Challenging Nordic Exceptionalism: Norway in Literature by and about Irregular Migrants

Abstract

According to social scientists, the Nordic countries have claimed to have a unique humanitarian and peace-loving relationship to the colonialized or poor parts of the world, and, according to criminologists, the Nordic countries have exceptionally humane punitive systems. This article asks whether the native Norwegian author Simon Stranger’s fictional account of the life of an irregular migrant in Norway may contribute something to the problematisation of the image of Norway as representative of a so-called Nordic Exceptionalism that two autobiographical accounts written by the irregular migrant Maria Amelie do not – or cannot – do, and vice versa.