Kaplan to speak at Sons of Norway

Jamestown Sons of Norway will present a lecture by James Kaplan, professor emeritus of French at Minnesota State University Moorhead, at its next meeting.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Feb. 19 at Ave Maria Village, 501 19th St. NE. The public is welcome.

Kaplan will speak on Scandinavian crime fiction. Scandinavian detective novels have been enjoying worldwide attention and have had successes as books, on TV and in films. Featured in Kaplan’s presentation will be “Jar City” by Icelandic author Arnaldur Indridason, “Redbreast “ by Norwegian author Jo Nesbø and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” by Swedish author Stieg Larsson.

Kaplan is currently teaching a four-week F-M Communiversity course, “Modern Scandinavian Crime Fiction,” on the campus of Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.

He grew up in Worcester, Mass., and graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in French in 1964. He received his doctorate in French literature from the University of California Berkeley in 1971 followed by doctoral research at the University of Uppsala, Sweden. He began teaching French and Swedish at MSUM in 1975 where he became active in the Swedish-American community, founding the Swedish Cultural Heritage Society of the Red River Valley in 1976. For his service to the Swedish-American community Kaplan was knighted by King Carl XVI Gustav with the Royal Order of the Polar Star in 1988.

Kaplan spends a month in Stockholm every summer working on his research. He is retired from MSUM but continues to teach Swedish courses and speaks to community groups on Swedish cultural topics.

For further information, call Karen Freeman at 659-3678 or email ckbsfree man@gmail.com. This program is funded by a grant from the North Dakota Humanities Council.

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