Journeys from Scandinavia: Travelogues of Africa, Asia, and South America, 1840―2000

332 Pages·2010·1.538 MB·English

by  Elisabeth Oxfeldt

JOURNEYS
from
SCANDINAVIA
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JOURNEYS
from
SCANDINAVIA
Travelogues of Africa, Asia, and
South America, 1840–2000
ELISABETH OXFELDT
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis
London
The University of Minnesota Press gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance provided for
the publication of this book from the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies at Oslo
University.
Chapter 2 was previously published in Danish as “Mellem orientalisme og feminisme: Bindestregs-
kvinden Elisabeth Jerichau-B aumanns konstruktioner af nationaltyper i Brogede Reisebilleder,”
Spring 22 (2004): 196–224. Chapter 3 was previously published in Danish as “Ingen-s teder i Ham-
suns orientalske rejseskildringer,” in Even Arntzen and Henning H. Wærp, eds., Hamsun i Tromsø
III. Rapport fra den 3. Internasjonale Hamsun-k onferanse, 2003 (Hamarøy: Hamsun-S elskapet,
2004), 129–48, and as “Orientalske rejseskildringer,” in Ståle Dingstad, ed., Den litterære Hamsun
(Bergen: Fagbokforlaget, 2005), 105–23.
Copyright 2010 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other-
wise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2 520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Oxfeldt, Elisabeth.
Journeys from Scandinavia : travelogues of Africa, Asia, and South America,
1840–2000 / Elisabeth Oxfeldt.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8166-5634-9 (hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8166-5635-6 (pb : alk. paper)
1. Travelers’ writings, Scandinavian—History and criticism. 2. Travel in literature.
3. Travelers in literature. 4. Postcolonialism in literature. 5. Other (Philosophy) in
literature. 6. Exoticism in literature. 7. Africa—In literature. 8. Asia—In literature.
9. South America—In literature. I. Title.
PT7073.T73O94 2010
839.7'355—dc22 2010017035
Printed in the United States of America on acid-f ree paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal-o pportunity educator and employer.
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Sara Elise
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Contents
introduction xi
Part I
Romantic Journeys to the Orient 3
one
Discovering His Inner Turk:
Hans Christian Andersen’s Commodification of the Exotic 6
two
The Hyphenated Woman:
Elisabeth Jerichau- Baumann’s Juggling Categories
of Gender, Nation, and Ethnicity 31
three
The Ironic Traveler:
Danger and Identity in Knut Hamsun’s Oriental Travelogues 58
Part II
Modern Primitive Travel 81
four
Savage Science:
Johannes V. Jensen in the Malay Jungle 87
five
Humor, Gender, and Nationality:
Isak Dinesen’s Encounter with Africa 106
six
The Traveler and the Tourist:
Axel Jensen’s Desperate Frolic in the Sahara 143
Part III
Late and Postmodern Travel 173
seven
From the Personal to the Universal—and Back:
Carsten Jensen around the World 176
eight
Futile Journeys:
Parody, Postmodernism, and Postnationalism in
Erlend Loe’s Traveling 204
conclusion 233
notes 243
bibliography 287
index 295
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