The Scandinavian Modern Breakthrough

Knowledge on the Nordics

Listen to this nordics.info podcast on the social, political and literary movement from around 1870 to 1900 in Scandinavia! Dubbed the Modern Breakthrough, it was a backlash against conservatism, both culturally and politically, and led to countless challenging and fascinating pieces of fictional and non-fictional literature and art. Authors were like celebrities, propounding social justice for the poor, emancipation and rights for women, taking up naturalist ideas post-Darwin, and kicking against the overriding religion.
Spoiler alert!: If you listen to this podcast, several endings of famous Scandinavian novels will be disclosed!
Sound credits from freesound.org including oboe horn tune & audience r.aif by IEDlabs and Historical Museum lounge area ambience.wav by Halfofthesky.

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Chapters

1. The Scandinavian Modern Breakthrough (00:00:00)

2. What was the Modern Breakthrough? (00:02:51)

3. Role of the critic (00:07:20)

4. Who was Georg Brandes? (00:09:25)

5. What did Henrik Pontopiddan think? (00:11:55)

6. Who was Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson? (00:15:37)

7. Sexual mores between men and women (00:17:34)

8. Where were the women in all this? (00:19:36)

9. Naturalism vs Religion (00:26:30)

10. Copenhagen as a cultural centre - where were the other Nordic countries?... (00:33:33)

11. Did it have an effect on the Nordic society? (00:38:36)