Sometimes used so as to include metafiction, fabulation, and literary self-reference, postmodernism is a manifestation of a broader tendency against realism. Unencumbered by the dreams ofdialectical harmony, postmodernism celebrates the contradictions of existence and mixes old and new, high and low forms of literary expression. The mystery story, a "low" genre, for example, is mixed with more traditional "high" narrative in the Swede Kerstin Ekman's Handelser vid vatten (1993; tr. Blackwater, 1997). A similar mixture can be found in some of the work of the Finland-Swedish novelist Kjell Westo, whose books Drakarna over Helsingfors (1996, Kites above Helsinki) and Lang (2002) exemplify some ofthe literary techniques of postmodernism as well as its focus on cultural analysis. These techniques are also found in the work of the Danish novelists Peter Høeg and Ib Michael. The former's novel Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne (1992; tr. Smilla's Sense ofSnow, 1993), for example, contains a strong admixture of elements from the thriller.
Two contemporary Norwegian writers, Kjartan Fløgstad and Jan Kjærstad, exemplify postmodernism in Norway. Fløgstad has written a long series of novels in which anti-realist techniques figure prominently, starting with Dalen Portland (1977; tr. Dollar Road, 1989), while Kjærstad's novel Forføreren (1993; tr. The Seducer, 2003) is the first volume in a trilogy about a television personality.
Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature and Theater. Jan Sjavik. 2006.