I'd never heard of the Law of Jante, or of Sandemose's writings, and this seems so utterly interesting and simultaneously bizarre. Were I to have to identify myself, I'd probably end up somewhere more leaning towards collectivism that individualism from the perspective of someone who has a sour taste for capitalism's particular spin on "individual" success and value.

What shocks me about those ten laws is how they're all rooted in viewpoints that I'd tend to carry as grounding mechanisms in my day-to-day life: "Do not assume I am inherently better than my peers, do not assume I possess more knowledge than those in my field, my viewpoints are not as deserving of being aired as those with greater experience than me." What shocks me is the use of these not as a means to guard against hubris when you're just starting a career (see: me), but as commands imposing collectivism over any degree of individualism.

That such writings could serve as commentary to hundreds of years of Scandanavian culture... I'll have to pick up "A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks" and get a better sense of the author's history. This seems almost startlingly jarring compared to how I'd perceived Scandanavian multiculturalism.