Nobel Prize Laureate Joseph Brodsky is a key figure in Soviet Russian literature. Expelled from the USSR in 1972, he became a US citizen in 1977 and Poet Laureate of the United States in 1991. In this essay, I have sought to examine the state of exile perceived in Brodsky?s poems. Using Russian literary critic Viktor Shklovsky?s concept of defamiliarization, I have strived to illuminate the formal composition of this state ? its technique.

How do we perceive literature? In our times computer games and Internet have made us grow more comfortable to the usage of non linear storylines. But how does this apply to printed literature?In this essay, called ?From a to b through d h and o. Non linear storytelling in our time? I have focused on nonlinear literature from different time periods and I have studied novels such as James Joyce?s Ulysses as well as works by William S.

During last autumn I have been studying the conflict between Israel and Palestine, both through books and at place in the area. The purpose has been to evaluate and reflect over EAPPI`s achievement (Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel) and how it`s related to the goals of the organization. EAPPI is an interesting organization, mainly because it stands as a third part in the conflict. I have used a qualitative method for interviews and observations. The accompaniers, whom I have interviewed, represent three of seven placements in Israel/Palestine.

With the increasing number of adoptees in Sweden, so has the amount of literature regarding different aspects of adoption. The aim of this study is to explore the construction of adoptees in children's literature. It takes on a social constructionism view, by regarding language as a narrative tool in which human beings construct versions of different phenomenon. By exploring the different discourses in the data within the context adoption, we can identify different versions of "the adopted child" and their needs as it is constructed in the literature. Also, by putting them in a bigger context, we are allowed to see the social structures and the discursive conditions that allow a certain child perspective of "the adopted child" to take place.

The aim with this essay is to look into what literature has been published in 2006 and 2007 for boys between the ages of twelve and sixteen in order to analyse six of the titles. Our two main questions are as follows:?How is the teenage boy depicted in six of these books? - To what extent is the teenage boy depicted in a gender stereotypical way?.We chose the titles for analysis based on our mapping of the published literature and took into account the authors? gender and age as well as the main themes of the books. As theoretical base for our analysis we used Marias Nikolajeva?s table of gender stereotypes in literature.

The aim with this essay is to compare strong girls in classic and modern literature and see how the differences in expectations on these girls are reflected in literature. This study is done with the aid of historical, feminist and new criticism..

Travel literature and especially the ?adventure story? has excited young British boys for over two centuries. However, it has also been a vehicle for the assertion of male dominance and European supremacy. The story of a British man who goes to the colonies, performs some test which is essentially a test of his manliness, and whose compulsory victory marks the end of the book, has been a central myth in colonial masculinity.Through looking at three Anglo-Saxon male travel writers from the 20th century, this essay aims to study the different ways in which Western male identity is shaped against an Indian background. The novels analysed are Topee and Turban or Here and There in India by H.A.

The novel American Psycho was first published in 1991. It recieved harsh criticism and was viewed as a work of heterosexism, misogyny and pointless violence. Despite the criticism, the protagonist, a wealthy serial killer yuppie namned Patrick Bateman, fascinated the readers. He hides his monstrosity behind a façade of heteronormativity, but this essay shows that the norms in American Psycho are fragile. Batemans relationships are shallow, his identity is constructed out of traditional masculinitynorms and even though he?s homophobic there?s a homoerotic undertone in the text, as well as gothic patterns that give the novel a fair amount of queerness too.

A great source of risk during peace processes of today comes from spoilers, individuals and groups who deliberately try to undermine every attempt to achieve a negotiated peace agreement. The aim of the thesis is to examine problems related to the management of spoilers during peace negotiations and the effects thereof. A central aspect in this respect is the dilemma of whether to include or exclude controversial actors like spoilers at negotiations.The choice of limits of the subject is to examine the peace negotiations that resulted in ?The Agreement? in 1998, concerning the conflict in Northern Ireland, and in ?DOP? in 1993, concerning the conflict between Israel and Palestine. I find a significant difference between these two conflicts regarding the way of managing spoilers.

AbstractThis study is based on my work as a secondary school teacher of literature and the Swedish language and rooted in my interest in developing knowledge about the importance of teaching literature in order to both cultivate young people?s reading habits and their view of themselves as readers. The more concrete purpose of this study is to examine a reading project that focuses on theories of literary perception and teaching literature.I examine four pupils who, in 2003, participated in the reading project as readers and compare this description with their view of themselves as readers seven years later. I complete the study by examining how they discuss reading and the teaching of literature. The method is qualitative and the empirics include materiel collected in two different time periods: first in 2003, in a class I taught in a secondary school; and second in 2010, when I examined four of the former pupils who participated in the project from 2003.

This essay studied how six girls experienced their reading development during their college education in male-dominated profession programs. The issues assumed were how they experience their literature reading and literature education and what happened with their interest in reading. The theoretical frame included researchers Säljö, Rosenblatt, Gun Malmgren, Olin-Scheller, Ulfgaard and Molloy.The study showed that most of the girls felt their reading had worsened but not because of their male classmates but because of school. They had a lot of homework and participated in so many different school projects which would be completed that there was no time to reading for pleasure. The girls did not like the teachers? literate sample and did not like the methods used in learning literature.

The purpose on this study is to determine the extent of possible connections between tendencies to increased violent behavior and increased alcohol consumption among a total cohort of girls in the 9th grade compulsory school and 2nd grade upper secondary school in a Swedish county. In 2004 the Epidemiological Department carried out a health-status survey, using a self-report questionnaire, with students from both private and public schools in a specific county in Sweden. All respondents (N= ca 4000), attending all compulsory (at 9th grade) and upper secondary schools (second tier) on the survey date completed the questionnaire. For this particular study, 9 questions from the questionnaire, all concerning self-reported violent behavior and alcohol consumption habits were used either individually or combined in index variables. The result showed that while violence experience is low among these 4000 girls, it increased in relation to a corresponding increase in alcohol consumption.

This thesis investigates the reception of middle literature novels among critics in Swedish newspapers and at Swedish libraries. Works by three authors were chosen as representatives for middle literature: Helen Fielding, Nick Hornby and Tony Parsons. The investigation is based on interviews with librarians at the Gothenburg City Library, the total purchased number of books at public libraries in Sweden and analysis of Swedish newspaper reviews. The result is compared with theories by literary sociologists as Jofrid Karner Smidt, Janice Radway, Erland Munch-Petersen and Staffan Bergsten among others. It was found out that literary scientists and critics had a different way of looking at middle literature.

The aim with this essay is to look into what literature has been published in 2006 and 2007 for boys between the ages of twelve and sixteen in order to analyse six of the titles. Our two main questions are as follows:?How is the teenage boy depicted in six of these books? - To what extent is the teenage boy depicted in a gender stereotypical way?.We chose the titles for analysis based on our mapping of the published literature and took into account the authors? gender and age as well as the main themes of the books. As theoretical base for our analysis we used Marias Nikolajeva?s table of gender stereotypes in literature.

The purpose of this study is to examine what readers of fiction literature are influenced by when they choose books. What libraries and bookstores do to influence readers in their choice of literature and how readers perceive the librarys and the bookstores influence on them in their choice of fiction literature. We have also studied which factors outside the library and the bookstore that readers are influenced by when borrowing or buying a certain book and to what extent readers are influenced by the books appearance. To answer our questions we chose a public library and a bookstore, where we interviewed six persons in each place. We have interviewed a librarian and a bookstore manager for information about how these two cultural institutions work with marketing of their fiction literature.