Modern literature can be very global without looking to the
nationality, but the roots of the literature show much more
differences. If we look at national epics and classic literature, it
can be seen that in scandinavian countries that are Iceland, Norway,
Denmark and Sweden. These countries have same roots in both language
and mythology. What are still left very visible of scandinavian
mythology are the names of days. Monday = mondag = moon's day. Tuesday
= tisdag = day of Tyr(god of war). Wednesday = onsdag = Day of
Woden(Odin, king of gods), Thursday = torsdag = Day of Thor(god of
lightning) etc. Trolls and giants are very popular in classic
scandinavian art and literature.
Theodor Kittelsen has used many aspects of scandinavian folklore in his art.
http://www.norsegate.com/kittelsen.html
http://www.trollshop.net/trolls/kittelsen/
Finnish literature is bit different to scandinavian literature since
it's roots and mythology are from Kalevala. Finland doesn't excatly
belong to scandinavia, although it is many times counted as
scandinavian country. The accurate definiton for countries including
Finland is Fennoscandia. |
