Scandinavian Literature 2
A.Y. 2025/2026
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 furnishes an overview of the history of Scandinavian literature in the 20th century, and intends to equip students with the capacity to read and analyze poems, short stories and a small selection of novels.
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, as well as acquire knowledge of the history of 20th century Scandinavian literature, its main authors, currents and oeuvres. 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, understand how to situate authors, movements and works in their context, and examine literary works representative of the Scandinavian 20th century 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
The three-year course in Scandinavian Literature provides students with an insight into the main characteristics of Nordic literature in its historical development from its medieval origins to the present day, focusing on the most significant periods, movements, genres and authors (Years I and II). To an increasing extent over the course of the three years, students will proceed with an in-depth study of individual works or authors, also focusing on the tools and techniques of literary text analysis, applied to different genres. Readings will initially be in Italian translation, gradually (from the second year) texts in the original languages will be introduced.
The second-year course (u.d. B and C) discusses the narrative modes of the Gothic, its imagery, themes and tropes, focusing on the traces found in Scandinavian literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. Through readings and analyses of literary texts and theoretical essays, the aim is to provide students with the skills to understand the numerous declinations of the Nordic Gothic and the different critical approaches to this literary tradition.
The course is intended for students in the second year of the three-year degree course in Foreign Languages and Literature with Scandinavian Languages as Language A or B (unit A+B+C = 9 cfu).
Unit A will present currents, trends, authors and major works of 20th-century Scandinavian literatures.
Unit A: Scandinavian Literature of the 20th Century.
Unit B: Skyggen and Tante Tandpine by H.C. Andersen; Rosmersholm (1886) by Henrik Ibsen; Tschandala (1888) by August Strindberg.
Unit C: Damen fra Tivoli (1889) by K. Hamsun; Herr Arnes penningar (1904) by Selma Lagerlöf; a selection of tales from Syv fantastiske Fortællinger (1935) by Karen Blixen.
The second-year course (u.d. B and C) discusses the narrative modes of the Gothic, its imagery, themes and tropes, focusing on the traces found in Scandinavian literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. Through readings and analyses of literary texts and theoretical essays, the aim is to provide students with the skills to understand the numerous declinations of the Nordic Gothic and the different critical approaches to this literary tradition.
The course is intended for students in the second year of the three-year degree course in Foreign Languages and Literature with Scandinavian Languages as Language A or B (unit A+B+C = 9 cfu).
Unit A will present currents, trends, authors and major works of 20th-century Scandinavian literatures.
Unit A: Scandinavian Literature of the 20th Century.
Unit B: Skyggen and Tante Tandpine by H.C. Andersen; Rosmersholm (1886) by Henrik Ibsen; Tschandala (1888) by August Strindberg.
Unit C: Damen fra Tivoli (1889) by K. Hamsun; Herr Arnes penningar (1904) by Selma Lagerlöf; a selection of tales from Syv fantastiske Fortællinger (1935) by Karen Blixen.
Prerequisites for admission
Students are required to have passed Scandinavian literature 1. Although the teaching is done in Italian and the literary works avaliable in Italian translation, texts written in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish will be used in class. The reading list, which will be discussed during classes, includes critical works written both in the Scandinavian languages and in English.
Teaching methods
The teaching methodology combines lectures and class discussions of excerpts selected from the texts on the reading list.
Teaching Resources
Unit A: AA.VV.: Storia delle letterature scandinave, Iperborea, 2019, the dìfollowing selection of pages p: 385-404, 408-417, 422-489, 533-552, 558-564, 572-574 (T. Tranströmer), 594-598, 621-685; an anthology of 20th-century poetry and prose uploaded in Ariel. Students attending the course will read two of the following three texts: P. Lagerkvist, Il nano, Iperborea, 1991 [1944]; K. Blixen, Il pranzo di Babette, preferibilmente ed. trilingue Einaudi, 1997 [1950]; T. Vesaas, Gli uccelli, Iperborea, 1990 [1957].
Second-year students may choose to read the primary literature in Scandinavian (any complete edition) or in translation. The critical-didactic apparatus (introductions, prefaces, afterwords, notes etc.), if present, is to be considered an integral part of reading the text.
Units B and C. GENERAL: Baldick, Chris & Robert Mighall, "Gothic Criticism", in: A Companion to the Gothic, ed. D. Punter, Oxford: Blackwell, 2000, pp. 209-228, Botting, Fred, Gothic, New York: Routledge, 2014, pp. 1-56. One of the following readings: Fyhr, Mattias, De mörka labyrinterna: gotiken i litteratur, film, musik och rollspel. Lund: Ellerström, 2009, pp. 18-32; oppure Kastbjerg, Kirstine, "The Aesthetics of the Surface. The Danish Gothic 1820-2000", in: Gothic Topographies. Language, Nation Building and 'Race', eds. P.M. Mehtonen & M. Savolainen, Farnham, Ashgate, 2013, pp. 153-167; oppure Omdal, Gerd Karin, "Fantastisk litteratur og det fantastiske i litteraturen", in: Grenseerfaringer. Fantastisk litteratur i Norge og omegn, Oslo, Fagbokforlaget, 2010, pp. 17-27.
U nitB: H.C. Andersen, Skyggen (1847; L'ombra) and Tante Tandpine (1872; Zia Maldidenti) available online: Skyggen. - Det Kgl. Biblioteks tekstportal / Tante Tandpine - Det Kgl. Biblioteks tekstportal; Henrik Ibsen, Rosmersholm (1886; Casa Rosmer) available online: http://www.edd.uio.no/cocoon/ibsen01_01/DRVIT_Ro%7CRoht.xhtml; August Strindberg, Tschandala (1889; Ciandala) available online: August Strindberg - Tschandala. Berättelse från 1600-talet. Om boken | Litteraturbanken.
Secondary readings: Kastbjerg, Kirstine, "Dressed up in the Body of an Old Woman": Gothic Conventions in Ingemann, Andersen, Blixen and Høeg. Scandinavian-Canadian Studies, 18, 2009, pp. 24-42; Wicklund, Beret, "Ibsen's Demons: Rosmersholm as Gothic Drama", in: International Ibsen Conference Proceedings, eds. P. Bjørby & A. Aarseth, Øvre Ervik, Avheim&Eide Akademisk Forlag, 2001, pp. 335-340; Fyhr, Mattias, "Tschandala Compared to Some Works by Poe", in: Strindberg and Fiction, eds. G. Rossholm, B. Ståhle Sjönell & B.Westin, Stockholm: Almqvist&Wiksell, 2011, pp. 142-150.
UnitC: Knut Hamsun, Damen fra Tivoli (1889; La signora di Tivoli in AA. VV., Romanzi e racconti n. 4: Quindicinale di narrativa, Sadea, pp. 65-73) available online: 44 (Samlede verker / 3. Siesta, Victoria, I æventyrland (6. utg.)); Selma Lagerlöf, Herr Arnes penningar (1904; Il tesoro del Signor Arne in Il pazzo e la fanciulla, Milano, Delta, 1929, pp. 157-256) available online: Herr Arnes penningar sida 1 etext | Litteraturbanken; Karen Blixen, Syndfloden over Norderney, Aben, Den gamle vandrende Ridder, Et Familieselskab i Helsingør, Drømmerne from Syv fantastiske Fortællinger (1934; Sette storie gotiche).
Critical readings: Yamasaki, Lisa: "The Ghost as Psychological Disturbance: The Supernatural in Knut Hamsun's Damen fra Tivoli and Arne Dybfest's Ira." Supernatural Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Art, Media, and Culture, vol. 8, no. 1, 2022, pp. 103-117; Leffler, Yvonne, "Herr Arnes penningar av Selma Lagerlöf", in Id.: I skräckens lustgård. skräckromantik i svenska 1800-talsromaner, Göteborg: Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen, Göteborgs universitet, 1991, pp. 153-172; James, Sibyl, "Gothic Transformations: Isak Dinesen and the Gothic", in: The Female Gothic, ed. J.E. Fleenor, Montreal, Eden Press, 1983, pp. 138-52 oppure; Juhl, Marianne & Jørgensen Bo Hakon, "Why Gothic Tales?", in: Isak Dinesen: Critical Views, ed. O. Pelenski, Athens, Ohio Press, 1993, pp. 88-99.
Second-year students may choose to read the primary literature in Scandinavian (any complete edition) or in translation. The critical-didactic apparatus (introductions, prefaces, afterwords, notes etc.), if present, is to be considered an integral part of reading the text.
Units B and C. GENERAL: Baldick, Chris & Robert Mighall, "Gothic Criticism", in: A Companion to the Gothic, ed. D. Punter, Oxford: Blackwell, 2000, pp. 209-228, Botting, Fred, Gothic, New York: Routledge, 2014, pp. 1-56. One of the following readings: Fyhr, Mattias, De mörka labyrinterna: gotiken i litteratur, film, musik och rollspel. Lund: Ellerström, 2009, pp. 18-32; oppure Kastbjerg, Kirstine, "The Aesthetics of the Surface. The Danish Gothic 1820-2000", in: Gothic Topographies. Language, Nation Building and 'Race', eds. P.M. Mehtonen & M. Savolainen, Farnham, Ashgate, 2013, pp. 153-167; oppure Omdal, Gerd Karin, "Fantastisk litteratur og det fantastiske i litteraturen", in: Grenseerfaringer. Fantastisk litteratur i Norge og omegn, Oslo, Fagbokforlaget, 2010, pp. 17-27.
U nitB: H.C. Andersen, Skyggen (1847; L'ombra) and Tante Tandpine (1872; Zia Maldidenti) available online: Skyggen. - Det Kgl. Biblioteks tekstportal / Tante Tandpine - Det Kgl. Biblioteks tekstportal; Henrik Ibsen, Rosmersholm (1886; Casa Rosmer) available online: http://www.edd.uio.no/cocoon/ibsen01_01/DRVIT_Ro%7CRoht.xhtml; August Strindberg, Tschandala (1889; Ciandala) available online: August Strindberg - Tschandala. Berättelse från 1600-talet. Om boken | Litteraturbanken.
Secondary readings: Kastbjerg, Kirstine, "Dressed up in the Body of an Old Woman": Gothic Conventions in Ingemann, Andersen, Blixen and Høeg. Scandinavian-Canadian Studies, 18, 2009, pp. 24-42; Wicklund, Beret, "Ibsen's Demons: Rosmersholm as Gothic Drama", in: International Ibsen Conference Proceedings, eds. P. Bjørby & A. Aarseth, Øvre Ervik, Avheim&Eide Akademisk Forlag, 2001, pp. 335-340; Fyhr, Mattias, "Tschandala Compared to Some Works by Poe", in: Strindberg and Fiction, eds. G. Rossholm, B. Ståhle Sjönell & B.Westin, Stockholm: Almqvist&Wiksell, 2011, pp. 142-150.
UnitC: Knut Hamsun, Damen fra Tivoli (1889; La signora di Tivoli in AA. VV., Romanzi e racconti n. 4: Quindicinale di narrativa, Sadea, pp. 65-73) available online: 44 (Samlede verker / 3. Siesta, Victoria, I æventyrland (6. utg.)); Selma Lagerlöf, Herr Arnes penningar (1904; Il tesoro del Signor Arne in Il pazzo e la fanciulla, Milano, Delta, 1929, pp. 157-256) available online: Herr Arnes penningar sida 1 etext | Litteraturbanken; Karen Blixen, Syndfloden over Norderney, Aben, Den gamle vandrende Ridder, Et Familieselskab i Helsingør, Drømmerne from Syv fantastiske Fortællinger (1934; Sette storie gotiche).
Critical readings: Yamasaki, Lisa: "The Ghost as Psychological Disturbance: The Supernatural in Knut Hamsun's Damen fra Tivoli and Arne Dybfest's Ira." Supernatural Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Art, Media, and Culture, vol. 8, no. 1, 2022, pp. 103-117; Leffler, Yvonne, "Herr Arnes penningar av Selma Lagerlöf", in Id.: I skräckens lustgård. skräckromantik i svenska 1800-talsromaner, Göteborg: Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen, Göteborgs universitet, 1991, pp. 153-172; James, Sibyl, "Gothic Transformations: Isak Dinesen and the Gothic", in: The Female Gothic, ed. J.E. Fleenor, Montreal, Eden Press, 1983, pp. 138-52 oppure; Juhl, Marianne & Jørgensen Bo Hakon, "Why Gothic Tales?", in: Isak Dinesen: Critical Views, ed. O. Pelenski, Athens, Ohio Press, 1993, pp. 88-99.
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 in the theoretical texts present in the course syllabus.
Second year students can choose whether to take the exam in Italian or in Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish. Grades are on a scale of 30, with a minimum of 18 (pass) and a maximum of 30+lode. Students have the right to reject the mark.
International and Erasmus students are requested to contact the instructor upon arrival if they intend to take this course.
Examination arrangements for students with disabilities and/or DSAs must be agreed with the teacher in consultation with the relevant office.
Second year students can choose whether to take the exam in Italian or in Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish. Grades are on a scale of 30, with a minimum of 18 (pass) and a maximum of 30+lode. Students have the right to reject the mark.
International and Erasmus students are requested to contact the instructor upon arrival if they intend to take this course.
Examination arrangements for students with disabilities and/or DSAs must be agreed with the teacher in consultation with the relevant office.
Modules or teaching units
Unita' didattica A
L-LIN/15 - NORDIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica B+C
L-LIN/15 - NORDIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Professor(s)