (1899). Veblen was born in these United States but, as the son of recent immigrants, his first language was Norwegian. But he began learning English at an early age. He wrote in English. Norwegians in America, of necessity, quickly assimilated. They have been speaking native Swedish in Finland for centuries.
Does including Torvalds but excluding Veblen seem arbitrary?
A further complication: The early modern monarchs of Denmark and Sweden. A strong case can be made that they were really, by my linguistic criteria, Germans. German was the language of the royal court at Copenhagen, and the language in the five year old princess Christina wrote letters to her father, King Gustav Adolf. Was Gustav Adolf's first language German? It might have been; his mother was.
It may be that Thorstein Veblen, born in Wisconsin, can be as usefully called a Scandinavian as Gustavus Adolphus, born in Stockholm.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Tolland Man
Tolland Man's only known achievement was to accidentally become one of the most perfectly mumified human beings from ancient Scandinavia. He was apparently strangled to death circa 400 B.C., perhaps sacrificed to the gods, and then dumped in a peat bog, which so remarkablly preserved him that in the 1950s, when he was finally discovered, Tolland Man was assumed to be a recent murder victim. His body rapidly deteriorated after being lifted from the bog, but his head, at least was well preserved and is on display in a museum in Denmark. When I get to Scandinavia in 2012, I will make a special point of visiting Tolland Man.
Nobel prize winning Irish poet Seamus Heany, who perceived a resemblance between Tolland Man and his uncle, wrote a poem about him. Here it is:
I Some day I will go to Aarhus To see his peat-brown head, The mild pods of his eye-lids, His pointed skin cap. In the flat country near by Where they dug him out, His last gruel of winter seeds Caked in his stomach, Naked except for The cap, noose and girdle, I will stand a long time. Bridegroom to the goddess, She tightened her torc on him And opened her fen, Those dark juices working Him to a saint's kept body, Trove of the turfcutters' Honeycombed workings. Now his stained face Reposes at Aarhus. | II I could risk blasphemy, Consecrate the cauldron bog Our holy ground and pray Him to make germinate The scattered, ambushed Flesh of labourers, Stockinged corpses Laid out in the farmyards, Tell-tale skin and teeth Flecking the sleepers Of four young brothers, trailed For miles along the lines. III Something of his sad freedom As he rode the tumbril Should come to me, driving, Saying the names Tollund, Grauballe, Nebelgard, Watching the pointing hands Of country people, Not knowing their tongue. Out here in Jutland In the old man-killing parishes I will feel lost, Unhappy and at home. |
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Distinguishing Haralds
King Harald Finehair allegedly unified Norway, for the first time, in the ninth century. He’s not to be confused with Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark, who lived in the tenth. Neither Harald Fairhair nor Harald Bluetooth should be confused with Harald Hardrada ("the Ruthless"), who died invading England in the eleventh.
Two of these Haralds remain candidates for the Scandinavian 81. Finehair was a recent cut. If I‘m to consider him, then I must consider his near- contemporaries, Eric the Victorious, who unified Sweden, and Gorm the Old and Thyri the Restorer, who unified Denmark. There's no room for them, even though these monarchs are arguably more important than Harald Finehair, since Sweden and Denmark went on to occupy greater roles in world history. Norway, for most of its existence, was just a colony of one or the other.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Vikingology
By tomorrow evening I intend to have highlighted and summarized the lives of all of my Vikings who feature prominently in Heimskringla. So far, I've only finished Rollo and Sigrid. (Who both take up comparatively little space in this work.)
I’ll never be a Vikingologist. The literature, even just in English, on this subject is enormous, and always growing. I’ll never have time to absorb all there is to know. Only so many of my eminent Scandinavians hail from this gory epoch. Moreover, with so much scholarly attention devoted to it, Vikingology is surely vibrant controversies between rival schools of interpretation. My remarks, therefore, are bound to dissatisfy at least some of the experts. I’m bound to commit inaccuracies, over-generalizations.
Perhaps the scholarly attention devoted to the Vikings is disproportionate to its actual historical importance. It’s not like they the Mongols, after all, or the British.
Perhaps the scholarly attention devoted to the Vikings is disproportionate to its actual historical importance. It’s not like they the Mongols, after all, or the British.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The search for the Search for Odin
Was Heyerdahl a visionary who saw beyond the confining dogmas of archaeological orthodoxy? A smasher of received prehistoric paradigms, predictably crucified by the scientific establishment for his many heresies? Or, was he an imaginative, eloquent, physically courageous kook who took intellectually unconscionable liberties with evidence and logic? And does the answer, for my purposes, even matter?
One interesting fact about Heyerdahl, he's been, so far, my most frequently suggested Scandinavian. (But he was on my list from the first.)
Sunday, March 27, 2011
81
Today the title change is official: the Scandinavian 81: I bothered to figure out how to do it. The address, at least for the moment, remains http://scandinavian78.com/ : I'll leave changing that, if it can be done, to more computer savy people than me. (ie: your average eight year old.)
Over my upcoming vacation, I resolve (1) to set up a Wiki account for the 81, linked to this blog. (Which I might then retitle "Scandinaviana") (2) to extensively chart my reading schedule (3) to finish Heimskringla and several other books.
I'll include here an update of my bibliography in progress....
Over my upcoming vacation, I resolve (1) to set up a Wiki account for the 81, linked to this blog. (Which I might then retitle "Scandinaviana") (2) to extensively chart my reading schedule (3) to finish Heimskringla and several other books.
I'll include here an update of my bibliography in progress....
Bolitho, William Twelve Against the Gods
Boosse, Claire Scandinavian Folk & Fairy Tales: Norwegian/Swedish/Danish/ Finnish/Icelandic
Brier, Bob The Encyclopedia of Mummies
Bronsted, Johannes The Vikings: The Background To A Fierce and Fascinating Civilization
Brown, Nancy Marie The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman
Buckley, Veronica Christina, Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric
Christianson, John Robert On Tycho’s Island: Tycho Brahe and His Assistants, 1570-1601
Churton, Tobias The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians, The World’s Most Secret Society
Cutler, Alan The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius who Discovered a New History of the Earth
D’Aulaire, Ingi and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire’s Book of the Norse Myths
Derry, T.K. A History of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland & Iceland
Donner, Jorn The Films of Ingmar Bergman, From “Torment” To “All These Women”
Feldman, Burton The Nobel Prize: A History of Genius, Controversy, and Prestige
Fante, Kenne Alfred Nobel: A Biography
Farnell, Kim Simply Runes
Garfinkel, Bernie Liv Ullmann & Ingmar Bergman
Hall, Anna Gertrude Nansen
Hamson, Knut Hunger
Hammarskjold, Dag Markings
Hedin, Sven My Life As An Explorer
Holberg, Ludvig Jeppe of the Hill and other comedies
Howarth, David 1066: The Year of the Conquest
Heyerdahl, Thor Kon Tiki
Ibsen, Henrik A Doll’s House And Other Plays
Four Major Plays
Ingebritsen, Christine The Nordic States and European Unity
Scandinavia in World Politics
Kuhn, Thomas S. The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought
Lange, Karen E. “Tales From the Bog”
Lingren, Astrid Pippi Longstocking
Man, John Atlas of the Year 1,000
McCullough, David Willis (ed.) Chronicles of the Barbarians
Wars of the Irish Kings
Mcvoy, J.P. and Zarate, Oscar Introducing Quantum Theory
Mears, Ray The Real Heroes of Telemark: The True Story of the Secret Mission to Stop Hitler’s Atomic Bomb
Meyer, Michael Ibsen
Midgaard, John A Brief History of Norway
Moberg, Wilhelm A History of the Swedish People: vol. 1, From Prehistory to the Renaissance; vol. 2From Renaissance to Revolution
Mowat, Farley West Viking: The Ancient Norse In Greenland and North America
Nordstrom, Byron J. Scandinavia Since 1500
Ohrelius, Commander Bengt Vasa The King’s Ship
Orsted, Hans Christian Selected Scientific Works of Hans Christian Orsted
Oxenstierna, Count Eric The Norsemen
Palmer, Donald D. Kierkegaard For Beginners
Pytlik, Mark Bjork, Wow and Flutter
Riste, Olav and Nokleby, Berit Norway 1940-1945: The Resistance Movement
Simmons, John The Scientific 100, A Ranking of the Most Influential Scientists, Past and Present
Shultz, Gladys Denny Jenny Lind, The Swedish Nightingale
Smith, Alan G.R. Science And Society In The Sixteenth And Seventeenth Centuries
Smith, John Boulton Munch
Sonesteby, Gunnar Report from agent 24
Sprinchorn, Evert The Genius of the Scandinavian Theater
Sturluson, Snorri Heimskringla or The Lives of the Norse Kings (A.H. Smith translator)
The Prose Edda (translation and notes by Jesse L. Byock)
The Prose Edda (translation by Jean I. Young)
Swedenborg, Emanuel True Christian Religion
The Universal Human and Soul-Body Interaction
Toyne, S.M. The Scandinavians in History
Undset, Sigrid Jenny
Kristin Lavransdatter
Wedgwood, C.V. The Thirty Years War
Weibul, Jorgen Swedish History In Outline
Wilson, David M. The Northern World: The History And Heritage of Northern Europe AD 400-1100
The Vikings and Their Origins
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