La naissance du roman historique en Suède, traditionnellement située en 1828, coïncide avec un mouvement national-romantique vouant un véritable culte à la figure de l’ancien Scandinave. Mais dans cette première moitié du XIXe siècle, le genre historique est encore en mal de reconnaissance et les auteurs désireux d’évoquer le Haut Moyen Âge septentrional semblent avoir préféré se tourner vers des formes littéraires plus prestigieuses, telles que la poésie ou le théâtre. Dès le début du XXe siècle, les romans situés à l’âge des Vikings se multiplient. Une étude thématique de ces œuvres révèle que de nombreux écrivains ont été fascinés par des personnages types censés incarner la période : la figure de l’ancêtre et ses différents avatars (héros civilisateur, pionnier, patriarche) et celle de l’aventurier, dont la personnification la plus emblématique est le navigateur viking. Par souci de réalisme historique et pour rompre avec une tradition de glorification sans retenue, ces personnages vont subir une désidéalisation importante au cours du XXe siècle. D’autres romanciers ont choisi de s’intéresser à l’époque viking, car il s’agit d’une période de grands bouleversements religieux et politiques dans l’Histoire des pays scandinaves. Ces auteurs s’attachent à dépeindre le processus de christianisation et les conflits religieux entre païens et convertis. Dans une moindre mesure, ils évoquent aussi les mutations sociales et politiques. De façon générale, les représentations du Haut Moyen Âge nordique et de ses habitants trahissent les prises de position des romanciers suédois. Ceux-ci dévoilent leur vision du passé et n’hésitent pas à se livrer à une véritable relecture de l’Histoire. / The birth of the historical novel in Sweden, traditionally dated from 1828, coincides with a national-romantic movement exalting the figure of the ancient Scandinavian. But in this first half of the nineteenth century, the historical novel is still in want of recognition and authors wishing to recount the Nordic Early Middle Ages seem to favour more prestigious literary forms, such as poetry or theatre. In the beginning of the twentieth century, works depicting the Viking Age become more numerous. A thematic study of these novels reveals that many writers are fascinated by typical figures seen to embody this period: the figure of the ancestor and its different forms (the civilizing hero, the pioneer, the patriarch) and the one of the adventurer, the most illustrative personification of which is the Viking navigator. Yearning for historical realism and for emancipation from a tradition of unlimited glorification, their characters will undergo a significant de-idealization during the twentieth century. Other novelists take an interest in the Viking Age because it is a period rife with religious and political changes in the History of Scandinavian nations. These authors attempt to depict the process of Christianization and the ensuing religious conflict between pagans and converts. To a lesser extent, they also deal with the social and political transformations. Generally speaking, the representations of the Nordic Early Middle Ages and their inhabitants disclose the Swedish novelists’ views and stances. These authors hence reveal their vision of the past and do not shy away from reinterpreting history.

The aim of this essay is to examine how men is portrayed in three short stories, ”En omvändelsehistoria”, ”Far och son” and ”Jeppa”, from the debut Från Skåne by Victoria Benedictsson. I also investigate the ideas of masculinity during the 1880s. Unmanliness, paternity and manly tears are other concepts that I have been examining with close–reading as the method. The essay begins with a short recap of the earlier research about Benedictsson. Her debut as well as the perspective of masculinity on the work of female authors has been almost ignored by the academic sphere and my aim was to do something about it. Firstly, I discuss unmanliness in the peasant culture, secondly, paternity and absence and thirdly, unmanliness and manly tears. My result shows that the different ideas of masculinity affect the characters in many ways. For example, the elderly in the stories mostly falls down in unmanliness. I have come to the conclusion that the fear of being unmanly urge the men, or the boys, to act manly and follow the ideals.

Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborgs universitet, 1985. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-285) and index.

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Uppsala, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 318-339) and index.

The goal of this Master's Thesis is to bring out the literary aspects of August Strindberg's correspondence, with an emphasis on the love letters to his first and third wives, Siri von Essen and Harriet Bosse. A complete translation of Strindberg's letters into Czech is still lacking, even though this is, by volume, the greatest part of his work. A translation of his correspondence might alleviate his image as a spiteful misogynist in the Czech literary sciences, and above all may yield a new impulse to interpret Strindberg's dramas and may even inspire their more frequent presence on the Czech stage. In the first, theoretical part of this work, the literary nature of the love letter is described, along with the possibility of reading it as an epistolary novel; the similarity of Strindberg's expressive style to that of mediaeval troubadours is pointed out. In the second part, select passages of the correspondence are introduced with an exegetic commentary.

Utopias, by their very nature, verge on the impossible. Yet utopian dreams continue to inform the literary imagination. Why is that, and how? The present thesis approaches these questions through a reading of Drömfakulteten: - tillägg till sexualteorin (The Faculty of Dreams: Amendment to theTheory of Sexuality or Valerie), a novel or “literary fantasy” about the life and work of radical feminist and writer Valerie Solanas, by the Swedish writer Sara Stridsberg. The reading examines the possibility of utopian desire and imagination in a hopeless and anti-utopian world. I argue that Drömfakulteten revolves around, and tries to resolve, a seemingly impossible contradiction: to represent an unbearably closed and confined existence, and, at the same time, to break out of this closure from within. A pervading aim of the thesis, then, is to render visible the forms and flows of utopian desire in Stridsberg’s novel. The first part of the reading does this by connecting Drömfakulteten to Fredric Jameson’s and Northrop Frye’s perspectives on historical genres and modes; especially, but not exclusively, on romance. Here, I primarily examine the mechanisms that continually distort and pervert utopian desire in the text. The second part, in contrast, takes as its starting point those utopian forms and impulses that appear to escape or unsettle such distorting mechanisms. The theoretical framework at this stage is provided by Jameson’s structural readings of romance and the utopian form, as well as José Esteban Muñoz queer-utopian thinking. I contend that Drömfakulteten can be read as a narrative structure directed towards a determined closure or ending, which is opened up through various – essentially utopian – strategies.

Ecocriticism is a field that examines the relationship between literature and the physical environment. As an emerging discipline, it is crucial to expand its contribution to reinforce the existing literature. A writer's creation of a literary world reflects their life and relationship to the outside world. In this context, the thesis provides an alternative perspective to prior studies that emphasize nature as a character within the narrative of literary works. The central research question guiding this investigation is: "What representations of nature do we find in The Christmas Oratorio and in Lake of Heaven? What is the human perception of and connection to nature in these books?" Employing qualitative content analysis, the study interprets and analyses excerpts from the chosen novels. The findings reveal that nature plays a significant role in the narrative of both works, exhibiting agency and profound interconnection with other characters. In The Christmas Oratorio, nature assumes the role of a character, intricately entwined with human experiences and emotions. Conversely, in Lake of Heaven, nature is imbued with a more spiritual essence, symbolizing the soul and closely linked to human perceptions and experiences. This thesis endeavours to address research gaps by exploring the intricate interplay between humans and nature, as depicted in the selected literary works. Readers can better comprehend the writers' consciousness in the relationship to nature by understanding how they depict this interaction.

This thesis examines the Swedish speaking minority in the area of Finland. Because Finland had been a part of the Kingdom of Sweden for some centuries, the Swedish language had a dominant position in Finland for quite some time. The Swedish language kept its high prestige even during the period of the Russian rule that began in 1809. In the 2nd part of the 19th century the status of the Swedish language weakened to a large extent and today it is considered to be a minority language of Finland. The purpose of this thesis is in the first instance to define the term of identity and the specifics of minority identity. Subsequently I will focus on the the Swedish speaking minority in Finland, its self- concept, history and literature. In the last part of my thesis I will investigate the work of the Finland- Swedish writer Kjell Westö, in particular his depiction of his own Finland- Swedish identity. KEY WORDS: identity, minority groups, the Swedish speaking minority in Finland, Swedish literature in Finland, Kjell Westö

This dissertation deals with how the concept of virtue (dygd) is used in Swedish occasional poetry addressed to merchants before 1780. Occasional poetry was the major kind of literature in Sweden in the seventeenth and the eighteenth century, and usually addressed to the nobility and other dominant groups. As a part of the elites’ conspicuous consumption, and mainly aimed to demonstrate the addressees’ virtue, it played an important role in legitimising the social and political dominance of the elite. Merchandise, however, was regarded with moral suspicion. The main purpose of the thesis is to study the argumentative strategies the poets use to honour merchants, and to determine in what ethical traditions they have found the arguments to back up their reasoning. It is thereby possible to detect subtle changes in how they use the concept of virtue. These strategies and arguments are seen from a rhetorical point of view; the poets’ main purpose was to praise the tradesmen persuasively. The dissertation consists of three parts, dealing with, respectively, the period before 1650, the years 1670–1680 and the period 1770–1780. Each part is divided into three chapters: a brief presentation of the main ethical discussion of the period, a concise examination of the occasional poetry written for groups other than merchants, and an analysis of the argumentative strategies used in honouring tradesmen. The earliest merchant prints are constructed as defences rather than actual complimentary poems. Whereas the poems written for other addressees mainly make use of an Aristotelian concept of virtue, focusing on the services done for society and on the honour that follows from this, the merchant poems take a Lutheran law conception of ethics as their starting point. The key point is to claim that the merchant in question has not broken the Ten Commandments, or any other law belonging to man. Neither has he ever done any harm to his neighbours. In the 1670’s, this argumentative strategy is still abundant, but the poets also claim that the merchants have contributed to society, either through Christian charity or, with an allusion to mercantilism, by always trading with the aim of enriching their fatherland. In some cases, economic success in itself is regarded as a ground for honouring the merchant, the claim being that this was necessary for his charity, or by reference to the Lutheran ethics of calling or vocation. A main point is that the poets sometimes use the word virtue to describe these qualities, thereby in effect widening the concept itself. In the 1770’s, all earlier argumentative strategies are still used by the poets. In some cases, however, the texts consist in an attack on the Aristotelian concept of virtue. The poets argue that virtue is an inner, almost invisible quality having nothing to do with performing an occupation or belonging to a special social stratum. Instead they focus on sincerity as a quality essential to real virtue and as an important virtue in itself, thereby also claiming that virtue and glory could and should be separated.

This dissertation is a study on the works of the Swedish author Carl Jonas Love Almqvist during the final years of his exile in America. Focusing on the monumental 1438-page unpublished manuscript 'About Swedish Rhymes', the study first presents the textual material and then discusses the text from different formal and content-based aspects essential to an understanding of Almqvist's works in exile. In the manuscripts preserved from his last years of exile, i.e. the period after 1860, Almqvist refers to 'Mr Hugo's Academy, established in the year 1838' introduced in one of the volumes of The Book of the Wild Rose (1839). In comparison with his earlier fiction about academic "cabinet meetings", this fiction of such an academy, conceived in exile, is in some ways extraordinary. A close reading of the texts reveals that the aging Almqvist, contrary to previous opinions about him, maintained strict control over the activity: the extension and division of the record, as well as its references to time and space, all indicate a complete consistency and an exact mimetic order. The consideration of 'About Swedish Rhymes' starts out from exterior qualities. The observations are first considered in relation to the author's statements on the importance of the manuscript for the literary work of art. Subsequently, the genesis of the "exile" texts is re-examined. One key question here is whether the manuscript was completed in Philadelphia, or was continued in Bremen during the final year of his life. The content of the conversations in the records of the cabinet meetings is also analyzed. Although questions of metre and versification dominate, the text also deals with a variety of widely differing subjects, including discussions about the use of language and linguistic norms. The fictitious frame that the cabinet meeting provides for the purpose of discussing metre and rhyme is also considered. Here we find various improvised verses composed at the cabinet meeting and put into the mouth of the authentic versifier H.J. Seseman. One important question is whether the cabinet-meeting discussions about the metre in these verses are intended to be a serious contribution to scholarly debate, or whether they in fact have ironic undertones. Next, the narration of the "exile" texts is discussed from the point of view provided by its own fictitious perspective, together with the author’s relation to irony, satire and parody. The concluding chapter deals with verse-making in the record of rhyming. The emphasis is laid on the analysis and characterization of the various rhymed verses collected under the title Sesemana. One essential question concerns the 'rubbishy' or 'plain' character of these poems. The present analysis indicates that questions of rubbish, textual triviality and the like must bow to the broader question of the character of the poems in a deeper sense. Seseman's poetry is considered in relation to the Songes collection. Finally the question of how rhythm manifests itself as 'free verse' in a number of these poems with more serious content is also discussed.