Med sort humor om en sort fremtid. Om humorens rolle i nordiske dystopier

• Authors: Radka Stahr , Anne Marlene Hastenplug

Title variants

EN

With dark humor about a dark future. On the role of humor in Nordic dystopias

Abstracts

EN

This article analyses the relationship between black humor and dystopian literature. In dystopia, humor can appear on the surface as language or situational comics, but there is also a deeper link between these two literary phenomena: they confront the reader with an unexpected notion in order to bring him to a critical reflection. There are many dystopias in the Nordic literature that use comic elements. Three of them are discussed in this article: Axel Jensens Epp (1965), Lena Anderssons Duck City (2006) and Kaspar Colling Nielsens Den danske borgerkrig 2018–24 (2013). The analysis shows that classic black humor is enriched with other tragicomic, satirical or surrealistic elements and significantly contributes to the critical tone of the text. In all cases humor is used for the same purpose, and this is a critique of superior power (the so-called superiority theory). Therefore, humor can be considered not only as a stylistic means, but also as a principle of construction of the dystopian works.

Keywords

DA

dansk litteratur; dystopi; sort humor

EN

Danish literature; dystopia; dark humor

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Folia Scandinavica Posnaniensia
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 29

Dates

published

2020

Contributors

author

Radka Stahr

• Charles University, Prague

author

Anne Marlene Hastenplug

• Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main

References

• Andersson, L. (2006). Duck City. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur.
• Balle Jensen, M. (2007). Humor i dansk. Århus: Systime.
• Breton, A. (1979). Anthologie des schwarzen Humors. München: Rogner & Bernhard.
• Critchley, S. (2002). On Humour. London and New York: Routledge.
• Franklyn, B. S. (2008). Towards a Theory of Postmodern Humour: South Park as Carnivalesque Postmodern Impulse. Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller e.K.
• Hellenthal, M. (1989). Schwarzer Humor: Theorie und Definition. Essen: Die Blaue Eule.
• Jensen, A. (1965). Epp. Oslo: J. W. Cappelens Forlag.
• Layh, S. (2014). Finstere neue Welt. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann.
• Levisen, C. (2018). Dark, but Danish: Ethnopragmatic perspectives on black humor. Intercultural pragmatics 15(4), 515–531. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2018-0018
• Lundquist, L. (2014). Danish humor in cross-cultural professional settings: linguistic and social aspects. Humor - International Journal of Humor Research 27(1), 141–163. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2013-0044
• Madsen, O. J. (2012). Tapetbevissthet. Om 'utopienes død' i Axel Jensens Epp. Sosiologisk Årbok 1, 151–167.
• Moylan, T. (2000). Scraps of the Untainted Sky. Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia. Boulder, Oxford: Westview Press.
• Nielsen, K. C. (2013). Den danske borgerkrig 2018–24. København: Gyldendal.
• Paul, J. (1963). Vorschule der Ästhetik: Kleine Nachschule zur Ästhetischen Vorschule. München: Hansen.
• Ross, A. (1998). The Language of Humour. New York, London: Routledge.
• Seeger, S. (2018). Dystopia and Dystopian Literature. In: The Literary Encyclopedia. https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19513, accessed 14.2.2020.
• van der Hagen, A. (1996). Åtte forfattersamtaler. Oslo: Oktober.
• Vosskamp, W. (2013). Möglichkeitsdenken. Utopie und Dystopie in der Gegenwart. In: W. Vosskamp (ed.), Möglichkeitsdenken. Utopie und Dystopie in der Gegenwart (13–30). Paderborn: Fink.

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/fsp-2020-0005

Biblioteka Nauki

27314088