NORWEGIAN LANGUAGE CLUB

We regret to tell you that Kriszti and Joakim will no longer arrange the Norwegian Club. Due to many of life obligations we can unfortunately not find sufficient time to give the club the attention and dedication it deserves. We wish to thank the people who joined us in our first two meetings. We would like to add that, if you would be interested in carrying on the club and arrange meetings in the Scandinavian House Foundation, please let us know.

NOVEMBER 26 2009, 7 PM
THE NORWEGIAN LANGUAGE CLUB CONTINUES!

We are happy to announce to the multi-lingual appreatiators of the Norwegian language that our
next meeting will be held on the 26th of November (Thursday) at 19.00 o’clock in the Scandinavian House. As Christmas is drawing closer, we chose Norwegian and Hungarian Christmas traditions to be the topic for our upcoming gathering.

With Your help we hope to find some similarities and differences in the way we are celebrating the Christmas holidays.
 
We will set the atmosphere by preparing glögg and playing some traditional Christmas songs.
If you would like to surprise the group with a Hungarian or Norwegain Christmas meal, snack or cake we would be very happy to
indulge ourself in this cross-cultural, gastronomical experience. Don’t forget to bring the recipe.

Every Norwegian speaking Hungarian and Norwegains who would like to learn more about the Hungarian
Christmas are more than welcome. This is an excellent chance to make some new friends and have a nice chat in Norwegian.

Cheers!

Kriszti and Joakim

OCTOBER 29 2009, 7 PM
THE NORWEGIAN CLUB STARTS

Nordic House invites you to the first meeting of Norwegian language club where our issue of conversation will be Knut Hamsun, the Nobel Prize-winning writer and his relationship with national socialism.

Date: Thursday 29 October 2009, 19:00 
Location: Nordic House (1072, Budapest, Klauzál tér 4)

About the author 

Knut Hamsun was born exactly one hundred and fifty years ago, in 1859. He was the son of a Norwegian-born fisherman, and never studied in any school. He had an eventful life, rich in turns. He worked as a coal-carrier, fisherman, shoemaker assistant, conductor on trams, farmer, journalist, and finally after the appearance of “Hunger” in 1890 he became a world-famous writer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920 for his magnificent novel “Growth of the Soil”. Hamsun was a great admirer and supporter of Germany and the German culture at the same time he despised communism and the British imperialism. During World War II he supported the fascist Vidkun Quisling and his party Nasjonal Samling.

Later for this he was accused of high treason. Although the charges against him were dropped but the judgment of the lawsuit punished him with perpetual home custody and confiscation of his total fortune. Following the war he was examined by Dr. Gabriel Langfeldt in a psychiatric institution where Hamsun was diagnosed as a person with “diminished mental capacity”. The validity of this diagnosis is far-reachingly denied by “On Overgrown Paths”, his last novel which was written with stiff objectivity.

The topic of discussion 

The figure and life-work of the Nobel Prize winner Norwegian writer are still subject of debate and can provoke intense emotions. Celebrations organized for the 150th anniversary of Hamsun’s birth were sharply criticized both in Norway and all over the world. Opponents of the writer believe that supporting openly the Nazi regime and cheering Hitler are unforgivable sins, while supporters think his political position has to be considered as anti-capitalism only. They also argue that Hamsun’s life-work can be independently judged from his political stand-point.

The language club gives an opportunity for every participant to tell his or her opinion about the debate encircling Hamsun. To what extent did Hamsun agree with the Nazi ideology? Can the writer’s political orientation be ignored when his life-work is judged? Is Nobel Prize the award of his literary performance or the reward of his whole life? Why did the Norwegian government try to prove that Hamsun already during the war was not accountable for his actions? During the conversation we are going to quote from Knut Hamsun’s “On Overgrown Paths” and Per Olov Enquist’s “Hamsun”, and episodes from the film “Hamsun” directed by Jan Troell on the basis of the latter mentioned novel will be screened.