Ever since the ‘Jantelov' was famously proclaimed in Aksel Sandemose's En flygkting krysser sitt spor (1933), the Scandinavian societies seem to have adapted a new moral and behavioural code of conduct. This catalogue of rules emphasises the role of the individual within society and ostracises noncompliance, even if only socially and not by law. Hence hero figures have a complicated standing in the Nordic countries, as their transgressive behaviour and ethical and physical superiority result in exceptionality that protrudes beyond the egalitarian average norm. This peculiar attitude towards heroism continued even after the end of the Cold War and reflects in cultural products as well. Of particular interest is the handling of heroism in literature aimed at a young readership, where the protagonists are presented mainly as underdogs. These underdogs are defined by their marginalised status and are introduced as social outcasts due to circumstances beyond their own control (such as e.g. poverty, health, gender identity) – foiled against the allegedly egalitarian Scandinavian welfare societies. Authors take up this discrepancy and transfer the larger discourses into individual accounts. Reacting to the dynamics of a globalisation, the categories class and space play a significant role and are intertwined with the everyday challenges of precarity.
Situated within the broader context of my PhD-project, this paper is designed as a single-case study. Its aim is to show how underdogs can capitalise on their potential between the poles of class, space and precarity and how notions of the heroic are moulded in this context on different textual levels. I will illustrate my findings on two Scandinavian Young Adult novels.
| Type : | : | oral |
| Langue du texte intégral | : | anglais |
| Commentaire | : | Sotirios Mouzakis has read English and American Studies, Romance philology, Latin and Swedish (state examination) as well as Scandinavian studies and German literature (B.A.) at the University of Freiburg, the Sorbonne IV (Université de Paris IV) and the Ionian University of Corfu. Since his graduation in 2014, he has been teaching literary theory and cultural studies at the department for Scandinavian studies at Freiburg University. In 2016 he took on a post as research assistant in the project „Junge Helden des Postheroismus. Verhandlungen des Heroischen in der skandinavischen Jugendliteratur nach 1945“ within the Collaborative Research Centre ‘Heroes – Heroisations – Heroisms', which is affiliated to Freiburg University and funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). His PhD project deals with imaginations and negotiations of the heroic in the Scandinavian welfare societies as represented in young adult fiction after the Cold War. His main fields of interest include comparative literature and cultural transfer, intermediality, postcolonial and diaspora studies, disease/illness and literature, negotiations of the heroic in literature and (popular) culture, and young adult fiction (especially aspects of gender and LGBTQ related issues). His most recent publication deals with heroism mechanisms in contemporary popular culture. A paper on heroism in Walt Disney Princess movies is forthcoming in 2019, as well as a paper on welfare critique and heroism in Swedish YAF. |
| Thématiques | : | Litérature |
| Mots-Clés | : | literature ; young adult fiction ; scandinavia ; underdog ; hero ; heroism ; welfare state ; space ; class ; precarity ; heroism ; heroisation |
| PDF version | : |  PDF version |
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