Culture and Society in France, Stockholm University (French I)

Female Voices in French Literature, Stockholm University (French I)

Academic Writing (French III)

Interculturality and Communicative Competence (French III)

Medieval European Literature

Supervision of Academic Papers

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• French Romance, Medieval Sweden and the Europeanisation of Culture

  2021. Sofia Lodén.

  Book

  Translations of French romances into other vernaculars in the Middle Ages have sometimes been viewed as "less important" versions of prestigious sources, rather than in their place as part of a broader range of complex and wider European text traditions. This consideration of how French romance was translated, rewritten and interpreted in medieval Sweden focuses on the wider context. It examines four major texts which appear in both languages: Le Chevalier au lion and its Swedish translation Herr Ivan; Le Conte de Floire et Blancheflor and Flores och Blanzeflor; Valentin et Sansnom (the original French text has been lost, but the tale has survivedin the prose version Valentin et Orson) and the Swedish text Namnlös och Valentin; and Paris et Vienne and the fragmentary Swedish version Riddar Paris och jungfru Vienna. Each is analysed through the lens of different themes: female characters, children, animals and masculinity. The author argues that French romance made a major contribution to the Europeanisation of medieval culture, whilst also playing a key role in the formation of a national literature in Sweden.

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• Floire et Blancheflor en Europe: Anthologie

  2022. .

  Book (ed)

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• A Beginner's Guide to Swedish Academia

  2022. .

  Book (ed)

  As new to the Swedish research system, one is faced with a series of questions, about what applies to qualifications, what the networks look like, but also practical issues. To make things easier, YAS has developed a guide for international researchers, to help navigate Swedish academia and remove time-consuming obstacles.

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• Valentin and his Wild Brother in European Literature: How French is a Medieval French Romance?

  2022. Lydia Zeldenrust, Sofia Lodén. Interfaces: A Journal of Medieval European Literatures (9), 144-179

  Article

  The medieval romance about the two brothers Valentin and Orson (also known as Nameless) crossed various linguistic and cultural borders in the European Middle Ages and beyond. It is said to have originated in a Francophone context, but the French origin, which is believed to be a chanson de geste, has not been preserved – the earliest surviving sources are three Middle Dutch fragments. The different versions of the tale are generally divided into two strands: the first covers versions in Middle Dutch, Low German, Middle High German, and Old Swedish, and the second includes versions in French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Icelandic, and Yiddish. In this article, we give an up-to-date overview of the two strands and raise the question whether Valentin should be considered as a primarily French tradition. We argue that Valentin cannot be understood only in a monolingual or national context, and that a linear model of transmission does not do justice to the complexity of this tradition. We consider what it means to approach Valentin as a shared European narrative, how each version places itself in this larger tradition, and what insight this approach can give us into the tension as well as fruitful co-existence between local and supralocal. By putting the different versions of the tale in dialogue and paying attention to the places and social networks along which they travelled, the article presents a new way of understanding a literary tradition that once enthralled audiences from Flanders to Silesia, and from Venice to Sweden.

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• In the Ancient Days of Sagas: Astrid Lindgren and the Legacy of Arthurian Romance

  2022. Sofia Lodén. The Arthurian World, 444-460

  Chapter

  Arthurian stories have been tirelessly adapted for children in many languages.2 But the Arthurian legacy cannot be measured by direct adaptations and translations alone. Even though King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table remain com-paratively peripheral in Swedish children’s literature, they have infuenced Swedish literature to a greater extent than one might frst believe.3 This chapter focuses on Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002), one of the most-read Swedish authors of all times.4 Internationally, Lindgren is most famous for her books about the rebellious and superhumanly strong red-head Pippi Longstocking. These stories are far from the world of King Arthur and his knights. However, in several other works by Lindgren, the Arthurian world is surprisingly close. While a number of chapters in this collection engage with modern reincarnations of the legendary King Arthur, my chapter concerns reiterations of the Arthurian world in which the name of Arthur is never mentioned but the motifs and settings of renowned Arthurian narratives are recreated and explored.

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