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Fall Course: Scandinavian 251 Text and Interpretation

Wednesday, September 30, 2020 at 12:15pm to 1:45pm

JSMA, 118

This class is about stories. It is about how we tell them, what they mean to us, and how narrative permeates the very fabric of our understanding of the world. Considering this and remembering that our "universe" of stories includes narratives that we have been told, have read, and tell ourselves; we can safely say that we are not the authors of our entire sense of the world. This raises several interesting questions about the relationship between the "self" and the "other." It is my hope that we can begin to answer these questions and raise other ones that will enable us to understand better the process through which we try to make sense of the world. With this goal in mind, I have decided to introduce you to a number of works that interrogate the notions of identity, authority, and truth. In other words, we will use the texts in our course as examples for an investigation of how narratives construct or if you prefer, color, our sense of "reality." Texts in the course include: H.C. Andersen’s “The Snow Queen, Isak Dinesen's (Karen Blixen's) "The Blank Page,” Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, Erling Kagge’s Walking: One Step at a Time, Selma Lagerlöf’s The Saga of Gösta Berling, selected short essays by Arne Næss, selected speeches by Great Thunberg, and Gunnhild Øyehaug’s “Deer at the Edge of the Forest.” We shall also a film, Sami Blood by Amanda Kernell.

Event Type

Academic

Departments

College of Arts & Sciences, German and Scandinavian

Target Audience

All Students

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