The Twentieth Century
After the death of the great four and Amalie Skram, a new period of Norwegian literature took place. The year 1905, when Norway was free from the union with Sweden, marks a new period in the history of Norwegian literature. In the twentieth century three Norwegian novelists won the Nobel prize in literature. The first was Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, whose prize reflected work of the previous century. The second was awarded to Knut Hamsun for the idealistic novel Markens Grøde (Growth of the Soil, 1917) in 1920 and the third Sigrid Undset for the trilogy of Kristin Lavransdatter and the two books of Olav Audunssøn, in 1927.
Knut Hamsun was especially criticized because of his sympathy for Nasjonal Samling, a Norwegian Nazi-party, during the Second World War.
Other important Norwegian writers are Trygve Gulbranssen, Jens Bjørneboe, Agnar Mykle, Olav Duun, Cora Sandel, Kjartan Fløgstad, Arne Garborg, Aksel Sandemose, Tarjei Vesaas, Lars Saabye Christensen, Kjell Askildsen, Johan Borgen, Dag Solstad, Herbjørg Wassmo, Jon Fosse, Hans Herbjørnsrud, Jan Erik Vold, Roy Jacobsen, Bergljot Hobæk Haff, Hans E. Kinck, Olav H. Hauge, Rolf Jacobsen, Gunvor Hofmo, Arnulf Øverland, Sigbjørn Obstfelder, Olaf Bull, Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Tor Ulven, Torborg Nedreaas, Stein Mehren, Jan Kjærstad, Georg Johannesen, Kristofer Uppdal, Aslaug Vaa, Halldis Moren Vesaas, Sigurd Hoel, Johan Falkberget and Axel Jensen.
Read more about this topic: Norwegian Literature
Famous quotes containing the words twentieth century and/or twentieth:
“The descendants of Holy Roman Empire monarchies became feeble-minded in the twentieth century, and after World War I had been done in by the democracies; some were kept on to entertain the tourists, like the one they have in England.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“Predatory capitalism created a complex industrial system and an advanced technology; it permitted a considerable extension of democratic practice and fostered certain liberal values, but within limits that are now being pressed and must be overcome. It is not a fit system for the mid- twentieth century.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)