„Grey People"? Eastern Europeans in Norwegian Literature. In Conversation with Karolina Drozdowska

With Karolina Drozdowska, a Polish guest from NTNU in Trondheim,
nordlitt widens its geographical range eastwards. Drawing on a
wide array of contemporary and historical texts, from new crime
novels to Romantic patriotic poems, we discuss continuities and
changes in representations of Polish people and Eastern Europeans
in Norwegian literature since the Enlightenment. We learn about
the persistence of the Iron Curtain, the demonization of Russia,
and we muse about the function of stereotypes and caricatures. We
also explore ways of combining and working with large online
corpora and close readings, while reflecting on the benefits of
working in international, interdisciplinary networks. Dreams of
new research projects take shape, accompanied by the reassuring
advice: Be not afraid of academia.


Timestamps:


(00:00:00) Introducing Karolina Drozdowska


(00:04:37) Scandinavian Studies in Poland


(00:13:45) Representations of Eastern Europeans in Norwegian
Literature


(00:19:18) Method: Building a Corpus


(00:24:45) Work Migration, Exoticization, and the Shadow of the
Iron Curtain


(00:32:50) Caricatures and Postcolonial Readings


(00:47: 37) Shifting Images and Imaginations


(00:51:20) Otherness and “Grey People”


(00:58:05) Lithuania and Lithuanians in Norwegian Crime Fiction


(01:07:45) Research Networks


(01:13:00) The Research Project ImagiNation


(01:18:12) Poland in 19th Century Scandinavian Literature


(01:27:26) Comparisons: Representations of Ukrainians and Jewish
Migration


(01:34:37) Connecting Research and Translation Work


(01:39:44) Advice to Student Self


Bibliography, further information, and comments are available on
Experiment Geisteswissenschaften.


https://exgeist.hypotheses.org/category/nordlitt


Idea and conception: Stefanie von Schnurbein


Cut: Cecilia Falkman