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The small people in the big picture : Children in Swedish working-class novels of the 1930s

Nykvist, Karin LU (2017) p.303-317
Abstract

When the story of Scandinavian literature is being told in an international context, the Swedish proletarian novels of the 1930s are frequently held up as the more important of the regional canon. 1 In these celebrated novels, childhood and children are at the center-so much so, that I would suggest that the child is one of the more prominent motifs of Swedish literature between the two World Wars. Narratives on childhood were not new in any way in the Swedish or Nordic context during this period, but these novels told of childhood at a pivotal moment in history, when the child figure and the role played by childrearing in the forming of the nation were the subjects of animated discussion. 2 And they told of... (More)

When the story of Scandinavian literature is being told in an international context, the Swedish proletarian novels of the 1930s are frequently held up as the more important of the regional canon. 1 In these celebrated novels, childhood and children are at the center-so much so, that I would suggest that the child is one of the more prominent motifs of Swedish literature between the two World Wars. Narratives on childhood were not new in any way in the Swedish or Nordic context during this period, but these novels told of childhood at a pivotal moment in history, when the child figure and the role played by childrearing in the forming of the nation were the subjects of animated discussion. 2 And they told of childhood in a new way, from the unprivileged point of view of the child. Many titles were published, but among the more widely read-and therefore the scope of this text-were Ivar Lo-Johansson’s Breaking Free (1933), Eyvind Johnson’s cycle of four novels named The Novel of Olof (1934-1937), Harry Martinson’s Flowering Nettle (1935), and Moa Martinson’s trilogy about Mia, My Mother Gets Married (1936), Church Wedding (1938) and The King’s Roses (1939).

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Nordic Childhoods 1700-1960 : From Folk Beliefs to Pippi Longstocking - From Folk Beliefs to Pippi Longstocking
pages
15 pages
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85049958841
ISBN
9781138294226
9781351865920
DOI
10.4324/9781315231723
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3aeda8cc-bd01-4930-95dc-69f193b808f7
date added to LUP
2018-08-03 12:08:57
date last changed
2024-03-01 22:50:20
@inbook{3aeda8cc-bd01-4930-95dc-69f193b808f7,
  abstract     = {{<p>When the story of Scandinavian literature is being told in an international context, the Swedish proletarian novels of the 1930s are frequently held up as the more important of the regional canon. <sup>1</sup> In these celebrated novels, childhood and children are at the center-so much so, that I would suggest that the child is one of the more prominent motifs of Swedish literature between the two World Wars. Narratives on childhood were not new in any way in the Swedish or Nordic context during this period, but these novels told of childhood at a pivotal moment in history, when the child figure and the role played by childrearing in the forming of the nation were the subjects of animated discussion. <sup>2</sup> And they told of childhood in a new way, from the unprivileged point of view of the child. Many titles were published, but among the more widely read-and therefore the scope of this text-were Ivar Lo-Johansson’s Breaking Free (1933), Eyvind Johnson’s cycle of four novels named The Novel of Olof (1934-1937), Harry Martinson’s Flowering Nettle (1935), and Moa Martinson’s trilogy about Mia, My Mother Gets Married (1936), Church Wedding (1938) and The King’s Roses (1939).</p>}},
  author       = {{Nykvist, Karin}},
  booktitle    = {{Nordic Childhoods 1700-1960 : From Folk Beliefs to Pippi Longstocking}},
  isbn         = {{9781138294226}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{303--317}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  title        = {{The small people in the big picture : Children in Swedish working-class novels of the 1930s}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315231723}},
  doi          = {{10.4324/9781315231723}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}