Christmas in Scandinavia

Anyone aware of the magic in Christmas will recognize the inspiration in these stories. Readers will encounter robbers on a raid, a homeless stranger seeking kindness, excited children, and a talking Christmas tree, all under the spell of the season. In his introduction, Sven H. Rossel discusses the rich and fascinating Scandinavian Christmas traditions, the origins of this feast, and its celebration in contemporary Scandinavia.

Sven H. Rossel is the general editor of the Histories of Scandinavian Literature series published by the University of Nebraska Press, and the chair of Scandinavian languages and literature at the University of Vienna. Bo Elbrond-Bek is a lecturer of Danish literature at the University of Wisconsin. David W. Colbert lives in Seattle and is the author of The Birth of the Ballad: The Scandinavian Medieval Genre.

Anyone aware of the magic in Christmas will recognize the inspiration in these stories. Readers will encounter robbers on a raid, a homeless stranger seeking kindness, excited children, and a talking Christmas tree, all under the spell of the season. Here and there appear Nissen, the capped and bearded imps of mischief familiar throughout Scandinavia. Christmas in Scandinavia includes writers from Denmark, the Faroese Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Among the many masterpieces of the Christmas story are Hans Christian Andersen's "The Fir Tree" and stories by Nobel laureates Selma Lagerlof and Johannes V. Jensen. Most of the seventeen pieces collected here have never before been available in English. Each is preceded by a brief headnote. In this introduction, Sven H. Rossel discusses the rich and fascinating Scandinavian Christmas traditions, the origins of this feast, and its celebration in contemporary Scandinavia.

Kirkus Reviews

Christmas In Scandinavia ( until Dec. 31, 1996; thereafter; Sept. 1996; 280 pp.; 0-8032-3907-6): This marvelous anthology collects 17 splendid tales by 19th- and 20th-century writers from the Scandinavian countries, Faroe Islands, and Finland. Nobel Prize winners Johannes V. Jensen and Selma Lagerlöf are represented, he by the bitterly ironic "Christmas Peace," she by the inexplicably neglected "Legend of the Christmas Roses," a limpidly written allegory worthy of Hawthorne. Other exceptional pieces include Hans Christian Andersen's moving fairy tale "The Fir Tree" (the only story here at all likely to be familiar to US readers), a powerful criticism of anti-Semitism in "Advent in the Thirties" by Eyvind Johnson (another Nobel laureate), and especially the Faroese William Heinesen's "Born of a Maid," an unforgettable retelling of the birth of Christ, set in the North Atlantic during a hurricane. An indispensable collection and one of the most delightful fictional surprises of the year.

Sven H. Rossel is the general editor of the Histories of Scandinavian Literature series published by the University of Nebraska Press, and the chair of Scandinavian languages and literature at the University of Vienna. Bo Elbrond-Bek is a lecturer of Danish literature at the University of Wisconsin. David W. Colbert lives in Seattle and is the author of The Birth of the Ballad: The Scandinavian Medieval Genre.