Alf Prøysens fortellinger om teskjekjerringa som en ”uferdig estetikk”

Abstract

Alf Prøysen’s Mrs Pepperpot stories compose a large and manifold material covering a plethora of editions, media, languages, and illustrations. Focusing on how Prøysen presented the stories in Norway in an interplay between various media and editions from the midst of the 1950s, this article discusses Prøysen’s work in light of Peter Lunenfeld’s notion of “unfinished business”. Originally developed to grapple with computer technology in the era of digital culture, the notion of the “unfinished” also seems as an appropriate perspective on Prøysen’s artistic strategy when developing and presenting his Mrs Pepperpot. The article argues that Prøysen’s constant reworkings of the stories for new media and editions may have played an important part in developing the Mrs Pepperpot stories as they allowed Prøysen to explore and experiment with his little old lady through sound, text, and illustration.