Scandinavian Literature (MA)
A.Y. 2022/2023
Learning objectives
This course aims at developing interpretive and analytic skills in the evaluation of a specific thematic strand in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish literary works from the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition, it will put the tools of text analysis to the test with a view to practice critical discussion and writing about relevant themes, texts and authors.
Expected learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding: students will approach Scandinavian 19th and 20th century literature by focusing on a chosen theme present in works by Danish, Norwegian and Swedish writers, they will acquire knowledge of the critical discussion and the tools of analysis regarding the chosen topic. Applying knowledge and understanding: students will learn how to examine a chosen theme by working knowledgeably with secondary literature, practice critical reading of texts written in all three Scandinavian languages, examine the primary literature with a critical eye.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
IN THE COUNTRYSIDE AND IN THE CITY: "[D]et er det forbandede ved de smaa Forholde, at de gjør Sjælene smaa", Ibsen wrote in 1867 in a letter from Sorrento on the subject of the suffocating atmosphere of provincial Norway. The idea of peripheries and countryside as synonymous with backwardness and bigotry and, on the other hand, the imagine of the city as cradle of culture, modernity and worldly pleasures, are but one of many aspects of the dualism city/countryside conveyed in works of literature. The contrasti is also expressed as a conflict between a corrupted, decadent and articificial urban environment, both alienating and superficial, and a countryside which seems to stand for a different way of living, healthier, more natural and more authentic. Through the analysis of texts set in a rural and peripheric Scandinavia imagined by writers and selected examples of stadsskildringar/byromaner, units A e B look at encounters - as well as stereotypical conflicts - between the city and the country, and at the literary representation of the Scandinavian capitals. Unità C is dedicated to the narration of Paris in a selection of nineteenth and twentieth-century texts.
Unit A: "Småstadsberättelser" / in the countryside
Unit B: "Storstadsroman" / in the city
Unit C: Till Paris / To Paris
This course syllabus is valid until June 2024.
9 etcs/60 hours. STUDENTS TAKING THIS COURSE FOR 6 ETCS ARE REQUESTED TO CONTACT THE INSTRUCTOR TO MAKE AGREEMENTS AS TO THE CHOICE OF UNITS. STUDENTS UNABLE TO ATTEND LESSONS ARE ALSO REQUIRED TO CONTACT THE INSTRUCTOR FOR CHANGES TO THE SYLLABUS.
Unit A: "Småstadsberättelser" / in the countryside
Unit B: "Storstadsroman" / in the city
Unit C: Till Paris / To Paris
This course syllabus is valid until June 2024.
9 etcs/60 hours. STUDENTS TAKING THIS COURSE FOR 6 ETCS ARE REQUESTED TO CONTACT THE INSTRUCTOR TO MAKE AGREEMENTS AS TO THE CHOICE OF UNITS. STUDENTS UNABLE TO ATTEND LESSONS ARE ALSO REQUIRED TO CONTACT THE INSTRUCTOR FOR CHANGES TO THE SYLLABUS.
Prerequisites for admission
The course is taught both in Italian and in the Scandinavian languages. The works on the reading list require a thorough knowledge of the Scandinavian languages.
Teaching methods
Il corso adotta i seguenti metodi didattici: lezioni frontali; letture e discussioni di carattere seminariale
Teaching Resources
General: G. Simmel: Le metropoli e la vita dello spirito (1903), A. Thacker: "Critical Literary Geography", in R.T. Tally Jr (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Literature and Space 2017, 28-38, B. Gelfant: "Form, Setting, and Language" in Ead., The American City Novel, 1954, 11-24.
Unit A:
Irene Holm (1886; Irene Holm) by H. Bang; Markurells i Wadköping (1919; I Markurell) by Hj. Bergman; Kranes konditori (1945; Caffè Krane) by C. Sandel
Critical readings: B. Driver Eddy, "Herman Bang's Irene Holm as a Study of Life and Art", in Scandinavica 1989, 17-27; E.H. Linder, "Was Bergman a Social Critic?" in Hjalmar Bergman, 1975, 123-139; H.H. Wærp, "Konditoriet som livsbilde. Om Cora Sandels Kranes konditori", in Id. (ed.) De upåaktede liv: om Cora Sandels forfatterskap, 2009, 99-116.
Unit B:
Sult (1890; Fame) by K. Hamsun; Ludvigsbakke (1896; Ludvigsbakke) by H. Bang; Norrtullsligan by E. Wägner (1908; Ragazze di città)
Saggi critici: S. Culeddu, "Aperture sul vuoto in Fame di Knut Hamsun. Il romanzo dell'assenza, in Studi Nordici, 2006, XIII-1-9; / M. Zerlang: Ludvigsbakke in Id., Herman Bangs København, 2007, 152-163; H. Forsås-Scott, "Verbal Power, Visual Power, and the Construction of Feminine Subjectivity. Elin Wägner's Norrtullsligan as Prose Fiction and Film." In: The New Woman and the Aesthetic Opening. Unlocking Gender in Twentieth-Century Texts, a cura di Ebba Witt-Brattström, 2004, 83-100.
Unit C: An anthology of texts in which paris figures as protagonist or setting will be made available. Recommended critical readings: A. Borg, "Staden som analysobjekt", in: En vildmark av sten, 2011, 38-71, J. Stougaard-Nielsen, "The Idle Spectator. H. C. Andersens Dryade, Illustreret Tidende and the Universal Exposition", in Scandinavian Studies 2006, 78, 129-52, C. Storskog, "Paris from a Window. Impressionism in H. Westermarck's Short Story Aftonstämning (1890)", in Ead. Literary Impressionisms, 2018, 109-130, M. Ciaravolo, Libertà, gabbie, vie d'uscita. Letteratura scandinava della modernità e della città: 1866-1898, 2022 (a selection of pages to be indicated).
M.A. students are required to read all literary works in the original language (any unabridged edition). If present, the critical apparatus (introductions, forewords, afterwords, notes) is to be considered part of the reading.
Unit A:
Irene Holm (1886; Irene Holm) by H. Bang; Markurells i Wadköping (1919; I Markurell) by Hj. Bergman; Kranes konditori (1945; Caffè Krane) by C. Sandel
Critical readings: B. Driver Eddy, "Herman Bang's Irene Holm as a Study of Life and Art", in Scandinavica 1989, 17-27; E.H. Linder, "Was Bergman a Social Critic?" in Hjalmar Bergman, 1975, 123-139; H.H. Wærp, "Konditoriet som livsbilde. Om Cora Sandels Kranes konditori", in Id. (ed.) De upåaktede liv: om Cora Sandels forfatterskap, 2009, 99-116.
Unit B:
Sult (1890; Fame) by K. Hamsun; Ludvigsbakke (1896; Ludvigsbakke) by H. Bang; Norrtullsligan by E. Wägner (1908; Ragazze di città)
Saggi critici: S. Culeddu, "Aperture sul vuoto in Fame di Knut Hamsun. Il romanzo dell'assenza, in Studi Nordici, 2006, XIII-1-9; / M. Zerlang: Ludvigsbakke in Id., Herman Bangs København, 2007, 152-163; H. Forsås-Scott, "Verbal Power, Visual Power, and the Construction of Feminine Subjectivity. Elin Wägner's Norrtullsligan as Prose Fiction and Film." In: The New Woman and the Aesthetic Opening. Unlocking Gender in Twentieth-Century Texts, a cura di Ebba Witt-Brattström, 2004, 83-100.
Unit C: An anthology of texts in which paris figures as protagonist or setting will be made available. Recommended critical readings: A. Borg, "Staden som analysobjekt", in: En vildmark av sten, 2011, 38-71, J. Stougaard-Nielsen, "The Idle Spectator. H. C. Andersens Dryade, Illustreret Tidende and the Universal Exposition", in Scandinavian Studies 2006, 78, 129-52, C. Storskog, "Paris from a Window. Impressionism in H. Westermarck's Short Story Aftonstämning (1890)", in Ead. Literary Impressionisms, 2018, 109-130, M. Ciaravolo, Libertà, gabbie, vie d'uscita. Letteratura scandinava della modernità e della città: 1866-1898, 2022 (a selection of pages to be indicated).
M.A. students are required to read all literary works in the original language (any unabridged edition). If present, the critical apparatus (introductions, forewords, afterwords, notes) is to be considered part of the reading.
Assessment methods and Criteria
Students will be assessed through an oral examination conducted by the instructor. Students are expected to be able to to answer questions concerning topics discussed in class; to provide analyses and comments to passages from texts on the reading list; to demonstrate the capacity to contextualize the literary works and analyze structural elements also with the help of the methodological tools provided by the theoretical texts in the syllabus.
Unit C: All students are required to write a short essay in the Scandinavian language they are specializing in (min. 8000 characters, max. 10 000 characters) analysing the role of Paris in a text of their choice. The essay must be handed in no less than 10 days before the exam session for which the student has registered.
M.A. students take the exam in Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish. Grades are expressed on a scale of 30. Students have the right to reject the mark.
International and incoming Erasmus students who intend to take this course are requested to contact the instructor upon arrival.
Le modalità d'esame per studenti con disabilità e/o con DSA dovranno essere concordate col docente, in accordo con l'Ufficio competente.
Unit C: All students are required to write a short essay in the Scandinavian language they are specializing in (min. 8000 characters, max. 10 000 characters) analysing the role of Paris in a text of their choice. The essay must be handed in no less than 10 days before the exam session for which the student has registered.
M.A. students take the exam in Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish. Grades are expressed on a scale of 30. Students have the right to reject the mark.
International and incoming Erasmus students who intend to take this course are requested to contact the instructor upon arrival.
Le modalità d'esame per studenti con disabilità e/o con DSA dovranno essere concordate col docente, in accordo con l'Ufficio competente.
Modules or teaching units
Unita' didattica A
L-LIN/15 - NORDIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor:
Storskog Camilla Carita
Unita' didattica B+C
L-LIN/15 - NORDIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Professor:
Storskog Camilla Carita
Professor(s)