Claus Elholm Andersen

Language(s): Danish

Research/Language Interests: In my research, I am mainly interested in the intersection of form and politics, and questions of fiction and fictionality: What it is, how it works, and what it implies. In 2023, I published the monograph Karl Ove Knausgård and the Autofictional Novel, (hyperlink: https://sunypress.edu/Books/K/Knausgaard-and-the-Autofictional-Novel) in which I argue that Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgård, in his 6-volume autobiographical novel My Struggle, consciously engages with, and undermines, a long critical history of equating novels with fiction. In recent years, I have also written a hand full of articles on contemporary Danish literature where I investigate the intersection of fiction and narratology, including several on the novels of Helle Helle.

Currently, I am finished on Danish-language monography on Hans Christian Andersen’s early fairy tales, which will be published in 2025. I am also in the finishes states of co-editing an anthology on Andersen’s reception in the US. My next book, Radical Forms in Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairytales,  is an examination of how Hans Christian Andersen through the formalistic features of his fairytales offers an early criticism of capitalism and how he early saw that capitalism in 19th, in addition to commodifying human existence, puts limits on what he means to be human.

Undergraduate Courses: The Tales of Hans Christian Andersen (Scand 373), Contemporary Scandinavian Literature (Scand 427), Contemporary Scandinavia: Politics and History (Scand 577), Readings in Danish Literature (Scand 271), Contemporary Scandinavian Languages (Scand 401), Graduate Seminar in Professional Development (GNS 700), and Knausgård and Postfiction (Scand 901)

About Me: I am the Paul and Renate Madsen Assistant Professor of Scandinavian Studies. I joined GNS+ in 2017. In addition to my scholarly work, I have given numerous talks around Wisconsin on hygge and happiness through the Badger Talks program. Currently, I also write a weekly column for the Danish newspaper JyllandsPosten. I am committed to the project of making Scandinavian Studies/literary studies diverse, inclusive, and equitable fields.

Education:
• University of Helsinki, Ph.D. (2015)
• University of Copenhagen, Cand.mag. (1999)
• University of Copenhagen, BA (2006)

List of Publications

In January 2018, Professor Andersen was interviewed by Fox6 News.
Click  to learn about Hygge, the concept of ‘pleasant togetherness’.