Geese, Elves, and the Duplicitous, “Diabolical” Landscaped Space of Reactionary Modernism: The Case of Holgersson, Hägerstrand, and Lorenz

Abstract

Reactionary modernism is identified with Nazism, but modernism itself often has a reactionary dimension, which arguably can be traced partially back to the Renaissance construction of the modern map and, from it, perspectival, scenic landscape. The perspectival space of scenic landscape characteristically creates a dialectical hybrid consisting of, on the one hand, an invisible, lawful, geometric spatial framework expressing a modern scientific rationality, and on the other hand, a visible and holistic, but illusory visual scene of organic nature, place, and community appealing to reactionary affect, nostalgia, and emotion. This “duplicitous” dialectic can be termed “diabolic” as opposed to “symbolic.” The construction and consequences of this hybrid are illustrated by how Selma Lagerlöf’s Swedish geography reader cum children’s story, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson, affected the modernism of Torsten Hägerstrand’s time-geographical spatial science and the reactionary modernism of Konrad Lorenz’s Nazi biology, and by extension contemporary rewilding.

反动的现代主义被认为等同于纳粹主义，但现代主义本身则经常具有反动的面向，并且能够部分追溯至对于现代地图的文艺復兴建构，以及自其而来的透视、科学地景。科学地景的透视空间，具特徵性地创造了辩证性混合，该混合一方面由表现现代科学理性的不可见但合法的几何空间架构所构成，另一方面则由诉诸反动情感、怀旧和情绪的可见的、全面但虚幻的有机自然、地方和社群之虚拟景象所构成。此一“表裡不一”的辩证，可称之为相对于“象徵性”的“残酷性”。本文藉由塞尔玛．拉格洛夫的瑞典地理学读物兼儿童故事的“骑鹅历险记”如何影响托斯腾．哈格斯特朗的时间—地理空间科学的现代性，以及康拉德．洛伦兹的纳粹生态学与广义的当代再荒野化之反动现代性，阐明此一混合的建构及后果。

Al modernismo reaccionario se le identifica con el nazismo, aunque el propio modernismo a menudo exhibe una dimensión reaccionaria que quizás podría remontarse a la construcción renacentista del mapa moderno y, de allí, al paisaje escénico en perspectiva. El espacio en condición perspectiva del paisaje escénico característicamente crea un híbrido dialéctico que consta, por una parte, de un marco espacial invisible, legítimo, geométrico que expresa una racionalidad científica moderna, y, por la otra, de una escena visual visible y holística, aunque ilusoria, de la naturaleza orgánica, el lugar y la comunidad que se interesa para el afecto reaccionario, la nostalgia y la emoción. Esta dialéctica “engañosa” podría calificarse de “diabólica”, en oposición a la “simbólica”. La construcción y consecuencias de este híbrido se ilustran con la manera como la historia para niños de la lectora sueca de geografía, Selma Lagerlöf, Las maravillosas aventuras de Nils Holgersson, afectó el modernismo de la ciencia espacial geotemporal de Torsten Hägerstrand y el modernismo reaccionario de la biología nazi de Konrad Lorenz, y, por extensión, la devolución contemporánea de la vida silvestre a sus hábitats.

Key Words:

• landscape scenery
• Nazism
• pedagogy
• rewilding
• spatial science

• 地景风光
• 纳粹主义
• 教育学
• 再荒野化
• 空间科学

• escenario del paisaje
• nazismo
• pedagogía
• devolución de lo silvestre
• ciencia espacial

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author owes a special debt of thanks to Kommissarie TG (also known as Tomas Germundsson) for his assistance, in the spirit of the Swedish–Danish TV crime series, The Bridge, in researching and editing this article. I also owe thanks to Graham Bathe, particularly for his help with the ornithology of geese. I would also like to thank Tord Larsen and the research project, The Cultural Logic of Facts and Figures: Objectification, Measurement and Standardization, based at NTNU, Trondheim, Norway, for incorporating me in the project, and providing a venue for the presentation of thoughts stimulating this article.

Notes

1. This counterposing of the symbolic and the diabolic was suggested to me by the late Venetian geographer Gabriele Zanetto.

2. All translations from non-English texts are by the author.

3. This is the Danish spelling of Holgersson. Ulfstand means wolf’s tooth.

4. The history of British ecology is also tainted by elements of Nazi heritage (Bramwell 1989, 104–74).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kenneth R. Olwig

KENNETH R. OLWIG is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning, and Management in the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include geographical and landscape theory, landscape history, humanistic geography, and Nordic philology.