This seminar has two aims: to work through joint readings of key literary texts of the Scandinavian Modern Breakthrough and to examine the cultural history of reading within the same context. Through this combination of literary history and book history, the seminar explores the literary culture of the Scandinavian 1870s and 80s by examining issues of gendered audiences and readerships, censorship, publishing practices, and public debate. Key critical and literary texts of the period by Brandes, Jacobsen, Bang, Strindberg, Leffler, Benedictsson, Ibsen, Bjørnson, Krohg, and Skram will be examined alongside secondary literature treating the cultural history of publishing, reading, and viewing during the period in question.

Readings will be in English, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian; seminar discussion will be conducted in English.

Prerequisite: graduate standing or consent of instructor.