Time Schedule:
Marianne T Stecher Hansen
SCAND 445
Seattle Campus
The study of literary representations (fiction, memoirs, and personal narratives) dealing with World War II and the occupation of the Nordic and Baltic countries. Offered: jointly with EURO 445.
Class description
This course focuses on literary representations, personal narratives and scholarship dealing with World War II in the Nordic and Baltic countries. During World War II the Nordic region was clenched between two mighty belligerent powers: the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. As Finland resisted Soviet aggression from the East, Denmark and Norway suffered military occupation by Nazi Germany. Neutral Sweden avoided war and occupation by making considerable concessions to the Axis. Juxtaposing the "Eastern" pressure on Finland and the Baltic stattes with the "Western" pressure on Norway and Denmark, this course explores the wartime fates of Nordic nations by means of testimonies and literature produced by ordinary citizens, resistance fighters, war victims, and fiction writers. Students will read historical scholarship alongside literary texts and memoirs in order to identify the ideological, national, and personal perspectives in the narratives. In particular, the course focuses on the political implications and literary representations of "collaboration" and "resistance" during the war.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
