HISTORY OF SWEDISH CULTURE

Swedish Literature 2 module 2 is offered at the second year of the BA-programme in Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures (Lingue, Civiltà e Scienze del Linguaggio) to students who choose Swedish as a three-year language, and in particular to those who choose the literary curriculum. The course Swedish Literature 2 (12 ects) is thus divided in two modules; even the first module is held by professor Ciaravolo in the autumn semester of the academic year 2020-21.

History of Swedish Culture (6 ects) is offered at the second year of the BA-programme in Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures (Lingue, Civiltà e Scienze del Linguaggio) to students who choose Swedish as a three-year language, and in particular to those who choose the international-political curriculum. History of Swedish Culture is also included in the Literary-cultural curriculum at the third year, and as a freely chosen subject it can be studied within the Linguistic-philological curriculum as well, being recommended to students who wish to go deeper into Scandinavian Studies.

Swedish Literature 2 module 2 / History of Swedish Culture introduces, in the first part of the course, to the social, political and cultural history of the North, focusing on the last two centuries in order to sketch the development of the modern project and of democracy. The second part of the course is dedicated to the Scandinavian detective novel, as a cultural and literary phenomenon that presents a certain image of the North to the contemporary world, from the crisis of the welfare state to the “liquid” condition of late modernity: is it a new form or realism or do genre conventions determine the representation?
The aim of the course is to give an outline of the cultural, social and political history of the North, in particular in the last 200 years. Furthermore, it intends to give an in-depth knowledge of some major expressions of Scandinavian detective fiction, and to promote the ability to contextualize the studied works historically, socially and literarily, and to analyse their contents, worldviews, styles and forms.

The course is addressed to the students of the three curriculums at Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, who have already attended Swedish Literature 1. Skills in Swedish language will allow the more advanced students to approach the original texts. The course is however available as a free choice even to students who do not study Swedish.

Scandinavian detective fiction between social mirroring and genre conventions.

Scandinavian detective fiction has conquered the world’s book markets and has thus acted as a powerful producer of a certain image of the North. It can be argued whether such a representation is realistic or, rather, determined by literary conventions pertaining to the genre. The authors have in most cases been inspired by contemporary reality and public debates in their countries, trying to combine serious commitment with the entertainment and pleasure produced by suspense. While giving an outline of the history of Scandinavian detective fiction, we will focus on the Swedish couple Sjöwall & Wahlöö, by many considered the promoters of the modern turn of the genre. We will then examine in depth: a novel by the Norwegian writer Gunnar Staalesen, who adopts and develops Sjöwall & Wahlöö’s patterns; a very successful novel by the Danish writer Peter Høeg, who uses detective case for a literarily more complex construction; and a novel by the Swedish writer Stieg Larsson, a further evolution of the genre and another worldwide success. We will finally analyze a documentary novel by the Swedish writer Gellert Tamas, dealing with a real case, but still employing patterns of the police procedural. The course addresses, thus, some of the central social and political issues of Scandinavia in the past 60 years, such as the crisis of the model of welfare state (connected in Sweden with the murder of the Prime minister Olof Palme, an unsolved case), a still persisting social marginality, the post-colonial deconstruction of the nation, the “liquidity” of late modern society controlled by neoliberalism and financial capitalism, the problems and fears fostered by the recent waves of immigration, the relations between the sexes, and the violence against children and women.

Primary sources

Gunnar Staalesen [2006], Dødens drabanter, Oslo: Gyldendal 2014 (BALI) // Satelliti della morte, Milano: Iperborea 2009 (BALI)

Peter Høeg [1992], Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne, København: Rosinante 2017 (BALI) // Il senso di Smilla per la neve, Milano: Mondadori 1996

Stieg Larsson [2005], Män som hatar kvinnor, Stockholm: Norstedt 2015 (BALI) // Uomini che odiano le donne, Venezia: Marsilio 2018 (BALI)

Gellert Tamas [2002], Lasermannen. En berättelse om Sverige, Stockholm: Ordfront 2002 // L’uomo laser, Milano: Iperborea 2012

The students who attend the course will choose 3 out of the 4 proposed works to prepare for the examination.

Secondary sources

Massimo Ciaravolo, Profilo di storia culturale, sociale e politica del Nord, 2020 (pdf outline on Moodle)

from Massimo Ciaravolo (a cura di), Storia delle letterature scandinave, Milano: Iperborea 2019: all the introductions (“Introduzione”) to the eight chapters (1.1: 19-29; 2.1: 105-12; 3.1: 161-4; 4.1: 207-13; 5.1: 281-4; 6.1: 385-90; 7.1: 533-41; 8.1: 621-9). They are written by M. Ciaravolo, except for 2.1, written by M. Ciaravolo and Andrea Meregalli

from Massimo Ciaravolo (ed.), Storia delle letterature scandinave, Iperborea, Milano 2019: chapter 8.8 “Il giallo nordico”, by Renato Zatti, Sara Culeddu, Bruno Berni and Silvia Cosimini, pp. 818-44

Emma Tornborg 2010, “Speglingar av verkligheten – Den svenska deckaren och bilden av samhället”, HumaNetten, nr. 25 (2010), pp. 2-13 (pdf on Moodle)

Catia De Marco 2016, ”Da villain a self-made man. L’evoluzione della figura del criminale nei gialli svedesi, Altre Modernità, nr. 15 (2016), pp. 214-27 (pdf on Moodle)

Catia De Marco 2019, “L’onda anomala del giallo nordico”, Tradurre. Teorie, pratiche, strumenti, nr. 17 (2019), online (pdf on Moodle)

Additional syllabus for students not attending the course

The students not attending the course have to prepare the four proposed works. In addition, they must talk to the professor before the examination during his office hours.
Successful attendance means at least two thirds of the lectures; it normally means attendance in the classroom; for this academic year, the student’s statement that s/he has followed a sufficient number of live stream lessons and/or recorded lessons on Moodle, will be valid.

The examination is oral, it is generally in Italian and lasts approximately 25 minutes. Two questions deal with the cultural, social and political history of the North: one more general question is about one period from the origins to the Enlightenment, and one more specific question is about the last two centuries and the progress towards modernity and democracy. Two more questions will discuss some of the literary works presented in the course, connecting them to their literary, cultural and social contexts, and to the secondary sources included in the syllabus.
The students not attending the course must study the additional materials. They must come and talk to the professor at least once before the oral examination.

The course offers mainly frontal lectures, but with moments of participatory learning, as students may, on a voluntary basis, present in class one of the works included in the syllabus. Italian is the language used in teaching, and the literary works will be basically presented and studied in Italian translation. As the course deals with detective stories, it must be pointed out that it will not be possible, during the presentation and analysis in class, to omit parts of the plot and not even the end of the stories, in order not to “spoil” the reading. The suggestion is, therefore, to read the novels in advance, even as pure entertainment.

Italian

If you have questions or need further explanations, please write to massimo.ciaravolo@unive.it.

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development