Henrik Ibsen and Conspiracy Thinking

Conspiracy theories are everywhere around us. Generating countless websites, books, films, series, and podcasts, and encompassing nearly every major negative event that has taken place since the end of World War II, conspiracies have become a phenomenon that anyone as a citizen and thinking individual has had to cope with in the last few decades, arguably reaching a peak during the Trump presidency, with the rise of QAnon and various conspiracy theories about the current Covid-19 pandemic (Barkun 2017; Amarasingam and Argentino 2020; Mitchell et al. 2020; Uscinski et al. 2020).Not surprisingly, the rise of conspiracy theories has also coincided with an increasing scholarly interest, especially within psychology and the social sciences, although studies of conspiracies in literature and film have also grown in number during the last two decades. What has been much less thoroughly researched, however, is how the hermeneutical and epistemological mechanisms that lie at the foundation of conspiracy theories—what I term “conspiracy thinking”—have sneaked into other forms of discourse, and especially those that are far removed from classic conspiratorial themes such as the New World Order, Freemasonry and the Illuminati, the JFK assassination, or even ufology. In other words: Can conspiracy thinking also be traced where there is no hidden or evident conspiracy? What are the consequences for our understanding of the texts that contain and disseminate such modes of thinking? And are the boundaries between a conspiratorial and a legitimate interpretation of a work of art or literature always clear-cut?The aim of this article is to study two contemporary examples of conspiracy thinking related to Henrik Ibsen's plays, and to show how these hermeneutical forms have sneaked into discourses—such as literature and drama, and the critical reflection on them—that in themselves do not have much to do with conspiracies. Although my study is limited to Ibsen, I claim that this example is just one of many that take place in contemporary readings of Western literature. For while blockbusters like Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code (2003) have contributed to spreading conspiracy theories widely in literary form, there is also a flourishing literature that seeks to find encoded messages and secret layers of meaning in canonical literary works. Just to mention two famous examples, the same Brown's Inferno (2013) draws upon the long-standing tradition of conspiracy theories related to Dante's Divine Comedy, and the works of William Shakespeare have been subjected to a long series of conspiratorial readings, arguably reaching a peak—at least in a Norwegian context—with Erlend Loe's and Petter Amundsen's mashup of theories about Shakespeare's persona and the coded messages that the English dramatist allegedly left in texts and as as have to books, films, and series, and have article on two studies that have in with the examples are 2017; The a film that the Norwegian on the of the of the of the and The a the Norwegian on the of the of Ibsen's I that the these works although and not on are a of the much phenomenon of conspiracy to not how conspiracy thinking has to to such a that are not to that is at also to a about the of interpretation that and such studies the that canonical works of literature on conspiracy is not and works of art that are the of such of such as or readings aim at a that about a of our is and and The same be in the two examples in a that Ibsen's that the of such and that these an and the this I of as my I the hermeneutical of and how is to the two examples I show in for conspiratorial readings of and are are not in a that a hermeneutical with the of and I show how is at the of conspiracy of how my be within conspiracy I to an of the two in to and how with this the and and I how and to be to and conspiracy in Ibsen's and the of the many texts that the of few have been to and in many in the of as Henrik Ibsen's has been in a between Ibsen's and the for is and to be in a where has a as a of Norwegian as canonical work canonical from within the Norwegian to to in the in and with within the in is in as a for understanding the current as a for or even as a of a that to understanding to be Norwegian in a to these the as a one that a interpretation of the and especially of upon and of a in and a two of scholarly interpretation of the a and that be as a tradition that for in the be or a hidden to as a is and the to contain a or to a be about or thoroughly with take far the of this my on is as a of and of the the of the meaning like in the of the into an and The however, is about the of this such a has many of the the for a of is arguably to be in a of literature that is to in in conspiratorial like the I in this the term in the and in a number of works. In The of this term to a of interpretation that is for in the one that the of the is on of and to every of the of the is to every other to of this and to every to of the of or that the to is an of between an and an the to a between of such as and and the for the of to be the to from meaning to from to from a to In other be a at one has the to in and on the of Although a of of and to the between a and a interpretation in that this is and on the from this the et al. in the interpretation is on an in of interpretation of are is as a of on that be that to a a limited of and not to an number of and that in with the other et al. to far in the of to of in the texts of this of an of to the of that are in other et al. in the a to of and interpretation that from and is a between the interpretation and the of interpretation like that a where no one be to find of to of a critical has to or in the that be as of is that of such the of literary and is a that are not from The between and in the of while the in a with other and in scholarly of in or to other In to scholarly of critical of of and as of a meaning of a work of art that has of that are for the study are the and of these are to understanding how this of interpretation left the of the and forms of interpretation and in texts the of the has also been in form, to texts have become in the of et al. is with the of Dante's Divine Comedy, has the work of a number of of the as in a secret or et al. 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conspiracy thinking has to such a that even to show the same mechanisms of conspiracy I to show how this in in and is a the Norwegian and the Norwegian on is in a long tradition of and the with the words: I Henrik I at et is since Henrik the famous work of the have that is the of a with the for a has that this less this of and on that has much in with conspiracy theories the in and from an that in a as the of in the a between is as an on about that and a that is the conspiracy In how conspiracy theories a of on an of about the one that is for and The conspiracy about the of in the however, or or that be in as In have as the of in the a that to readings of the a the of at and is to the the a about Ibsen's and works to from the that there is a the that have to and that has et that the in a from with and even a the understanding of as the and that and of is to be the end of the these are in to the and of The in is is of in I literature. no one has just claim that have an interpretation 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and literature as the of the the and various of to the a that about from in to in with in the and as in the as in and as no that the of the is as and with the of the on to have about the of and that or are related to for and with a in the for is the that in the the of have to such a just in to a in the an tradition of and of the that as a of that with the with of this at at for in the that my within and in with the of the are not my the literary to the that are in my interpretation my that are my interpretation for the interpretation of have that be an and In the is not on Ibsen's on a series of with and is and into and not has these In this is a example of how conspiracy thinking work with an of about an arguably this of and conspiratorial about the where and no other are The is not this is for an understanding of is that to about the of have a with a coded meaning this meaning be with other and hermeneutical And have to from the of from anyone are not as in is on these and the one is 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the that had with Covid-19 in In the of one of the same and many to with the et al. such as that conspiracy thinking is in and examples like and be a to and that these to be and thoroughly

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