Introduction to the Special Issue: Changing Concepts of Nature in Contemporary Scandinavian Literature and Photography

Abstract

»It’s still a question of whether it’s a kind of crime – reading so much human into nature. Whether it’s our fate to do so.«1 In these lines from her novel Om mørke (2013), the Danish author Josefine Klougart alludes to one of the most important questions of our time: how might a responsible relationship be shaped between humans and nature? Is it possible to correct and rethink anthropocentric points of view that subjugate other living beings and negate their inherent dynamics? And how do such reconceptions affect the images humans construct of themselves? Since the 1970s at the latest, and specifically since the publication of the Club of Rome’s report The Limits to Growth2 in 1972, an environmental crisis has come into plain sight and is currently growing ever more acute. This prompts the vehement demand to change the way we interact with nature – to reverse the exploitation of natural resources and to develop sustainable strategies.