BONDEFRIHED OG ANDRE VERDENSBILLEDER IDEHISTORISKE STUDIER AF B.S. INGEMANNS DANMARKSHISTORIE 1824-1836

Resumé

ABSTRACT

Peasants’ Freedom and other Ideas of History:
Studies in the Historical Literature of B.S. Ingemann 1824-1836

Using a New Historicist approach this article examines four worldviews imbedded in a reading of B.S. Ingemanns historical literature which was published between 1824-1836 in the genre of two poems and four historical novels. The worldview of the author-subject (1), a worldview related to the relationship between the monarchy and the people, largely conceived within the so called ‘myth of an original peasants freedom’, a founding myth within Danish historiography (2), a worldview related to the defense of the Danish version of monarchism, in particular the thoughts put forward by the Danish lawyer Jacob Mandix (3), and finally a worldview related to notions of the ideal ‘Rechtsstat’, where Ingemanns literature is read within the context of the discipline “Law and Literature” (4). The article displays personal experiences with monarchism which becomes the primary object of investigation in the context of empirical analysis of prose fiction.