Situated on Europe's northern periphery, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden found themselves caught between warring powers during World War II. Ultimately, these nations survived the conflict as sovereign states whose wartime experiences have profoundly shaped their historiography, literature, cinema and memory cultures. Nordic War Stories explores the commonalities and divergences among the five Nordic countries, examining national historiographies alongside representations of the war years in canonical literary works, travel writing, and film media. Together, they comprise a valuable companion that challenges the myth of Scandinavian homogeneity while demonstrating the powerful influence that the war continues to exert on national identities.

Study of historical narratives of 20th-century Danish writer Thorkild Hansen. History Revisited is an introduction to the historical narratives of Thorkild Hansen (1927-1989), Scandinavia's most influential writer in the documentary genre. The book offers valuable insights into the boundaries betweenhistory and literature, placing Hansen's oeuvre in the context of discussions by such canonical scholars as Collingwood, Croce, Dilthey, Foucault, and Hayden White. The book takes up in particular the question of Hansen's historical inquiries into Denmark's past and analyses how he shifts the focus from that of traditional historiography to obscure figures and failed ventures in the nation's past. Of special interest to American and English readers is thediscussion of Hansen's monumental Slave Trilogy which offers a revisionist view of Denmark's role in the African slave trade. Finally, History Revisited demonstrates how the problematics of Hansen's historical worksextend into his controversial trilogy on the trial of Knut Hamsun and into the postwar history of Norway.

This award-winning multi-volume series is dedicated to making literature and its creators better understood and more accessible to students and interested readers, while satisfying the standards of librarians, teachers and scholars. Dictionary of Literary Biography provides reliable information in an easily comprehensible format, while placing writers in the larger perspective of literary history.

Dictionary of Literary Biography systematically presents career biographies and criticism of writers from all eras and all genres through volumes dedicated to specific types of literature and time periods.

For a listing of Dictionary of Literary Biography volumes sorted by genre click here.