Folklore Fights the Nazis: Humor in Occupied Norway, 1940-1945

Folklore Fights the Nazis: Humor in Occupied Norway, 1940-1945. By Kathleen Stokker. 1st pbk edn. Madison, Wisconsin and London: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1997. 273pp. ISBN 0 299 15444 0

In Norway, a flood of books has commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II. This is the only one treating war humour. Since 1945 many collections of war humour have been published, the best known being Finn Bo's Forbuden frukt [Forbidden Fruit]. His collection was started immediately after the occupation and published in 1945. Kathleen Stokker, Professor of Norwegian at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, has contributed to this literature with a well researched and a most readable book; the hard cover edition of 1995 sold out.

In her own words, the book "samples that humor; it organizes the anti-Nazi jokes and anecdotes, places them in an historical context and examines the sentiment behind them" (p. 9). Humour is an important source for the study of mentality, or as Stokker puts it: "What a country jokes about, it also takes most seriously" (p. 7).

With sound source criticism, Stokker asks whether everyday people found meaning in these jokes. She found the answer in the five previously unpublished collections of war jokes and diaries that constitute her basic material. However, as a folklorist, I ask myself why she did not supplement this material with fieldwork. Also, her scepticism towards the published material prevents her from discussing its role in shaping the national stand after the war.

The book is organised according to the chronology of the war, and each chapter begins with a survey of the latest development of the war. The jokes are supplemented by illustration of anti-Nazi postcards, covers of weekly journals, posters, mock stamps, children's books and descriptions of anti-Nazi demonstrations (wearing a paper clip on lapels or red clothing), all of which are mentioned in Finn Bo's book as well.

The present volume succeeds in placing the humour in an historical, political and cultural context, and demonstrates that it had a function in everyday life. In addition, there are some analytical pearls. The best, in my opinion, is the analysis of the street car as an arena for illegal humour and symbolic resistance (pp. 149-59). Stokker also manages to convey the actual humour to a modern reader.

Reimund Kvideland, Bergen, Norway

COPYRIGHT 1999 Folklore Society
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