1,741 research outputs found
A Traditional Avant-garde — Trends and Features of Scandinavian Children’s Literature in Italy
No full textChildren’s literature by Scandinavian authors represented in different periods an attractive and reliable model in Italy for both publishers and authors in search of innovative features, even though in Italian book market – which has long been highly characterized by translated works – English (and American), French and German children’s books (as well as books in general) always could boast a much greater importance than Scandinavian ones. However, starting from the late 19th century, we can point out a sort of Nordic tradition, from H.C. Andersen to Selma Lagerlöf, from Astrid Lindgren and Tove Jansson to Jostein Gaarder, Klaus Hagerup and Ulf Stark, just to mention some relevant names. Sometimes the choice to publish a Nordic author corresponded to the intention of presenting oneself as an innovative publisher; on other occasions, it just constituted an enrichment of the catalogue. If there are famous Scandinavian children’s writers who are unknown in Italy (like Lennart Hellsing or Sven Wernström), it is quite interesting to observe which authors of the past are still present in bookshops beside the new ones and – even more significantly – which differences or similarities can be highlighted, for instance, in terms of issues, plots, language. My paper aims to begin this survey, taking past and present editorial offers into account, so as to start better defining the different image Italian and Scandinavian readers may have (had) of Nordic children’s literature
La Grande Guerra dall'antica Grecia alla Danimarca: "Spartanerne" (1919) di Emil Bønnelycke
No full text"Marie Grubbe var en vision, men Nils Lyhne var söndrig." Strindberg and J.P. Jacobsen
No full textBoth in Scandinavian and in world literature, the names of Strindberg and Jens Peter Jacobsen (1847-1885) often occur together – among several others – under the label of “Men of the modern breakthrough”, according to the famous definition by Georg Brandes in 1883. Strindberg became early aware of Jacobsen’s works: his two novels – which most stirred the attention of Swedish intellectuals – were published in Denmark in 1876 (Marie Grubbe) and 1880 (Niels Lyhne), and we find the first references to him in Strindberg’s letters already in 1878. Anyway, his engagement in the Danish author was first intensive in the period 1881-1885, when taking a peculiar form: Strindberg expressed more than once his ambition to make a play out of Marie Grubbe and asked the critic Edvard Brandes (Georg’s brother and Jacobsen’s friend) to talk with him about this plan. Eventually, Strindberg retreated and justified his giving up with the consideration that only Jacobsen himself could stage his own novel; however, his interest in the Dane’s art lead him to read both the second novel and the tales. Spurs of Jacobsen’s literature might be found in Strindberg’s Naturalistic works: scholarship has suggested, for instance, that Miss Julie could be partly seen as the dramatic transfiguration of Marie Grubbe’s story, or that a possible influence by Jacobsen’s style could be traced both in Getting married and in Mr. Bengt’s wife. In his reception of Jacobsen’s literature, Strindberg places himself in an articulated net of contacts among Scandinavian authors, but experiencing it in a very personal way, which includes very critical reliefs: in my paper, I intend to examine the premises, the developing and the effects of Strindberg’s brief but intense relationship with Jacobsen’s work, starting from Louise Vinge’s study on Jacobsen’s presence in Swedish literature (1985)
Acting as a Never Visited Country’s Promoter, Friend, Patient, Competitor. Erlend Loe’s Fakta om Finland (2001)
No full textOnly a part of what we know and perceive depends on direct experiences, and we often have (or are forced) to integrate our knowledge with our deduction, imagination or hearsay, sometimes drawing inspiration from widespread prejudices. Erlend Loe’s protagonist has been commissioned a brochure on Finland for Norwegian tourists and wants to fulfil this task, even though he has never been there and he knows very little about the country. By collecting all the features he has heard of or read about (we could say all the mythemes) on Finland, he realizes that he already disposes of a great deal of ideas he can work on. Moreover, the accomplishment of this mission is constantly entwined with his psychological development and his facing of his inner troubles, from his fear of water – which always implies change – to his relationship with people and even natural space. In long, lively and very ironical monologues, which make up one unique discourse through the whole book, the construction of a suitable image of Finland for potential tourists develops in parallel with the protagonist’s awareness of his own situation, by passing through check points of reference, providential intuitions and unforeseen crises. Finland is built up with the help of a complex, unusual and questioned set of features, occasionally by transfiguring events which have just happened to the protagonist in such a way that offers him even temporary solutions to his troubles. Eventually, in spite of itself, this imagined country turns out to be not only a place to sell with all its attractions, but also a kind of alter-ego, a friend to rely on, a therapeutic course to escape one’s own frailties, as well as a threatening presence for this awkward, naïve and funny brochure writer. This paper aims to reconstruct the development of these different courses and highlight the multifaceted image of Finland conveyed by the novel, together with the multiplicity of purposes for which the idea of this country in the protagonist’s mind is used
Una piccola avanguardia nordica. La letteratura per l’infanzia come modello e (forse) via per scrutare l’animo scandinavo, tra hygge, trygghet e trolleri
No full textIn the latest decades, the literary image of Scandinavia has been mainly mediated in Europe by Icelandic sagas and detective novels, as well as by children’s literature, which includes writers with an international readership; this may be interpreted as a consequence of the attention for ‘minor’ literatures in Nordic countries in the second half of the twentieth century, against the backdrop of the development of their social model, but also as the legacy of influential and provocative writers for children, the subject of this paper. Children’s literature has generally shared the cultural changes affecting adult literature, and in the North it displays both a conservative tradition (leading to successful stereotypes) and an innovative, realistic representation, as well as deeper and more intimate values, forged over the centuries and expressing Nordic feelings and attitudes. Therefore it is possible to turn to this unusual source for a better understanding of the Scandinavian worldview
On Freedom, Dreams, Wisdom, Life. About Björn Larsson’s Northern Sea(s)
No full textIn Björn Larsson’s novels and essays, Northern seas are experienced as one example of what the sea can offer human beings in terms of freedom from any boundaries and intimate relation with nature; at the same time, however, since his first literary attempts Larsson seems to have pointed out (or built up) an expansion of the Northern dimension when approaching life by and on the sea: this broader image has much to do with the traces of ancient Celts’ culture, as well as with his characters’ destinies and ambitions and, not least, his own accounts for real sea experiences. This paper provides meaningful examples of Larsson’s attitude and contribution to the representation of the Northern Sea, while reflecting on the role of the sea in his works
A Fascinating, Elusive, Frustrating Otherness. Sweden in Italian Films of the Early 1960s
No full textIn the late 1950s and the early 1960s, Italy was experiencing its post-war transformation from a largely agrarian, relatively poor nation into one of the most economically and socially advanced countries of the world, whose role in the international scenario grew in importance, especially in the founding of the future European Union. In a rapidly changing society – even as regarded social customs – there increased the curiosity about the way other people and countries approached modernity. Sweden (often standing for the whole Scandinavia) was still an ‘exotic’ area for Italian public, included most intellectuals. My contribution focuses on three movies of the early 1960s (Le svedesi; Il diavolo; Nude, calde e pure), with further hints at the ‘Swedish’ element in other films of the 1960s and 1970s, in order to highlight and discuss how the image of Sweden is stereotyped (as well as problematized) in these relevant Italian works
Giuliano D'Amico, "Domesticating Ibsen for Italy. Enrico and Icilio Polese's Ibsen Campaign", Bari, Edizioni di Pagina, 2013, Collana "Biblioteca dello spettacolo nordico", pp. 358
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