sjavik@u.washington.edu  Tel. (206) 685-2551    Dept. of Scandinavian Studies  University of Washington  Box 353420  Seattle, WA 98195-3420 Personal Homepage

Jan Sjåvik combines the study of critical theory with that of Scandinavian and especially Norwegian literature. He has been particularly interested in such theorists as Stanley Fish, Richard Rorty and Donald Davidson, and has written about the Norwegian authors Arne Garborg, Knut Hamsun, Ole E. Rølvaag, and others. His book Reading for the Truth, a study of works by Hamsun, Garborg, Rølvaag, and others, was published in 2004. His most recent book is Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature and Theater (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2006).

Research:
Norwegian literature, critical theory, rhetoric

Teaching:

• An Introduction to Norwegian Literary and Cultural History
• The Plays of Henrik Ibsen
• Masterpieces of Scandinavian Literature
• Literary Theory
• The Norwegian Short Story

Representative Publications:

Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature and Theater (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2006).

Reading for the Truth: Rhetorical Constructions in Norwegian Fiction (Christchurch, New Zealand: Cybereditions, 2004).

"Reading Arne Garborg's Irony: Bondestudentar, Trætte mænd, Fred." Scandinavian Studies, vol. 27 (2000).

"Between Two Worlds: The Emigrant Novels of Ole E. Rølvaag." In Wendy Griswold and Fredrik Engelstad, eds., Places Within, Places Beyond: Norwegian Regionalism in Literature. Oslo: Institute for Social Research, 1996, pp. 77-91.

"Rhetorical Manipulation in Maurits Hansen’s ‘Luren’." Scandinavian Studies, vol. 66 (1994), pp. 521-32.

"Presence and Absence in J. S. Welhaven, 'Den Salige'." Scandinavian Studies, 1993, pp. 196-206.

"Lesning som sentral trope i Knut Hamsuns Pan," Asmund Lien, ed., Modernismen i Skandinavisk litteratur som historisk fenomen og teoretisk problem, (Trondheim: Nordisk institutt, AVH, Universitetet i Trondheim, 1991), pp. 277-82.

"Dekonstruksjonskritikken i Amerika," Edda, vol. 85 (1985), pp. 25-47.

Arne Garborgs Kristiania-romaner: En beretterteknisk studie. Oslo: Aschehoug, 1985.

"Triangular Structures in Knut Hamsun's Pan." Pacific Coast Philology, vol. 27 (1992), pp. 117-23.

Affiliations:
Critical Theory Program, University of Washington