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8. Abstract/sammendrag
With a detailed introduction to Nordahl Grieg‟s novel, aesthetic viewpoints and political
views, his satirical and political novel, Ung må verden ennu være [The World Must Still Be
Young] (1938), is explored. Using Mikhail Bakhtin‟s chronotope theory, the thesis provides a
generic chronotopical analysis of Ung må verden ennu være as a whole. However, of all the
chronotopes mentioned by Bakhtin in his essay, Forms of Time and of the Chronotope in the
Novel : Notes toward a Historical Poetics (1981), the main focus of the thesis is how the
chronotope of the rogue, the clown and the fool is used as a satirical tool by Grieg. Through
this chronotope, the author utilises the characters as extensions and facilitators of his satirical
message. Given how the chronotope of the rogue, the clown and the fool transcends the
boundaries of the text itself and includes the author, the historical and political context
surrounding Grieg‟s novel is taken into account as well.
Methods include identifying characters in Ung må verden ennu være which
correspond with the hallmarks of the characters in Bakhtin‟s chronotope, and, once identified,
exploring how the particular characters function in relation to Nordahl Grieg‟s satire and
political message. The main findings, with respects to Ung må verden ennu være, are how the
characters Hugh Redfern, Ivan Borisovitsj Lebedeff, Rudolf Lagerhielm, Arild Andersen and
Aksel Fauske correspond to Bakhtin‟s rogue, clown and fool. Although they are relatively
insignificant characters in the plot itself; Redfern, Lebedeff, Lagerhielm, Andersen and
Fauske show themselves to be essential to the novel‟s satirical function. It is the use of these
archetypal characters – the rogue, the clown and the fool – that elevates Grieg‟s novel from
being a mere historical piece, to being a novel steeped in satire. As a consequence of these
findings, it becomes apparent that the utilisation of Bakhtin‟s satirical concepts, among
others: «Rabelaisian laughter» and ridicule, does not limit itself to the satirical authors of
antiquity, the Renaissance or the Enlightenment. Although Bakhtin limits his discussion of
satire to older forms of literary genres, his concepts seem to be fully applicable to modern
novels as well. This connection shows that the old folkloric characters of the rogue, the clown
and the fool, have become ingrained devices in narratology, and is still being used today. The
results of the analysis therefore yield a narratological meta-perspective and insight into how
an author might utilise chronotopes when constructing satirical novels. Links between modern
satirical works and the chronotope of the rogue, the clown, and the fool, are fairly unexplored
in Bakhtinian research. As far as Ung må verden ennu være goes, this connection has never
been investigated to a significant extent in previous research.
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