Akademik

Scandinavian literary journals
   Literary and more general journals have been important in all of the Scandinavian countries, starting with Olof von Dalin's Then Swanska Argus (1732-1734; The Swedish Argus), which was in the style of Joseph Addison and Richard Steele's The Tatler (1709-1711) and The Spectator (1711-1714). Most general cultural journals have given some space to both literary contributions and essays about literature, and writers have traditionally had a great deal of influence in Scandinavian society and politics. An important Swedish journal of the romantic era was Phosphorus (1810-1813), with which Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom was associated. In 1835 the Icelander Jonas Hallgrimsson and some of his friends founded the annual Fjolnir (1835-1839), which published Hallgrlmsson's poems and short stories, as well as articles about Iceland's natural history.
   Some of the most important journals of the Modern Breakthrough were For Ide og Virkelighed (1869-1873; For Idea and Reality), founded by the critic Clemens Petersen and the philosopher Rasmus Nielsen, who argued in favor of idealism as opposed to realism and naturalism. One of its contributors was the Norwegian writer Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Vilhelm Møller's Nyt dansk Maanedskrift (1870-1874; New Danish Monthly Journal), on the other hand, was published in opposition to Petersen and Nielsen. Together with his brother Edvard, the critic Georg Brandes published the Det Nittende Aarhundrede (1874-1877; The Nineteenth Century), the chief forum for his radical realist and naturalist critique of literature and culture. In Norway the historian Johan Ernst Sars published the progressive journals Nyt norsk Tidsskrift (1877-1878; New Norwegian Journal) and Nyt Tidsskrift (1882-1887; Norwegian Journal), which opposed the ideas expressed in such conservative periodicals as Ditmar Mejdell's Norsk Maanedskrift (1884-1885; Norwegian Monthly).
   As neoromanticism appeared on the horizon, the Danish journal Tilskueren (1884-1939; The Spectator) became a forum for such writers as Johannes Jørgensen, who later published the periodical Taarnet (1893-1894; The Tower), through which he championed the symbolism of the 1890s in opposition to the naturalists. After World War I the Norwegian Erling Falk founded Mot Dag (1921-1939; Toward Daybreak), an important forum for Marxist ideas with which Sigurd Hoel was associated. After World War II the Norwegian writer Aksel Sandemose published a magazine for which he wrote all of the content, Arstidene (1951-1955; The Seasons). Also subsequent to World War II, the Danish journal Heretica (1948-1953) programmatically avoided all forms of dogmatism and attracted contributions from such writers as Martin A. Hansen. Marxism was, by contrast, represented by the journals Athenæum (1945-1950) and Dialog (1950-1962), edited by Erik Knudsen and Sven Møller Kristensen. Vindrosen (1954-1974; The Compass Card), on the other hand, was more specifically literary under the leadership of Tage Skou-Hansen, Klaus Rifbjerg, and Villy Sørensen. It became an important voice for both modernism and the radicalism of the 1960s and 1970s. In Norway the Profil group, among them the writers Espen Haavardsholm, Tor Obrestad, and Dag Solstad, used the journal Profil as a forum for both modernism and Marxism.
   Currently the Scandinavian countries have a number of high-quality literary journals. The Danish journal Hvedekorn (est. 1920; Grains of Wheat) has received contributions from such writers as Tom Kristensen and Tove Ditlevsen. Kritik (est. 1967; Criticism) emphasizes textual analysis. Finsk Tidskrift (est. 1876; Finnish Journal), which is published in Swedish, is the chiefcultural voice ofFin-land's Swedish-speaking population, while Parnasso (est. 1951; Parnassus) is a Finnish-language literary magazine. The Icelandic journals Skirnir (est. 1827; named for the messenger of the Old Norse god Freyr) and Timarit Mals og menningar (est. 1940; Journal of Language and Culture) publish work ofthe country's best-known writers. The Norwegian journal Edda (est. 1914) publishes academic literary criticism, while the literary magazine Vinduet (est. 1947; The Window) focuses on contemporary Norwegian literature and has been edited by a succession of important writers and scholars, among them Johan Borgen and Jan Kjærstad. The Swedish journal Ord och bild (est. 1892; Word and Image) covers a variety of literary and cultural topics.

Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature and Theater. . 2006.