Dyrking av nordmenns karaktertrekk blant norske patrioter ca. 1770 - 1814

Abstract This thesis aims to examine the idolization of the Norwegian people’s characteristics among Norwegian patriots in the period approx. 1770 – 1814. This was a time when certain parts of the Norwegian intelligentsia were exploring what defined the Norwegian people’s national character. Among the Norwegian patriots of the period, there was an idolization of what they saw as characteristics peculiar to the Norwegian nation and its people. This idolization was directed towards the rural Norwegian peasantry and Norwegian folk culture, as the Norwegian peasants were seen as representatives of the nation’s authentic and traditional way of life. The nation-building program of the Norwegian p…