The northern province of Sweden has in both literature and film been depictured as something foreign and mythical, unlike the rest of the country. It has been my purpose to show in this essay that the systematic categorization of Norrland and its literature reveals multiple criteria known to define the colonial era. By reading the novel Stallo by author Stefan Spjut with postcolonial structures in mind I aim to show how the author uses Swedish mythology and through the presence of The Other criticizes colonial structures in place to this day. By examining the gothic atmosphere I intend to indicate how the trolls in the novel figures as both a horror element as well as a representation of nature itself. It is my belief that the author by further reinforcing the mythological in relation to Norrland addresses the problem at hand.

This essay is dealing with the difficulties of cataloging and classifying anonymi and other kinds of literature without the components which have set the norm for bibliographic cataloging, i.e. a defined author, a standardized title etc. A typical example of this kind of literature is folklore and Folktales, which are dealt with thoroughly here. The character of and the society's historical view upon the folk literature, as literature considered, are being described, as is the evolution of rules for cataloging in general. The folk literature is mostly systematized after a different pattern from other literature, since bibliographical facts are often missing.