Suchergebnisse

The paper's aim is to indicate the mutual relations between contemporary Swedish literature and the academic and political discourse on the welfare state's crisis. The article's first part discusses the genesis, evolution and meaning of the term "Swedish folkhem" as it is understood today, i.e. as a political vision underlying the Swedish welfare state which with time has become a metaphor and a myth. In its other part the presence of historical narratives on the Swedish folkhem in five autobiographically inspired novels on childhood and growing up is investigated (Jonas Gardell's "En komikers uppväxt" (1992), Lena Andersson's "Var det bra så?" (1999), Mikael Niemi's "Populärmusik i Vittula" (2000), Torbjörn Flygt's "Underdog" (2001) and Susanna Alakoski's "Svinalängorna" (2006). Analysing the chosen examples, the author of the paper focuses mainly on the issue of how the narratives known from political propaganda and debate are transformed, commented and used in a literary text to construct a collective identity.

An analysis o f articles about Sweden which have appeared in the Polish press from 1989 to 1999 makes it possible to distinguish the most frequent subjects chosen by Polish journalists. These subjects include the unsolved case of the assassination of Olof Palme, the drawbacks of the Swedish welfare state, the controversies connected with Swedish neutrality, the discussions on how far equality can go and the problems of a multicultural country; as well as Swedish peculiarities such as alcohol policy, liberal morals, the position of the Church in a secularized society and the attachment to the monarchy. This article covers several examples o f these most popular topics. It also examines the way in which they have been presented, with regard to the traditional perception of Sweden by Poles as well as to the sense of Polish national identity noticeable in the journalists' comments. The problems connected with these issues are discussed in greater detail in the author's doctoral thesis in the chapter which deals with the perception of Sweden in Poland.