Linda Nesby

Youth blogging and serious illness

In recent years, a growing number of young people who experience illness tend to blog about it. In this paper, we question whether and how illness blogs illustrate the intercommunicative aspect of blogging by bringing forth both the literary concept of the implied reader and the sociological concepts of empowerment and agency in the analysis. We argue that young people blogging about serious illness demonstrate the inherent intercommunicative potential of blogging. We also argue that youth blogging about serious illness may represent a fruitful strategy for ill young people to create meaning, stay front-stage in youth communities and build self-esteem and confidence out of chaos. Furthermore, we argue that these blogs may contribute rather unique experience-based knowledge and reflections about existential issues to other young blog readers, who may otherwise not get access to this aspect of life. Youth blogging about serious illness thereby reflects a patient group so far not very visible and through the genre youth stand out as more competent when it comes to illness and healthcare issues than what is often presumed.

Beundring og opposisjon. Forholdet mellom Knut Hamsun og Johannes V. Jensen

Abstract In this article, I will discuss Knut Hamsun’s connection to the Danish capital Copenhagen, and his lifelong acquaintance with the famous Danish author, Johannes V. Jensen. By the end of the 19th century, Copenhagen was the cultural capital of the Nordic countries. Together with many other eminent Nordic artists, Knut Hamsun spent considerable time in Copenhagen and experienced personal and professional growth during his stays there. Johannes V. Jensen and Hamsun knew each other for years and held each other in high esteem, yet their acquaintance was marked by both fascination and critique. Johannes V. Jensen, in particular, had mixed feelings and opinions about Hamsun. This article focusses on the similarities and differences between Knut Hamsun and Johannes V. Jensen, and discusses how an initially shared value system could lead them in two opposite political directions.

[About the mentally retarded in post-war Norway].

The article takes as its subject Gaute Heivolls latest novel Over det kinesiske hav [Across the Chinese Ocean], which describes the establishment of a private nursing home at Finsland in Vest-Agder county immediately before the liberation. The novels protagonist describes retrospectively how his parents adopted a number of mentally disabled persons, among them a group of siblings from Stavanger. When their adoptive family is exposed to a tragedy, views on who are the providers and receivers of care are challenged, as are concepts such as madness and normality. The article shows how a fictional exposée of conditions for the mentally disabled in recent Norwegian history can provide new perspectives on historic health and care practices. Reading Gaute Heivolls Over det kinesiske hav highlights the practice of placing patients in private care, as well as the 1934 Act that authorised the sterilisation of mentally disabled persons.

Atle Næss: Roten av minus en

Atle Naess har skrevet flere romaner, og to biografier om hhv Edevard Munch og Galileo Galilei. Med Roten av minus en kombinerer han roman- og biografigenren, og skriver bade en kjaerlighetshistorie, et utkast til en biografi og et riss av en selvbiografi som i sum blir til en roman om hvorvidt livet har den orden og nodvendighet som biografien er satt til a formidle