At ændre nutiden gennem fortiden – mundtlig historiefortælling i Danmark
Authors: Andersen Lene 
Published: February 2016

<p>Mange i dag t&aelig;nker umiddelbart, at mundtlig fort&aelig;lling af traditionelle sagn og eventyr mest h&oslash;rer fortiden til. Men inden for de sidste &aring;rtier er der opst&aring;et en ny interesse for mundtlig historiefort&aelig;lling i Danmark. De nye fort&aelig;llere beretter traditionelle sagn og eventyr, men ogs&aring; historier de selv har oplevet eller fundet p&aring;, eller historier fra sk&oslash;nlitter&aelig;re v&aelig;rker. Man f&aring;r indtryk af, at historiefort&aelig;lling stadig har en forbindelse til fortiden. De st&oslash;rste fort&aelig;llefestivaler finder sted i historiske omgivelser p&aring; museer, og nutidens historiefort&aelig;llere henviser ofte til fort&aelig;lletraditionens lange historie, n&aring;r de taler og skriver om historiefort&aelig;lling.Hidtil har den nye interesse for historiefort&aelig;lling ikke v&aelig;ret genstand for forskning, men artiklen freml&aelig;gger et studie af historiefort&aelig;lleres syn p&aring; fort&aelig;lling og fortid. Fokus er, hvilke betydninger begreberne nostalgi og autenticitet har for fort&aelig;llerne. Artiklen bygger prim&aelig;rt p&aring; interviews med historiefort&aelig;llere. Fort&aelig;llerne blev blandt andet bedt om at beskrive, hvordan de umiddelbart forestillede sig, at historiefort&aelig;lling fandt sted i fortiden. Det er et positivt billede af fortiden, der toner frem, og fort&aelig;llerne bruger billederne af fortiden som afs&aelig;t til at kritisere tr&aelig;k af den moderne levem&aring;de. De kritiserer medierne og de elektriske apparater for at g&oslash;re mennesker passive og &oslash;del&aelig;gge deres n&aelig;rv&aelig;r med andre levende mennesker. Ved at genoptage - hvad fort&aelig;llerne opfatter som - en &aelig;ldgammel og udd&oslash;d tradition, &oslash;nsker de at skabe nogle oplevelser, som det moderne menneske savner i vore dages samfund. For fort&aelig;llerne danner fortiden et idealiseret modbillede til nutiden og rummer dermed mulighed for, at fort&aelig;llerne kan tale om deres idealer og h&aring;b for historiefort&aelig;lling.</p><p>Changing the Present through the Past - Oral Story-Telling in Denmark</p><p>Today, many people spontaneously think that oral transmission of traditional legends and fairy tales are a thing of the past. But in the last few decades a new interest has arisen in Denmark in oral story-telling. The new story-tellers relatetraditional legends and fairy tales, but also adventures that they themselves have experienced or invented, or stories from works of fiction. One has the impressionthat story-telling still has a link to the past. The major story-telling festivalstake place in historical surroundings in museums, and present-day story-tellers frequently point to the long history of the story-telling tradition when they speakor write about story-telling.So far, the new interest in story-telling has not been a subject for research, but the present article presents a study of the view of the story-tellers on story-telling and the past. Focus is on which meanings the concepts of nostalgia and authenticityhave for the story-tellers.The article is primarily based on interviews with story-tellers. They were interalia asked to describe how they would spontaneously imagine that story-telling took place in the past. It is a positive picture of the past that emerges, and the story-tellers use images of the past as a platform from which to criticize modernways of life. They criticize the media and electronic gadgets for making people passive and spoiling their being together with other living human beings. By reviving - what the storytellers see as - an ancient and extinct tradition, they wish to create experiences that modern man misses in present-day society. For the story-tellers, the past presents an idealized contrast to the present and thus contains a possibility for the story-tellers to expand about their ideals and hopes for story-telling.</p><p>&nbsp;</p>