This master thesis discusses the roots, concepts and the subsequent interpretations of the so- called "romantic discussion", which took place in Italy between the years 1816-1826. Based on the overview of selected debate entries and their critical interpretations, we will try to explain the relatively scarce attention paid to the Italian romanticism by critics outside of Italy. The polemic on romanticism started with the article "On the Manner and Usefulness of Translations" by Madame de Stael, in which the author as a solution to the crisis affecting Italian literature suggested to translate more of French and German production, as it already reflected the upcoming romantic aesthetics. This modest proposal sparked a fierce debate which gradually dealt not only with the question of adopting foreign cultural impulses, but also with need to redefine the roots of Italian cultural traditions and build a modern Italian identity. The most important responses to Madame de Staël's article - written by Ludovico di Breme, Giovanni Berchet and Pietro Borsieri - are now considered "manifestos" of Italian romanticism. Unfortunately the inputs by Giacomo Leopardi and Alessandro Manzoni, even though they are considered very interesting and intellectually stimulating, cannot be considered part of the discussion as...

<p>Reading and understanding literature does not necessarily have to be an individual act. The aim of this essay is to investigate what happens when six students read a text by Kazuo Ishiguro A Family Supper and then discuss it in a communicative situation. The essay bases its ideas on the sociocultural theory and the reader-response theory. The sociocultural perspective argues that people develop and progress during social interaction, moreover by communicating with other people and by being inspired and subsequently educated through taking part in different social contexts. My idea with this essay is to observe a literary discussion in a group. The observation emphasizes both the individual contribution to the literary discussion and the function of the group. By analyzing the participation of the individual students, I reached the conclusion that the students deal with literature in many different ways. Some focus only on the text and the plot, others discuss social issues in connection to the text and some only respond to the others’ arguments. When studying the group, I looked at the balance in the group, the turn taking between the members and the level of participation. The reader-response theory bases its idea on the reader and the text and the fact that they are connected in a mutual transaction. Every reader brings his or her experiences to the understanding of the text and thereby a text can have multiple alternative interpretations considering the amount of readers. The analysis section in this essay consists of several parts, such as an individual reflection, a group discussion and an individual evaluation.</p>

The aim of the present study is to investigate how three Swedish teachers view literary discussion as a tool for teaching and learning. A socio-cultural perspective with Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development and Dysthe’s dialogic/monologic classroom serves as the theoretical point of departure. The study is based on qualitative semistructured interviews with three Swedish teachers, all working in upper secondary school. An interview guide was established on the basis of previous research in the field of literary discussion. The interviews showed that the teachers had a positive view of conversations and discussions as a tool for teaching and learning, since they see good progression in the pupils’ reading comprehension, their conception of literature, and analytical ability. Literary discussions are chiefly appreciated as a tool that comes into its own as a method in teaching an aspect of a subject and as preparation for a written examination. Another finding is that the teachers’ positive outlook on literary discussion includes a view of teachers as being active and present when help and support should be close at hand for the pupils.

Reading and understanding literature does not necessarily have to be an individual act. The aim of this essay is to investigate what happens when six students read a text by Kazuo Ishiguro A Family Supper and then discuss it in a communicative situation. The essay bases its ideas on the sociocultural theory and the reader-response theory. The sociocultural perspective argues that people develop and progress during social interaction, moreover by communicating with other people and by being inspired and subsequently educated through taking part in different social contexts. My idea with this essay is to observe a literary discussion in a group. The observation emphasizes both the individual contribution to the literary discussion and the function of the group. By analyzing the participation of the individual students, I reached the conclusion that the students deal with literature in many different ways. Some focus only on the text and the plot, others discuss social issues in connection to the text and some only respond to the others’ arguments. When studying the group, I looked at the balance in the group, the turn taking between the members and the level of participation. The reader-response theory bases its idea on the reader and the text and the fact that they are connected in a mutual transaction. Every reader brings his or her experiences to the understanding of the text and thereby a text can have multiple alternative interpretations considering the amount of readers. The analysis section in this essay consists of several parts, such as an individual reflection, a group discussion and an individual evaluation.

Syftet med denna empiriska studie är att undersöka hur pojkar och flickor enskilt tolkar och i grupp diskuterar kring text- och normorienterande frågor, om sambandet mellan text och bild, deras innehåll och vad de kan förmedla. Det empiriska arbetet genomfördes genom observationer av litteratursamtalmed elever i årskurs 2. Resultatet ställs bredvid tidigare forskning, och visar bland annat hur mycket information en bild kan ge och hur mycket bilder kan påverka förståelsen av en texts innehåll. Gruppdynamik är en stor påverkande faktor för hur samtal mellan elever förs, och arbetets teoretiska och analytiska utgångspunkt är genusperspektivet. Resultatet visar att pojkar effektivt tar ledarrollen och att flickor har lättare att sätta sig in i nya situationer.