Wilderness’ concept on Faroese literature

• Main Author: Escaño Pérez, Esperanza
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidad de Alicante 2023
• Subjects: Folklore; comparative literature; ecocriticism; Faroe islands; XIX century; Folclore; literatura comparada; ecocrítica; islas Feroe; siglo XIX; Faroe Islands; Lengua; Islas Feroe
• Online Access: https://revistes.ua.es/pangeas/article/view/24702

The main goal of this paper is to provide a closeup to the Faroese literature from an ecocritical perspective since both the Faroese language and Faroese literature have been developed closely with the islands’ nature, which is mainly wild. For this purpose we will relate some ecocritical notions, as ‘wilderness’ by Lawrence Buell, but also Flys Junquera and Tiius Speek’s remarks, in order to apply them to the folktales of the Faroe Islands and to explain how nature is shown and expressed in several situations described in the texts. Since Faroese folktales were transcribed during the 19th century by the Faroese philologist and linguist Venceslaus Ulric Hammershaimb we will discuss demythologization and its processes throughout the Faroese history, a process which took place much later than in Europe. Regarding this fact this paper analyzes how legends and folklore are a normal element in the Faroese’s beliefs, a hybrid folklore whose roots remain in both Scandinavian and Celtic origins. From this ancient, pagan beliefs we will draw interesting conclusions on how the actual situation at the Faroe Islands is significative for ecocritical research, as well as on the interaction Faroese people still have with their environment. Therefore, the “pristine state of nature” is related to all of these factors and still exists today on the archipelago. En este artículo proponemos un acercamiento a la producción literaria feroesa desde el punto de vista de la ecocrítica, debido al interesante desarrollo de la historia de la lengua y literatura feroesas y a su relación con la naturaleza, prácticamente inalterada, de las islas. Para ello, nos basaremos principalmente en la noción de wilderness de Lawrence Buell y a la matización que de ella hacen Flys Junquera y Tiius Speek, y la aplicaremos a los cuentos populares de las islas Feroe para revisar cómo se expresa y se muestra esa naturaleza salvaje en las diferentes situaciones que se proponen en los textos. Al tratarse de cuentos populares que se pusieron por escrito en el ...