This presentation takes a comparative look at two canonical dramatic works of the Modern Breakthrough: Henrik Ibsen’s Lille Eyolf (1894) and Minna Canth’s Anna-Liisa (1895). Published only one year apart, these three-act plays share strikingly similar thematic concerns in their depictions of child death, grief, marriage, and motherhood. While Anna-Liisa—the titular character in Canth’s play—commits infanticide driven by desperation and fear culminating in a pragmatic transformation, Rita Allmers is driven by self-interest and the need for private love, which indirectly causes the death of her boy. Her transformation is a philosophical moral reckoning. How do the characters’ views on death, motherhood, and marriage lead to their distinctive transformations in the final act? How do these texts invite readings shaped by the author’s gender and distinct cultural expressions?
Little scholarly attention has been paid to these two particular works in dialogue. However, the similarities and contrasts between Anna-Liisa and Lille Eyolf can provide insight into the distinctive approaches of Canth and Ibsen. This project aims to illuminate how Canth and Ibsen’s dramatic texts confront the aforementioned themes by means of close textual examination and critical engagement with relevant scholarship on each play, author, and Finnish and Norwegian literary history. More broadly, this study negotiates and expands the binary between literary form and cultural context in hopes of developing a more nuanced understanding of Nordic voices during the Modern Breakthrough and the possibilities of comparative literature.
Lianna Torres is beginning her second year as a Ph.D. student in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Washington. She holds an M.Phil. in Ibsen Studies from the University of Oslo and a B.A. in Nordic Studies from Luther College. Her academic interests revolve around Norwegian language, literature, theatre, and culture, with research focus on adaptation studies (especially Ibsen and dance), performance studies, theatre historiography, and literary analysis. Alongside her studies, Lianna has taught Norwegian language courses at institutions including Vesterheim Folk Art School, Luther College, and currently serves as a Predoctoral Teaching Associate at the University of Washington. She looks forward to a lifelong career in education and research in Ibsen and Scandinavian Studies.
Please note that this seminar will be streamed. To participate remotely, you need to register at this link by August 17. A Zoom link will be sent on the day of the seminar.