Academic interests
- Genetic criticism
- Knut Hamsun's authorship
- Literary theory
- Literary criticism
- Book history
- Children's literature
Background
- Master of Philosophy in Literary Studies, Programme option: Literary Mediation, Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo.
Tags:
Nordic literature,
PhD,
Literature
Publications
-
Moe, Birgitte Furberg
(2019).
Med blikk på verkets tilblivelse. Genetisk kritikk og grenser mellom historisk virkelighet og fiksjon i På gjengrodde stier.
-
Moe, Birgitte Furberg
(2018).
Hamsun's On Overgrown Paths, Genetic Criticism and Intention.
-
Moe, Birgitte Furberg
(2010).
En norsk klassiker i internasjonal drakt.
Barnebokkritikk.no.
-
Moe, Birgitte Furberg
(2023).
The genesis of the text and dealing with guilt in Knut Hamsun’s On Overgrown Paths (1949)
Monograph by Birgitte Furberg Moe,
Department of Linguistic and Nordic Studies
.
Universitetet i Oslo.
Show summary
The study is both a diachronic and empirically oriented dissertation on the creation of On Overgrown Paths and a reading of this controversial classic. Methodologically, the dissertation is dependent on genetic criticism, in which an author’s writing process is studied,and it is also informed by historical-biographical and book-historical research. Both the internal text-genetic perspective and the larger developmental perspective are mapped.Through the examination of Hamsun's letters, manuscript material from the years 1945–1949 and other texts, I examine how the avant-text can help to illuminate the final text. I have emphasized the question of guilt, and especially moral and religious guilt linked to the question of whether Hamsun expressed guilt for his ideologically motivated actions during the
Second World War. In this regard, it is the meeting between Nazism and Christianity that constitutes the field of interest, something that is linked to cultural genetics – that is, how the cultural-historical context is reflected in the writing process. The goal has been to explore Christian motifs and themes that have not previously been sufficiently explored in the research on Hamsun. The investigation provides insight into the creation of the text, the author’s motivation for writing, and the relationship between the text and its historical context. The work presents several previously unpublished texts by Hamsun in a developmental perspective.
An important conclusion is that, after the war, Knut Hamsun acquired a personal Christian faith, finding comfort in God when the goal of his ideological works lay in ruins. What I characterize as Hamsun’s Christian turn, was also linked to his actions during the war. Through his writing, Hamsun developed a Christian rhetoric – that is, a pathos strategy around the "poor" sufferer, which he developed for cynical purposes. An important goal was to influence the reader's feelings and to turn public opinion from condemnation to compassion, so that he and his family could have peace. At the same time, it was not just about rhetoric; the Christian theme reflected his faith in God and a genuine reflection on guilt and forgiveness. I note that Hamsun became more ambiguous and vague when dealing with
loaded topics such as guilt during the writing process, but also that he could become more explicit, such as when he lied in his defence speech in court in 1947.
Hamsun’s On Overgrown Paths is thus not only a deceitful and calculating work, but also a self-examining and truth-seeking book, as well as a testimony of guilt.
View all works in Cristin
Published
Sep. 4, 2017 9:13 AM
- Last modified
Aug. 31, 2019 1:22 PM