Karina R. Ibragimova, PhD in Philology, Lecturer of the Department of History of Foreign Literatures, Faculty of Philology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, 1, 119991, Moscow, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9639-3261
Viktor Rydberg’s novel Singoalla (1857) belongs to a number of Gothic works popular in Sweden in the second half of the 19 th century, called “horror literature” (skräcklitteratur). Gothic, i.e. orientation towards English and French traditions, in Rydberg’s work is combined with “Gothicism” – the attention to the legendary sources of Swedish history. The most important images and motifs that put the novel into the Gothic dimension are analyzed in the article: a melodramatic plot placed in a medieval chronotope; old castle; gloomy forest; an ancient family curse; forbidden love, etc. The article addresses the issue of combining the features of a Gothic novel and a romantic novel about creativity, a novel about an artist (Künstlerroman). The analysis shows that Rydberg’s appeal towards both Gothic and Romantic traditions gives him an opportunity to represent creativity as a dark force that enslaves a person, as well as to draw the image of an artist who has abandoned creativity.
gothic; gothic novel; Gothicism; Viktor Rydberg; Singoalla; Swedish literature.
05.02.2024
30.03.2024
Ibragimova, K.R. “Gothic Novel as a Künstlerroman: Viktor Rydberg’s Singoalla (1857)”. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 3(65), 2024, pp. 99–110. (In Russ.)
1. Ryudberg, V. “Singoalla”, trans. by V. Popov. Memuary mertvetsa [Memoirs of a Dead Man]. Moscow, Terra Publ., 1997, pp. 17–108. (In Russ.)
2. Skrzhinskaya, E. Ch. “Iordan i ego Getica” [“Iordanes and His Getica”]. Iordan.
O proiskhozhdenii i deyaniyakh getov [The Origin and Deeds of the Getae]. Moscow, Izdatel’stvo vostochnoi literatury Publ., 1960, pp. 11–63. (In Russ.)
3. Tolstikov, A.V. “Anatomiya istorii Ulofa Ryudbeka” [“Olof Rudbeck’s Anatomy of History”]. Odissei. Chelovek v istorii [Odysseus. The man in history]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2007, pp. 169–189. (In Russ.)
4. Algulin, I., Olsson, B. Litteraturens historia i Sverige. Stockholm, Nordstedts Förlag, 1995, 619 s. (In Swedish)
5. Fyhr, M. Svensk skräcklitteratur I. Bårtäcken över jordens likrum: Från medeltid till 1850-tal. Lund, Ellerströms, 2017, 350 s. (In Swedish)
6. Lagerroth, E. “Den episka processen i Singoalla”. Samlaren: tidskrift för svensk litteraturvetenskaplig forskning, vol. 98, 1977, s. 87–103. (In Swedish)
7. Leffler, Y. “Aspects of the Fantastic and the Gothic in Nineteenth-Century Scandinavian Literature”. Anales N.E., vol. 11, 2008, pp. 49–66. (In English)
8. Leffler, Y. I skräckens lustgård: Skräckromantik i svenska 1800-talsromaner.
Gothenburg, Gothenburg University Press, 1991, 223 s. (In Swedish)
9. Monk, S. The Sublime: a Study of Critical Theories in XVIII-century England. Michigan, Michigan University Press, 1960, 250 p. (In English)
10. Rydberg, V. Singoalla. Stockholm, Bonniers, 1894, 341 s. (In Swedish)
11. Warburg, K. Viktor Rydberg, hans levnad och diktning. Stockholm, Bonniers, 1913, 696 s. (In Swedish)
12. Wetterlund, F. Skissblad om poeter. Stockholm, Norstedt, 1914, 403 s. (In Swedish)