Nordic Literature

Question 1

Danish author of children’s stories such as The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen, and The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Answer 1

Hans Christian Andersen

Question 2

Danish author who wrote about her experiences on a Kenyan plantation in “Out of Africa” and who wrote about a chef using her entire lottery earnings on preparing one meal for her friends in “Babette’s Feast.”

Answer 2

Isak Dinesen

Question 3

Ibsen play in which the unfulfilled housewife Nora Helmer is blackmailed by the bank employee Krogstad for forging her father’s signature and eventually leaves her husband Torvald. Other characters include Dr. Rank, who though dying of syphilis professes his love to Nora.

Answer 3

A Doll’s House

Question 4

Ibsen play in which the manipulative and unhappy housewife gets a “lover” named Eilert to burn his important manuscript and gives him a pistol and convinces him to “die beautifully” (he does in fact commit suicide).

Answer 4

Hedda Gabler

Question 5

This most famous Nordic writer of all time wrote plays such as The Enemy of the People, The Master Builder, and Peer Gynt.

Answer 5

Henrik Ibsen

Question 6

Swedish playwright of works such as Miss Julie in which Jean has an affair with the title noble, The Ghost Sonata in which Jacob Hummel and Arkenholz explore an apartment building, and The Red Room, considered the first modern Swedish novel.

Answer 6

August Strindberg

Question 7

Swedish novelist of the Kirstin Lavransdatter trilogy, which follows the life of a medieval Norwegian woman from birth to death. She also wrote the tetralogy Master of Hestviken about a medieval Norwegian murderer.

Answer 7

Sigrid Undset