OVERVIEW

The course is divided into three thematic modules. The first module will explore a genre of particular significance in Scandinavian literature and culture: children’s literature. The second module will analyse and compare translations of a selection of literary texts, both into the Scandinavian languages and from the Scandinavian languages into Italian, with a focus on the translation strategies employed. The third module involves producing translations of selected passages from Scandinavian literary works into Italian.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

On the basis of linguistic and historical-literary competence and skills acquired in the previous three years of study, this course aims to enable students to critically analyse a range of aspects and periods of the Scandinavian literature and culture, starting from (although not exclusively) literary texts and considering translation issues.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students will critically engage with the 'genre' of children's literature, considering its origin, development and trends, and identifying the peculiarities of the Scandinavian tradition. In addition, they will critically examine the phenomenon of the representation of the North, in its stereotypes and their deconstruction, drawing on a corpus of literary and extra-literary examples which they will have the chance to integrate. Moreover, they will be able to critically deal with the genre of Nordic sagas, reflect on the main features of this kind of narrative works (and their evolution) and identify the peculiarities of the Scandinavian tradition and trends. 

At the end of the course they will be able to:

- outline the development of children's literature in the Western tradition, discussing its historical and socio-cultural premises, with particular regard to the different pedagogical perspectives;

- describe and discuss the development of Scandinavian children's literature, framing it in European literature;

- analyse the dynamics adopted in significant works of Scandinavian children's literature;

- identify the translation techniques and strategies employed in different eras and contexts to translate literary texts;

- assess the effectiveness of the techniques and strategies applied by translators;

- identify the stylistic features of a literary text in the source language and compare them with those of the text in the target language;

- identify the cultural peculiarities of the text in the source language and compare the most suitable strategies for reproducing them in the target language;

- independently apply the most appropriate techniques and strategies for translating various genres of literary texts from Scandinavian languages into Italian;

- evaluate one’s own translations and proceed with the various stages of revision.

PREREQUISITES

There are no specific binding requirements to attend the course.

TEACHING METHODS

54 hours of classroom activities, articulated in two weekly hours over 9 weeks (part one) in the first term (October to December) and three weekly hours over 12 weeks (parts two and three, each consisting of 18 hours) in the second term (February to May).

The whole course, particularly the second and third part, will have a markedly seminar character, therefore students are expected to contribute to analyses and discussion with their own remarks.

In the third part of the course, once the texts have been read and analysed, they will first be translated in class, with a comparison of the different translation proposals put forward by the students, who will then continue working independently on their assigned sections at home. The final assessment and revision will take place in class. Some of the passages translated individually will, however, be discussed during the exam.

Further activities will be announced during the course. The course will be entirely held in Italian.

The course attendance is not compulsory, but highly recommended.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

PART ONE - Tradition and transgression in Scandinavian children's literature: the surprising features of a 'minor' genre

During the 20th century, Scandinavian literature offered interesting cases of alternative, provocative and innovative children’s books, which often highlighted the contradictions and limitations of traditional literature, the most famous example of which is certainly the series on Pippi Longstocking by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. No less disruptive – even though less celebrated – were the adventures of Bibi by the Danish writer Karin Michaëlis and those settled in the Moomin valley by the Finland-Swedish author Tove Jansson. We will address several issues concerning children’s literature, reconstruct its development in the different European socio-cultural contexts, point out its characteristic features and focus on aspects of similarity and diversity among the mentioned authors and among their works. This analysis will also consider pedagogical aspects and the role of literature in representing, suggesting and promoting social values, specifically related to children’s conditions and needs.

PART TWO – Comparative translations: analysis and evaluation

Some texts have been translated several times from or into the Scandinavian languages, with results that sometimes differ. In this part of the course, some of these will be compared to highlight how different conventions and objectives can give rise to divergent translations, resulting from different strategies. We will compare the various Swedish translations, produced from the 16th century to the present day, of certain biblical passages, and analyse the first Swedish translation of Machiavelli’s The Prince, from 1757. Finally, two or more Italian translations of selected classics of Scandinavian literature will be compared; the specific works will be agreed upon with the students attending the course, provided they include one Swedish, one Danish and one Norwegian work (e.g. works by Strindberg, Andersen or Hamsun).

PART THREE - Translating literary texts from the Scandinavian languages into Italian

In the final part of the course, the theoretical skills acquired will be put into practice through the analysis and comparison of the texts used in the second part. Students will attempt to translate a selection of literary texts (in prose and verse) from Swedish into Italian, as agreed with the lecturer; on request, it will also be possible to translate some passages from Danish and/or Norwegian. The works chosen must not have been previously published in Italian translation. The translation work will initially be carried out in groups and on a collaborative basis, will then continue independently and individually, and will conclude with a final review. Other passages translated individually will be discussed during the examination.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

For PART ONE (Children's literature):

Karin Michaëlis, Bibi. En lille Piges historie (1929, Bibi. Una bambina del Nord)

Astrid Lindgren, Boken om Pippi Långstrump (1952, Pippi Calzelunghe)

Tove Jansson, Det osynliga barnet (1962, Racconti dalla valle dei Mumin)

Anna Wegener, Karin Michaëlis' Bibi Books. Producing, Rewriting, Reading and Continuing a Children's Fiction Series 1927-1953, Berlin, Franck & Timme 2021

Åsa Warnqvist, Lillemor Torstensson (eds.), The Liberated Child: Childhood in the Works of Astrid Lindgren. Astrid Lindgren Centennial Conference, Stockholm, May 30-31, 2007, disponibile su barnboken.net

Maria Nikolajeva (ed.), Tove Jansson (special issue), The Lion and the Unicorn, 38/2, April 2014, Johns Hopkins University Press

For the SECOND PART of the course:

- Paolo Marelli, ‘The first translation in Scandinavia’, in *The First Translations of Machiavelli’s Prince. From the Sixteenth to the first Half of the Nineteenth Century*. Amsterdam/New York 2010, pp. 247–278 (to be provided by the lecturer).

- Paolo Marelli, The Translation of Machiavelli’s Prince and the Political Climate in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Sweden, in InTRAlinea. Online Translation Journal. Special Issue: Transit and Translation in Early Modern Europe, Bologna/Forlì 2019 (available online).

- Excerpts from the Bible and the texts agreed upon with the students will be uploaded to Aulaweb or distributed in class during the lectures.

- A translation theory textbook to be chosen from the following:

L. Salmon, Teoria della traduzione

B. Osimo, Dizionario di scienza della traduzione

The texts to be translated for the THIRD PART of the course are to be agreed in full with the attending students; they may be uploaded to Aulaweb or distributed in class during the lectures.

For details about the programme, the reading list and all the material for students who cannot attend the lessons, please contact the teacher at davide.finco@unige.it.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Lessons will start at the end of September - begin of October, and the schedule will be announced a few weeks earlier.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

An oral exam at the end of the course and in the following exam sessions. During the exam, texts or case studies examined during the course will be submitted to candidates for their analysis. 

N.B. The final judgement will include the evaluation of a written work (in Italian or Swedish) on a topic connected with the second part of the programme (Images of the North): students are warmly invited to ask the teacher about indications and details regarding this paper.

The examination will take place partly in Italian and partly in Swedish on course topics.

Students are allowed to divide the programme into (no more than) two parts to be prepared for two different exam sessions at their choice. The final evaluation will consider the results of both parts (however, they must be both sufficient, i.e. both evaluated at least with 18/30) and students are free to take the exam(s) as many times as they wish to take a better evaluation.

This does not include individual translation work, which may therefore be submitted and discussed separately, although it must be noted that the submission and discussion of this work during the examination is required for the final assessment.

The final mark is announced at the end of the exam and it can be refused by the candidate. In case of a refused mark or a failed exam, the candidate may always sit the exam in the following session (no limit is prescribed in the number of attempts).

For final year or Erasmus students there are special sessions in addition to the seven ordinary ones: even in this case, the examination days are indicated in the lecturer's personal pages or in the university website (students are requested to contact the teachers of “Sezione Scandinavistica” to have further information).

ASSESSMENT METHODS

In the overall evaluation, not only the knowledge of the syllabus (course topics, texts analysed in class – or included in the specific list – and readings) and reasoning skills, but also expository skills and accuracy in the use of the specific language of the discipline will be taken into account.

The main skills that will be evaluated are: capability orientating oneself in the different periods of the literary history, setting the considered works (or texts) in the proper context, comparing different authors, ages, nations, movements, developing a personal critical judgement on the considered phenomena, mainly basing on competences acquired and critical contributions presented during the course.

The part of the exam that has to be taken in Swedish is aimed to make students used to expressing even in this language on formal subjects, like literature, linguistics and culture. The evaluation of students’ language skills will be less strict than that required in a typical language assessment, but it will, nonetheless, contribute to the final mark according to grammatical correctness, fluency of expression and richness of vocabulary.

As regards the SECOND PART of the course, students will be expected to explain and justify the differences between the translations being compared, demonstrating, where appropriate, an ability to situate them within their historical and cultural context.

When assessing the individual translation discussion (PART THREE), greater importance will be placed on the ability to justify one’s translation choices by correctly applying concepts from translation theory and techniques (as well as using the correct terminology), rather than on the intrinsic quality of the target text.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students will not have to formally enrol in this course; however, this course – as any other – is to be inserted in the learning plan to be officially acknowledged.

Those who want to take the exam must enrol through the university website within three days before the examination. Participants in the course will have to log in the Aulaweb platform, where all material that will be examined will be uploaded.

This course is obligatory for all first year students of “Laurea Magistrale” (Master) who have chosen Swedish as Language A or Language B.

Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with prof. Sara Dickinson (sara.dickinson@unige.it), the Department's disability liaison. Further information available at https://unige.it/disabilita-dsa.