SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE 1

Locating the subject within the study plan of the BA-programme, Scandinavian Literature 1 is offered at the first year of the BA-programme in Languages, Civilisation and the Science of Language (Lingue, Civiltà e Scienze del Linguaggio) to students who choose Swedish as one of their two three-year languages. The course is crosswise valid for the three curricula of the BA-programme: Literatures and Culture; Linguistics, Philology and Language Teaching Research; International Politics, and can also be attended as a freely chosen subject by students who are not studying Swedish. Swedish Literature 1 is a “core educational” (type B) or an “interdisciplinary” (type C) activity, according to whether Swedish is chosen as first or second language.
The course aims at giving a basic knowledge of the Swedish and Scandinavian literary and cultural heritage, providing the students with the tools for the thematic and formal analysis of the literary text and developing their individual orienting and summarising skills, as well as their understanding of how this subject can relate to the aesthetic, social and existential issues of our time.

Scandinavian Literature 2 module 1 takes place at the second year or the curriculum in Literatures and Cultures and forms, together with the syllabus of Swedish Literature 2 module 2, a single 12-ects examination. The two introductory courses in literary history during the first and second year of the BA-programme (from the origins to the end of the 19th century; the 20th century and the contemporary age; or the other way round) allow the students of this curriculum to cover Scandinavian literary history from the origins to present time.

Expected learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding:

Scandinavian Literature 1 / Scandinavian Literature 2 module 1 is an institutional introductory course as it offers, in the academic year 2020-21, an outline of Swedish and Scandinavian literary history from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the twentieth century; this study is supported with the reading of works and an anthology of shorter texts and excerpts in Italian translation.


Application skills:

The aim of the course is to provide the students with the right tools for the literary-historical and social contextualisation of the leading authors and texts from the Middle Ages to the first decade of the Scandinavian twentieth century.

Judgement skills:

The course is meant to develop the individual orienting and summarising ability with regard to the addressed subject, as well as the understanding of how this subject can relate to the aesthetic, social and existential issues of our time.

Communicative skills:

Students will be required to expose their knowledge of literary history and their considerations on the texts using the proper terminology during examinations as well as in class.

Learning skills:

Students are expected to have the appropriate skills to take notes, use the contents and materials that are available on Moodle, to have an in-depth knowledge of the literary works included in the syllabus, and to study the critical sources in the reference bibliography on their own.

Pre-requirements: None, as to the students of Scandinavian Literature 1, since they are beginners in the field of Scandinavian languages and literatures. The students of Scandinavian Literature 2 module 1, on the contrary, are supposed to be acquainted with the contents of Scandinavian Literature 1 (the syllabus of the previous academic year).

Outline of Swedish and Scandinavian literature from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the Twentieth Century.

The course introduces to the major periods of Swedish and Scandinavian literary history: the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, Reformation and Early Modern Times, Classicism, Baroque, Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism and Post-naturalism. The focus is on the main currents, the most outstanding authors and works; the knowledge of literary history is supported with the study of texts in Italian translation, both whole works, shorter texts and excerpts (poetry, prose and drama), and with the study of some basic sources of literary history and literary criticism.

Anthology with shorter texts and excerpts prepared by the professor (pdf on Moodle); it will be regularly used during the lectures

The following five works (2 plays, 1 novella, 2 novels):

Henrik Ibsen [1879, 1881], Casa di bambola, Torino: Einaudi 1963 e successive edizioni
Jens Peter Jacobsen [1880], Niels Lyhne, Iperborea 1995 e successive edizioni
August Strindberg [1888], Signorina Julie, in Teatro naturalistico, 2, Milano: Adelphi 1982 e successive edizioni; oppure La contessina Julie, Torino: Einaudi 1988 (vanno bene anche altre edizioni; queste due sono consigliate; NB: va sempre inclusa la Prefazione al dramma dell'autore)
August Strindberg, [1890] Mare Aperto, Federico Tozzi Editore, 2014
Herman Bang [1890], I quattro diavoli, Milano: Iperborea 1990

Two of the following novels:

Knut Hamsun [1890], Fame, Milano Adelphi 1974 e successive edizioni
Selma Lagerlöf [1891], La saga di Gösta Berling, Milano Iperborea 2007.
Hjalmar Söderberg [1905], Il dottor Glas, Torino: Lindau 2015 o Varese: Giano 2004

Literary history and criticism:

from Massimo Ciaravolo (ed.), Storia delle letterature scandinave, Milano: Iperborea 2019, pp. 9-131, 138-95, 207-38, 250-371 (texts by M. Ciaravolo, M.C. Lombardi, F. Ferrari, M. Bampi, G. D’Amico, A. Meregalli, B. Berni, C. Storskog, S. Culeddu)

Fulvio Ferrari, "Henrik Ibsen. Verità significa diventare se stessi", Uomini e libri, 110, 1986, pp. 24-33 (pdf on Moodle)

Fulvio Ferrari, "August Strindberg. Il mio fuoco è il più grande della Svezia", Uomini e Libri, 105, 1985, pp. 26-34 (pdf on Moodle)

Massimo Ciaravolo, “Postfazione”, in H. Söderberg, Il gioco serio, 2000, pp. 273-84 (pdf on Moodle)

F. Ferrari, “Hjalmar Söderberg: Il dottor Glas”, Uomini e libri, 1986, p. 32 (pdf su Moodle)

Alessandro Fambrini, “Introduzione”, in H. Bang, I quattro diavoli, Iperborea, 1990, pp. 105-12

Claudio Magris, “Postfazione”, in J.P. Jacobsen, Niels Lyhne, Iperborea, 2017, pp. 260-84.

Additional reading, which is mandatory for non-attending students and optional for others

- all the three novels by Hamsun, Söderberg and Lagerlöf respectively

Carla Del Zotto and Luca Taglianetti, “Racconti e leggende popolari norvegesi”, in Studi Nordici, XVIII, 2011, pp. 91-8 (pdf on Moodle)

Claudio Magris, “Fra le crepe dell’io: Knut Hamsun”, in L’anello di Clarisse. Grande stile e nichilismo nella letteratura moderna, Einaudi, 1984, pp. 142-64 (pdf on Moodle)

Claudio Magris, "Il tardo Ibsen e le megalomanie della vita", in L'anello di Clarisse. Grande stile e nichilismo nella letteratura moderna, Einaudi, 1984, pp. 86-119 (pdf on Moodle)

Lars Gustafsson, “Postfazione”, in Selma Lagerlöf, La saga di Gösta Berling, Iperborea, 2007, pp. 480-96 (pdf on Moodle)

Students will sit an oral exam, in Italian, lasting approximately 20 minutes. The exam will focus on some of the works presented during the course, inserted in their historical, cultural and social context as well as in the poetics of their authors.
Students will have to show a thorough knowledge of the course topics, as well as the ability to present them in an appropriate form and to easily relate the specific texts to their context.
Non-attending students should come to office hours at least once before sitting the exam. Successful attendance means at least two thirds of the lectures.

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.

Italian

If you have questions or need further explanations, please write to sara.culeddu@unive.it.
Booking time with an e-mail is recommended if you want to meet the professor.

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