Nils Holgersson och synen på barn, barndom och nationen: en komparativ studie av hundra års utveckling i Sverige och den engelskspråkiga världen
(2019) HISS33 20191History
- Abstract
- Children’s literature is an underused source for historical studies even though children’s books have great potential to give us insights into the time in which they were written. This is especially true when it comes to views of children and childhood which makes children’s literature a good way into the complex history of childhood. Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (1906-1907) is a classic all over the world today, but it was written as a Swedish schoolbook with the purpose to both entertain children and teach them the geography of their country. The fact that the story has survived displacement in both time and space makes it an interesting source for a study on how views of childhood, not least in relation to the idea of... (More)
- Children’s literature is an underused source for historical studies even though children’s books have great potential to give us insights into the time in which they were written. This is especially true when it comes to views of children and childhood which makes children’s literature a good way into the complex history of childhood. Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (1906-1907) is a classic all over the world today, but it was written as a Swedish schoolbook with the purpose to both entertain children and teach them the geography of their country. The fact that the story has survived displacement in both time and space makes it an interesting source for a study on how views of childhood, not least in relation to the idea of nation, have developed in new adaptations and translations.
This essay examines the development of views of children and childhood, the idea of the nation, and the view of childhood in relation to the nation in the story of Nils as well as four Swedish adaptations and four English translations. These developments are compared to earlier research on the history of childhood and the aim of the study is to shed light upon the complexity of the history of childhood through a comparison in both time and space. Two concepts are central to this essay, the implied (or imagined) reader and imagined communities, which are combined to show how the story has been adapted to new readers within new contexts and how this affects the the view of childhood and the idea of the national community that is mediated. The different versions are examined on a general scale to show the purpose and orientation of the adaptation, but ten chapters are also examined more closely to see how the child characters are portrayed, what elements of death and violence are included, and what image of the national community that is mediated to the implied reader.
The essay shows that childhood, just like the implied reader and the national community, is imagined and undergoes constant change. The study indicates a complex development where the Swedish adaptations are increasingly adapted to suit new child readers with new perceived needs, while the latest English translation rather affirms the book’s status as a classic with a translation that is complete and faithful to the Swedish original and its duality. The development of views of childhood shows many similarities between the two cultures as well as to the general trends that are listed in earlier research, but it also points to important differences in relation to the rights of children, elements of death, and focus on the national community. Therefore, it is concluded that there is a complexity which demands more comparative studies between nations and cultures within the history of childhood and that it is a field that cannot be reduced to general trends or limited to local studies. (Less) - Popular Abstract (Swedish)
- Barnböcker är en källa som sällan används i historiska undersökningar trots att de har en stor potential att ge kunskap om förställningar som var rådande i den samtid de författades i. Detta gäller inte minst föreställningar om barndomen, vilket gör att barnlitteraturen är en god väg in i barndomens komplexa historia. Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (1906-1907) är numera en klassiker, men skrevs som en läsebok med det ursprungliga syftet att både underhålla barnen och lära dem om Sveriges geografi. Det faktum att verket har överlevt förskjutning i tid och rum gör den till en intressant källa för en undersökning av hur synen på barn och barndomen, inte minst i relation till idén kring nationen, har utvecklats med nya utgåvor... (More)
- Barnböcker är en källa som sällan används i historiska undersökningar trots att de har en stor potential att ge kunskap om förställningar som var rådande i den samtid de författades i. Detta gäller inte minst föreställningar om barndomen, vilket gör att barnlitteraturen är en god väg in i barndomens komplexa historia. Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (1906-1907) är numera en klassiker, men skrevs som en läsebok med det ursprungliga syftet att både underhålla barnen och lära dem om Sveriges geografi. Det faktum att verket har överlevt förskjutning i tid och rum gör den till en intressant källa för en undersökning av hur synen på barn och barndomen, inte minst i relation till idén kring nationen, har utvecklats med nya utgåvor och översättningar.
I denna uppsats undersöks utvecklingen av synen på barn och barndomen, bilden av nationen samt synen på barndomen i relation till nationen i boken om Nils samt fyra svenska bearbetningar och fyra engelska översättningar. Dessa utvecklingsförlopp ställs mot tidigare barndomsforskning och undersökningen syftar till att visa på barndomshistoriens komplexitet genom en komparation i både tid och rum. I centrum för undersökningen står begreppen föreställd läsare och föreställd gemenskap som används i kombination för att nå hur verket har anpassats för nya läsare i nya kontexter och vad detta innebär för den syn på barndomen och den nationella gemenskapen som förmedlas. De olika verken undersöks dels på ett övergripande plan för att se vilken inriktning man har valt i bearbetningarna och översättningarna, dels undersöks även tio kapitel närmare för att se hur barnkaraktärer skildras, vilka inslag av död och våld som finns, samt vilken bild av den nationella gemenskapen som förmedlas till den föreställda läsaren.
Studien visar att barndomen, likt läsaren och den nationella gemenskapen är föreställd och ständigt förändras. Undersökningen visar på en komplex utveckling där de svenska bearbetningarna och de engelska översättningarna har gått i olika riktningar – de svenska har kommit att anpassas alltmer efter en ny barnläsare med andra upplevda behov, medan den senaste engelska översättningen snarare befäster bokens status som klassiker genom en fullständig översättning trogen originalet med fokus på bokens ursprungliga dualitet. Utvecklingen av synen på barndomen visar många likheter kulturerna emellan samt likhet med den generella utveckling tidigare forskning har pekat på, men samtidigt visar den på viktiga skillnader inte minst i relation till barns rättigheter, inslag av död, samt fokus på den nationella gemenskapen. Därmed konstateras det att det finns en komplexitet som kräver fler komparativa barndomshistoriska studier mellan nationer och att barndomens historia inte kan reduceras till generella trender eller begränsas till lokala studier. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8986949
- author
- Kallträsk, Evelina LU
- supervisor
-
- Ulf Zander LU
- organization
- course
- HISS33 20191
- year
- 2019
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Nils Holgersson, Selma Lagerlöf, barndomen, barn, nationen, barndomens historia, synen på, childhood, children, nation, views of, föreställd läsare, föreställd gemenskap, implied reader, imagined communities, barnlitteratur, children's literature, komparativ studie, comparative study, översättning, translation
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 8986949
- date added to LUP
- 2019-06-26 15:34:42
- date last changed
- 2019-06-26 15:34:42
@misc{8986949,
abstract = {{Children’s literature is an underused source for historical studies even though children’s books have great potential to give us insights into the time in which they were written. This is especially true when it comes to views of children and childhood which makes children’s literature a good way into the complex history of childhood. Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (1906-1907) is a classic all over the world today, but it was written as a Swedish schoolbook with the purpose to both entertain children and teach them the geography of their country. The fact that the story has survived displacement in both time and space makes it an interesting source for a study on how views of childhood, not least in relation to the idea of nation, have developed in new adaptations and translations.
This essay examines the development of views of children and childhood, the idea of the nation, and the view of childhood in relation to the nation in the story of Nils as well as four Swedish adaptations and four English translations. These developments are compared to earlier research on the history of childhood and the aim of the study is to shed light upon the complexity of the history of childhood through a comparison in both time and space. Two concepts are central to this essay, the implied (or imagined) reader and imagined communities, which are combined to show how the story has been adapted to new readers within new contexts and how this affects the the view of childhood and the idea of the national community that is mediated. The different versions are examined on a general scale to show the purpose and orientation of the adaptation, but ten chapters are also examined more closely to see how the child characters are portrayed, what elements of death and violence are included, and what image of the national community that is mediated to the implied reader.
The essay shows that childhood, just like the implied reader and the national community, is imagined and undergoes constant change. The study indicates a complex development where the Swedish adaptations are increasingly adapted to suit new child readers with new perceived needs, while the latest English translation rather affirms the book’s status as a classic with a translation that is complete and faithful to the Swedish original and its duality. The development of views of childhood shows many similarities between the two cultures as well as to the general trends that are listed in earlier research, but it also points to important differences in relation to the rights of children, elements of death, and focus on the national community. Therefore, it is concluded that there is a complexity which demands more comparative studies between nations and cultures within the history of childhood and that it is a field that cannot be reduced to general trends or limited to local studies.}},
author = {{Kallträsk, Evelina}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Nils Holgersson och synen på barn, barndom och nationen: en komparativ studie av hundra års utveckling i Sverige och den engelskspråkiga världen}},
year = {{2019}},
}