Norwegian Experimental Literature in Dag Solstad’s "Svingstol" and Jan Erik Vold’s "BusteR brenneR"

This paper aims to present Norwegian experimental literature in the 1960s with respect to the profilister’s literary orientation and to the concept of nyenkelhet (new simplicity). It begins with a presentation of the Norwegian literary context, the accent being placed on Profil and the new generation of young Norwegian writers who formed both the Literary Circle Profil and founded the literary magazine of the same name. The first section of the paper entitled “Norwegian Literature in the 1960s and the ‘Profilister’ Vold and Solstad” is an introduction to a newly formed literary sphere which includes not only experimental poems and fiction but also critical essays and book reviews. To present the new ideas of these young writers, we have used appropriate theoretical articles selected from Profil regarding Norwegian fiction, the role of the writer in society, and Norwegian Modernism of the 1960s. A new type of Norwegian literature is also characterized by the concept of nyenkelhet (new simplicity) introduced to Norway by Jan Erik Vold’s experimental poems. The two following sections approach the concept of nyenkelhet (new simplicity) from two different literary perspectives: as they are reflected in Dag Solstad’s collection of short stories entitled Svingstol (Swivel Chair; 1967) and Jan Erik Vold’s volume of prose poems BusteR brenneR (1976). In addition, the article outlines the concept of nyenkelhet (new simplicity) as it is presented by the Norwegian writer Dag Solstad in the article “Tingene og verden” (Things and the World), published in Profil in 1967.