What’s Hiding in the Woods of the Swedish North? – About nature, humans, and exoticism in three contemporary northern Swedish novels – This essay aims at exploring the use of nature and the supernatural in contemporary northern Swedish literature, in the light of the long historical exploitation of the area and the conflicts this caused. The novels that are being examined are Stallo by Stefan spjut, Glupahungern by Andrea Lundgren and Ett föremåls berättelse om obesvar by Mikael Berglund. The essay is underpinned, first and foremost, by theories of ecocritisism and postcolonial ecocritisism in order to explore the relations between humans and environment. In addition to this, theories of time-space relations and movement as well as theories of human-animal relationships and transformations are used. The analysis focuses on movement in time-space, the relationship between bear and child, and human-bear and troll-bear transformations in the novels. The different paths that are chosen by the characters in the novels reveal varying ways in which humans relate to nature, and as a result also relations to, and ideas about, the Swedish north. For example, the nomadic people in Ett föremåls berättelse om obesvar moves according to seasonal change, while the crowns men from the south establish their settlements close to the natural resources they are exploiting, in this case silver, and adjust nature to their own needs. These relationships are also made visible in relation to the non-human animals as well as non-human animal transformations in the novels: for example the troll-bear transformations in Stallo elaborates the idea of northern Sweden as a wilderness, whilst Glupahungern rather use this idea of northern Sweden in order to criticise the anthropocentric norm. In conclusion, all three novels relate in different ways to the history of, and ideas about, the Swedish north, which in turn are closely connected to stories about nature and the supernatural. The novels display a critical relationship towards historical events, as well as present day ideas and approaches to northern Sweden, nature and animals.

Sammanfattning Rödluvan handlar om tre systrar, alla lever olika liv. Men vem av dem är det som blev överfallen i skogen som barn? Vem är det som skriver i den hemliga nattboken? Och vem är det som mördar män? Är det storasyster Judith som är fotograf och bor i Oslo eller är det Lisbeth som har familj och jobbar som barnmorska eller är det lillasystern Carol som är alkoholist och tablettmissbrukare? Boken inleds med en kort berättelse om flickan i skogen, Rödluvan. Därefter kommer dagboksanteckningar från mörderskan, och läsaren förstår då att flickan i skogen och dagboksförfattarinnan är samma person. Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att undersöka hur Unni Lindell använder genrer och skiftena dem emellan i hennes bok, Rödluvan (2004). Hon skriver över genregränserna och presenterar olika genrer såsom deckare, dagbok och saga i en och samma bok. Min uppsats innehåller en intern textanalys, men har även en komparativ inriktning eftersom varje genrestudie till viss del är en komparativ studie. I min analys använder jag mig av den amerikanske litteraturvetaren John G Caweltis grundformel för deckaren och den ryske formalisten Vladimir Propps 31 olika sagofunktioner. Genrerna i boken har olika uppgifter: deckaren representerar huvudgenren och handlingen i nutid, folksagan det förflutna, barndomens tid och dagboken som är en glidning mellan då och nu, den rör sig i båda tiderna. Dessa ger handlingen dess innehåll; sagan, presenterar flickan som blir överfallen i skogen som sexåring? Deckaren, ger oss frågan vem som mördar män? Och dagboken, vem personen är bakom dessa ord. Alla frågor besvaras samtidigt eftersom alla har samma svar men de kommer successivt så läsaren har en chans att ana, misstänka och ändra uppfattning om vem av systrarna som faktiskt mördar. Boken har en genrebeteckning i form av kriminalthriller men det hindrar inte författaren att lägga in andra genrer. Min metod för denna uppsats har varit närläsning, men även ur en komparativ aspekt eftersom alla genrestudier innehåller det. Denna roman skiljer sig i förhållande till dels Unni Lindells andra kriminalromaner som innehåller samma huvudperson men även genom de olika genrebytena som gör den till en otraditionell kriminalthriller.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine the distribution according to gender when it comes to male and female authors in literary textbooks for upper secondary school. This is due to the new curriculum from 2011 which specifies that the students must study literature, by both women and men. Through a quantitative textbook analysis, where I count rows and number of pages devoted to the authors and their works, I examine whether the textbooks follows the requirement of the curriculum. Three textbooks which all consists of anthologies or materials with extracts from literary works have been analyzed. Only one of these was published after the formation of the new curriculum and is therefore the only one that can be expected to be adapted accordingly. However, the two other textbooks are also of interest to the study since they are still used in teaching. In the theoretical research review I discuss feminist literary theory, and women's place in the canon since my hypothesis is that the canon and textbook design are closely linked.     The results show that the canonization process has not changed significantly, despite many years of feminist research. Nor has textbook development progressed in the recent decades. There is a remarkable difference in how many female and male authors are presented in textbooks. In all three textbooks women represents a marginal part of the presented authors. Remarkable is also that the textbook that is the closest to meeting the requirement of the curriculum is the oldest one, formed long before the requirement itself. The curriculum does not define how many female or male authors should be included in the student’s literature studies, but my conclusion is that the distribution according to gender in literary textbooks is far from equal.

I en narratologisk studie granskas spatialitet i skönlitterär prosatext. I texten undersöks några spatiala nivåer som kan länkas till extradiegetisk berättarinstans och "normal" perception kontra drömmar och visioner hos karaktärer inom diegesen. Till den narratologiska studien kopplas undersökningsmodeller hämtade från det som med en paraplyterm kallas kognitiv poetik och som behandlar både den litterära texten och läsarens perception och kognition i läsprocessen. I studien berörs också den fiktiva berättelsen betraktad som "värld" ur ett litteraturteoretiskt och filosofiskt resonemang kring begreppen "actual world", "possible worlds" och "fictional worlds".  Det övergripande syftet är att förklara hur text och läsarkognition samspelar för att skapa mentala, rumsliga "bilder" hos läsaren, bilder som kan skifta mellan olika läsare och som resulterar i den berättelsens "värld" som läsaren upplever. Som grundtexter i avhandlingsarbetet används Eyvind Johnsons Krilonsvit.

The licentiate thesis focuses on young people’s dramatisation and reflections on the reception of theatre in schools as part of aesthetic learning processes. Its main objective is to describe and analyse how theatre can be used in teaching as a means to create meaning and knowledge in practice. The theatre’s relation to the Swedish subject is discussed from different aspects. The empiric survey was conducted at three 6–9 schools in the south of Sweden, referred to in the study as Österskolan, Norrskolan and Söderskolan. The survey is designed as a multiple case study. Two cases consist of individual classes with supplementary work based on the students’ reception of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the other two on stage productions that include acting. The material consists of video recordings of teaching processes, rehearsals and performances; notes from observations, interviews with teachers and pupils, a questionnaire regarding theatre habits, as well as documents such as theatre programmes and home pages. The cases are contrasted in order to extend the analysis, distinguish between mutual and contrasting patterns, and to some extent also to explain concepts used for description and analysis. The thesis aims to answer the following questions: • What is required in order for theatre to create meaning and knowledge in practice within a school’s framework? • How do form, content and use, and also production, reception and reflection cooperate in various media in the aesthetic learning processes and what didactical potential is the result of this cooperation? The result of the survey shows that a teacher’s patterns for verbal and physical interaction and his or her media specific competence strongly influence the terms for the aesthetic learning processes. The nature of the theatre culture’s meeting with the school culture at the individual school determines the possibilities for the participation in creation of meaning and knowledge in practice that are offered to pupils. Financial conditions, support from the school management, collaboration between subjects, functioning rooms, and the school’s gender practice are other important factors. The conditions for the theatre’s creation of meaning and knowledge differ significantly between the three schools included in this study. At Österskolan the theatre culture is a fairly unfamiliar element in the school culture. The teacher who supervises the supplementary work for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, however, possesses good media specific competence in the theatrical field and is able to generate possibilities for reflections on experience pedagogy based on the theatrical performance and actual participation in the theatrical practice for the pupils. For a number of years, the theatre culture at Norrskolan has been included in an integrated part of the school culture. A Midsummer Night’s Dream becomes the basis for verbal, dialogue-oriented discussions in the classroom. The pupils’ performance at the school strengthens the school culture and the pupils learn how to cooperate and take responsibility. The cultural profile at Söderskolan collaborates with professional cultural workers and regional cultural institutes in a theatrical project that invites both schools and the general public. In this case, all media is integrated in the creation of meaning and there is great didactical potential. In the intended doctoral thesis the analysis of the terms and the design of the aesthetic learning processes will be further discussed. / <p>Licentiatavhandling i litteraturvetenskap: alternativet Svenska med didaktisk inriktning.</p>

No description available.

Syftet med studien var att utforska hur barn beskriver sin tolkning av filmen Frost, i egenskap av en multimedial text, samt hur barnen ser på filmen utifrån lärandebegreppet. Filmen ses som multimedial då den bland annat kommunicerar med visuella, auditiva, och språkliga intryck. Receptionsteori beskriver att hur åskådare skapar mening av ett medium är beroende av den sociala kontexten och individens tidigare erfarenheter. Detta gjorde studiens problemområde komplext. Studiens ambition var att genom observation, enkäter och intervjuer försöka få en inblick i barns upplevelser av filmen. Studien fokuserade på hur barn tolkar en fiktiv berättelse, hur barn kunde identifiera sig i en sådan samt hur de såg filmen som ett föremål för lärande. Studien utforskade även om det förekom skillnader mellan flickors och pojkars svar. Resultatet åskådliggjorde att barn i hög grad använder sina egna erfarenheter när de skapar mening ur en berättelse. Det visade även att barn identifierar sig med karaktärer utefter olika karaktärsdrag i form av utseende, personlighet och egenskaper. Här förekom det skillnader mellan vad flickor och pojkar fokuserade på i identifikationsprocessen. Studiens resultat pekade även på att barnen hade svårigheter i att se hur denna typ av film kunde bidra till deras eget lärande. Samtidigt tydde deras svar på omedvetet relationellt lärande. Barnens syn på lärande visade på att de ansåg att nya kunskaper kräver ämnesspecifika nyttoaspekter för att räknas som lärande och att lärarens roll är avgörande.

Dorothea Schlegel’s Florentin (1801) is one of the less well known novels of the period commonly referred to as Early German Romanticism. This study attempts to combine both the historical context of the novel and later critical approaches to the ideas of the period. At the same time, this study seeks to avoid the more transcendent approaches that have previously been used in order to attempt to understand Florentin. In order to do so this study makes the expressionless or the gap created by allegorical expression between sign and signified a central theme in order to create a field of tensions and uncertainties. Although many readers of Florentin have noted the sensation of an absence of clarity while reading the novel, the majority of them have put this down to a lack of ability on the part of the author. This study attempts to find a structural explanation for the expressionless in Dorothea Schlegel’s novel while attempting to preserve aspects of its unknowability.

The topic of this thesis is the gothic fiction of Selma Lagerlöf. Its primary purpose is to investigate how Lagerlöf's work can be understood in relation to the gothic genre; what particular themes, motifs and formal aspects appear when making this connection and how they can be interpreted, as well as which literary and cultural contexts become relevant. The study is based on close readings of six short stories that, in comparison, appear to be some of the most gloomy and horrific in her production: "Karln. En julsägen" (1891), "De fågelfrie", "Stenkumlet", "Riddardottern och havsmannen" (1892), "Spökhanden" (1898) and "Frid på jorden" (1917). The gothic was an important feature of the literature of the last decade of the nineteenth century, when Lagerlöf made her debut. Therefore one of the main purposes of this study is to highlight her as one of the key writers of gothic fiction in Sweden by the time. In this context the gothic might be considered as closely related to the currents of decadence and fin-de-siècle. However, the gothic continued to be an important element throughout Lagerlöf's production, and this is illustrated by the inclusion of a story from a later period among the primary sources. The gothic genre can be defined by certain themes and motifs, but also by its narrative strategies. The analyses of the six stories show how themes and composition are used to create an atmosphere of fear and darkness, but also, more importantly, to create a sense of ambiguity. The study also discusses the relationship between the gothic and the fantastic and special attention is paid to aspects such as the hesitation concerning how to interpret the supernatural, as well as the fragmentary bodies and psyches of the stories. The main themes of the six stories can be summarized as dealing with the haunting and return of the past, as well as the fear associated with the transgression of limits - between fantasy and reality, the civilized and the primitive, life and death and self and other. Central to the argument in this study is das Unheimliche - the uncanny - a concept that links a certain kind of fear to uncertainty, doubles, ghostliness and haunting. Sigmund Freud has described it as a paradox, as something terrifyingly strange and yet familiar at the same time. The gothic reproduces the experience of reality expressed by this concept - a sense that the self is the source of horror and that identity is something highly unstable.

Uppsatsen undersöker Twilight, skriven av Stephenie Meyer, utifrån de intersektionella kategorierna ålder, kön och klass i förhållande till relationen mellan protagonisterna Bella och Edward. Syftet med undersökningen är att ta reda på hur ålder, kön och klass påverkar relationen. Vidare syftar uppsatsen till att undersöka hur ålder, kön och klass påverkar maktförhållandet i relationen utifrån Foucaults maktteori. Resultatet visar att ålder, kön och klass genomgående i Twilight försätter Bella i en underordnad maktposition, med några få undantag. Många normer gällande de tre kategorierna reproduceras i relationen mellan Bella och Edward, vilket i sin tur ger upphov till en maktobalans. Med anledning av detta resultat bör Twilight läsas kritiskt ur ett intersektionellt perspektiv, men kan med fördel användas i klassammanhang för att belysa och ifrågasätta normer rörande t. ex. ålder, kön och klass.