Author Description

Anyone aware of the magic in Christmas will recognize the inspiration in these stories. Readers will encounter robbers on a raid, a homeless stranger seeking kindness, excited children, and a talking Christmas tree, all under the spell of the season. Here and there appear Nissen, the capped and bearded imps of mischief familiar throughout Scandinavia. Christmas in Scandinavia includes writers from Denmark, the Faroese Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Among the many masterpieces of the Christmas story are Hans Christian Andersen's "The Fir Tree" and stories by Nobel laureates Selma Lagerlvf and Johannes V. Jensen. Most of the seventeen pieces collected here have never before been available in English. Each is preceded by a brief headnote. In his introduction, Sven H. Rossel discusses the rich and fascinating Scandinavian Christmas traditions, the origins of this feast, and its celebration in contemporary Scandinavia. Sven H. Rossel is the general editor of the Histories of Scandinavian Literature, a series published by the University of Nebraska Press, and chair of Scandinavian languages and literature at the University of Vienna. Bo Elbrxnd-Bek is a lecturer of Danish literature at the University of Wisconsin. David W. Colbert lives in Seattle and is the author of The Birth of the Ballad: The Scandinavian Medieval Genre.