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THE NORDIC PEOPLES: The Nordic Social Model as Seen from the South through its Literature
Start date: Sep 1, 2015, End date: Jun 1, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Through the media and international relations, our planet has become both bigger and smaller, leading to intercultural relationships and the breakdown of stereotypes. With respect to the South of Europe, the traditional narrow view of the North as distant, mysterious and abundant has diminished. The Nordic peoples, born into harsh natural environments, have developed a strong sense of organisation, a taste for austerity and a growing concern for the environment and, in the process, have built developed societies with a high cultural level. The fantasy has grown intensely, in settings interiorised by the cold: its perception of light, of ice, of the periodic movements of the earth, so different from the south, all of which develop our knowledge of what is, in fact, Europe.The project we are presenting evolves around seven titles: one Finnish, one Swedish, two Norwegian, a Danish poetry anthology and two Icelandic texts. The authors are from different eras, ages and genres. We intend to present a panoramic view of what has happened in Nordic societies since the XX century until the present, early XXI century. With these books, among which we find examples of the novel, poetry, the illustrated book, illustrated album, youth narrative and, even, science fiction, we intend to show how a handful of countries have evolved; countries which are now seen around the world as examples of development and progress and of material and cultural wealth. Although this has not always been the case; relatively recently they were predominantly rural, underdeveloped countries, but even then they had a very significant cultural element which also helps to explain their strong on-going cultural development. By 1900, most of the Nordic countries had eradicated illiteracy, everyone read the Bible, and this laid the foundations for high speed cultural development. It is, therefore, not surprising that these countries are among those with more writers, readers and libraries per capita.
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