Henrik Ibsen's breakthrough in Europe around 1900 is rooted in the tension between the communicative, industrial and cultural integration of the continent and the ever-increasing nationalism that counteracts the transnationalization of societies. I will examine these tensions using the example of the French-language reception of Henrik Ibsen's work and media personality. A comparison with the German-language reception will reveal interesting parallels and differences: While the geographies and practices of the theatrical reception of Ibsen's work are similar to those of the German-speaking ones according to data from IbsenStage, he is described by many French critics as fundamentally alien in racial terms and his plays as incomprehensible because they originate from the "brumes du Nord", the naturally and therefore even intellectually foggy North. This is not without irony, as recent research has emphasized the importance of French theater, especially the "pièce-bien-faite" for Ibsen's drama.
Thomas Mohnike is a Professor of Scandinavian Studies and Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at the University of Strasbourg. He has published widely on the reception of Nordic culture in a French-German context and on digital humanities methods applied to Scandinavian Studies. His latest book is Géographies du Germain. Les études nordiques à l'université de Strasbourg (1840-1945), which was published in 2022 by the Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg.
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