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
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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.
Purpose:
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 racist ideas were expressed about the year 1900, cannot be content with the novels that survived in the canon, but must have access to the sources that have disappeared from the public consciousness. 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 it is possible to read off all prose fiction actually published for a specified period. The aim is to produce a material that is both representative of the situation in a given year and at the same time reflects a chronological development. The material consists of all original written novels and short stories that were published in Swedish in separate editions the years 1800, 1820, 1840, 1860, 1880 and 1900. The material from the selected years will be available in its entirety for reading and not least for searching. Each discipline and each survey can chose the keywords that are appropriate to immediately make their way to the right point, where they can find the context of the word.
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