SCANDINAVIAN LITERARY JOURNALS

Literary and more general journals have been important in all of the Scandinavian countries, starting withOlof vonDalin'sThen Swanska Argus(1732-1734; The Swedish Argus), which was in the style of Joseph Addison and Richard Steele'sThe Tatler(1709-1711) andThe 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 theromanticera wasPhosphorus(1810-1813), with whichPer Daniel Amadeus Atterbomwas associated. In 1835 the IcelanderJonas Hallgrimssonand some of his friends founded the annualFjolnir(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 theModern BreakthroughwereFor Ide og Virkelighed(1869-1873; For Idea and Reality), founded by thecriticClemens Petersen and the philosopher Rasmus Nielsen, who argued in favor of idealism as opposed torealismandnaturalism. One of its contributors was the Norwegian writerBjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Vilhelm Møller'sNyt 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 criticGeorg Brandespublished theDet 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 journalsNyt norsk Tidsskrift(1877-1878; New Norwegian Journal) andNyt Tidsskrift(1882-1887; Norwegian Journal), which opposed the ideas expressed in such conservative periodicals as Ditmar Mejdell'sNorsk Maanedskrift(1884-1885; Norwegian Monthly).

Asneoromanticismappeared on the horizon, the Danish journalTilskueren(1884-1939; The Spectator) became a forum for such writers asJohannes Jørgensen, who later published the periodicalTaarnet(1893-1894; The Tower), through which he championed thesymbolismof the 1890s in opposition to the naturalists. After WorldWarI the Norwegian Erling Falk foundedMot Dag(1921-1939; Toward Daybreak), an important forum forMarxistideas with whichSigurd Hoelwas associated. After World War II the Norwegian writerAksel Sandemosepublished a magazine for which he wrote all of the content,Arstidene(1951-1955; The Seasons). Also subsequent to World War II, the Danish journalHeretica(1948-1953) programmatically avoided all forms of dogmatism and attracted contributions from such writers asMartin A.Hansen.Marxismwas, by contrast, represented by the journalsAthenæum(1945-1950) andDialog(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 ofTage Skou-Hansen, Klaus Rifbjerg, andVilly Sørensen. It became an important voice for bothmodernismand the radicalism of the 1960s and 1970s. In Norway theProfilgroup, among them the writersEspen Haavardsholm, Tor Obrestad, andDag Solstad, used the journalProfilas a forum for both modernism and Marxism.

Currently the Scandinavian countries have a number of high-quality literary journals. The Danish journalHvedekorn(est. 1920; Grains of Wheat) has received contributions from such writers asTom KristensenandTove 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, whileParnasso(est. 1951; Parnassus) is a Finnish-language literary magazine. The Icelandic journalsSkirnir(est. 1827; named for the messenger of the Old Norse god Freyr) andTimarit Mals og menningar(est. 1940; Journal of Language and Culture) publish work ofthe country's best-known writers. The Norwegian journalEdda(est. 1914) publishes academic literary criticism, while the literary magazineVinduet(est. 1947; The Window) focuses on contemporary Norwegian literature and has been edited by a succession of important writers and scholars, among themJohan BorgenandJan Kjærstad. The Swedish journalOrd och bild(est. 1892; Word and Image) covers a variety of literary and cultural topics.