Poétiques sociales des pays nordiques : de l’âge viking à nos jours

Le séminaire “Poétiques sociales des pays nordiques : de l’âge viking à nos jours” accueillera, pour sa prochaine séance Kristina Malmio, professeure de la littérature nordique à l’Université de Helsinki, qui interviendra sur le sujet : « Unequal Ecologies – the Circulation of Genres and Texts among the Nordic Countries »

Résumé:

« Seen from abroad, the Nordic countries are perceived as strikingly similar to each other, characterized by the same kind of social structures, economic developments, and cultural values. They stand for democracy, social equality and human rights, welfare-state economics, and environmental protection. Less known and visible are the power structures and internal cultural dynamics within the region.

My presentation builds on an ongoing work with a Routledge Companion to Literary Genres in Nordic Literature. Being the editor in chief and a Finnish scholar, I have during the process, made some observations which question the supposed equality of the region. Taking our point of departure in literary genres, we have strived to include all parts of the region. I will describe the project and ponder upon the fact that despite our very earnest attempts, it has been difficult to include literature from the “margins” of Nordic literature. This is especially striking for Finnish literature, and visible even in earlier Nordic literatures.

As we have learned from many studies on world literature, the power relations in literature follow the geographical, military and economical ones. This, I think, goes also for the Nordic region, the different parts of it are “one, and unequal” (Moretti 2000, 56). Currently in literary research, there is a strong need to decolonialize also Nordic literature – a proper awareness and inclusion of the minority literatures of the region is necessary. However, we need also study the internal power structures between the national literatures of the region. »

Varmt velkommen !

Harri Veivo