Swedish prose fiction 1800-1900
type: Dataset
description: Fiction is an invaluable source material, being a mirror for society. It is not a straightforward reflection; sometimes literature is ahead of its time, sometimes behind the times, sometimes governed by the interests of power and often influenced by economic considerations. But these conditions too make literature express something important about society, as long as it is treated with source criticism. In particular, the novel and the short story highlight not only culture in a narrow sense, but they also show what goes on on the inside of society. This can apply to what social issues are problematized, how issues of worldview, gender, national identity or the unfamiliar is processed, what patterns of consumption are expressed, how words and concepts change their meaning or which aesthetic notions that are tested in theory and practice. The examples can be multiplied: in fiction, negotiations between old and new values are continuously ongoing. Prose fiction can be used as a source material in a variety of humanities and social science disciplines, but it has the problem of being difficult to access for historically oriented studies. A sociologist, ethnologist or historian of ideas who wants to know how scientific racist ideas were expressed about the year 1900, cannot be content with the novels that survived in the canon. There may be many important manifestations in the works of well-known writers such as August Strindberg, Selma Lagerlöf and Hjalmar Bergman, but expressions of lesser known writers may be more representative and at the same time considerably more difficult to find. At the same time as our notions of history, society and literature have been built up, many beliefs, lifestyles and persons have been marginalized. Common beliefs, attitudes and consumption habits that are now unknown, can stand out in a way that can challenge the traditional historiography, if one succeeds to read off all prose fiction actually published for a specified period. Purpos…
conditions of access: http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/access-right/PUBLIC
conditions of access: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
creative work status: completed
  type: DefinedTerm
  in defined term set: http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/dataset-status
  term code: COMPLETED
creator: Mats Malm
  type: Person
  affiliation: University of Gothenburg
  family name: Malm
  given name: Mats
date modified: 2017-01-03
date published: 2012-01-01
keywords: Language and linguistics
keywords: HISTORY
keywords: Natural Language Processing
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 10208
keywords: History
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 60101
keywords: Comparative Language Studies and Linguistics
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 60201
keywords: General Literary studies
  type: DefinedTerm
  description: Including: Literary Theory
  term code: 60203
keywords: History of Science and Ideas
  type: DefinedTerm
  term code: 60104
keywords: 19th century
keywords: society
keywords: story
keywords: literature
keywords: novel
keywords: prose fiction
publisher: University of Gothenburg
spatial coverage: Sweden
temporal coverage: 2009/2013
version: 1

University of Gothenburg
type: Organization
department: Department of Literature, History of Ideas and Religion

Language and linguistics
type: DefinedTerm
description: Data from linguistic studies, linguistic analysis and sociolinguistics, as well as data on language policies, people's language skills, languages spoken at work and at home, attitudes towards minority languages etc.
term code: MediaCommunicationAndLanguage.LanguageAndLinguistics

HISTORY
type: DefinedTerm
description: Use note: In addition to this broader topic, use another topic for historical data. Example: for data on the working environments of family doctors in the 1960s, use HISTORY and 'Working conditions' plus 'Health care services and policies'. Use the HISTORY topic on its own only if a more specific topic cannot be found in this vocabulary.
term code: History

Sweden
type: Place