Henrik Wergeland's Bouquet: Fredrika Bremer, Sentimentality and Nationalism in Jan van Huysum's Flower Piece

Abstract

Henrik Wergeland's poem Jan van Huysums Blomsterstykke (1840) is often characterized as a key work of Norwegian and Nordic romanticism. Where previous criticism has primarily focused on the poem's ekphrastic dimension, this reading will draw attention to how it employs many forms and genres, at the same time examining neglected thematic strands in the poem. A key lead to the poem's generic placement is provided by its oft-overlooked front-page, paratextual dedication to the Swedish novelist Fredrika Bremer. It will be argued that works by Bremer, such as Hemmet, not only provide some precedent for the ekphrastic dimension of Wergeland's poem, but more importantly reveal the latter text's underestimated ancestry within the genre of the sentimental novel. Combined with the content of the text, this ancestry nudges the poem toward a pan-Scandinavian context, revealing some anxiety in relation to Wergeland's position as a representative figure of Norwegian nationalism.