How Sweden adopted French knightly romances and Europeanized itself with Sofia Loden
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3ccvKgt
Interview Timeline
Sofia Loden is a Pro Futura Scientia XII Fellow at Stockholm University and the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala. She has a strong interest in Arthurian romances and French romance literature. She recently released a book on Swedish translations of French romances. We spoke about the book, medieval literature and books, and the Arthurian legend. French Romance, Medieval Sweden and the Europeanisation of Culture (DS Brewer, 2021)
0:32 – Sofia talks about why she wrote a book on French knightly romances.
3:01 – Sofia discusses the time periods the French and Swedish texts are from.
4:03 – Sofia talks about the cultures these French romances existed in.
6:05 – Sofia talks about who read these books.
7:22 – Sofia talks about what Swedish writing existed before these French romances were translated.
8:45 – Sofia talks about who translated these books.
14:25 – Sofia talks about what the Swedish texts focused on.
16:18 – Sofia talks in detail about the texts.
19:36 – Sofia talks about the story of the knight and the lion.
22:15 – Sofia talks about Scandinavian myths and the division between East and West Scandinavia.
24:10 – Sofia talks about the presence of magic in these stories.
26:02 – Sofia talks about the French language.
28:08 – Sofia talks about the influence of the Swedish texts.
29:38 – Sofia talks about effects on modern literature.
33:12 – Sofia talks about Swedish readers of these texts.
35:29 – Sofia talks about romance, love, and status in these texts.
36:59 – Sofia talks about the status of women in the texts.
38:46 – Sofia talks about the books themselves.
39:34 – Sofia talks about her research methods and where the books are kept.
42:12 – Sofia discusses Europeanization of the texts.
43:33 – Sofia wishes she knew who did the translations.
45:32 – Sofia talks about Swedish romance literature.
47:28 – Sofia talks about [French and] the interplay between French, German and Swedish cultures.
50:09 – Sofia talks about things Swedish translators had trouble with and how the stories were read to audiences.
56:11 – Sofia talks about her current work on Arthurian romances and the many countries in which the legend is found.
1:00:37 – Sofia can be found on her university’s website at the Stockholm University Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3ccvKgt
https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781843845829/french-romance-medieval-sweden-and-the-europeanisation-of-culture/
https://www.su.se/english/profiles/solo4246-1.195144
http://www.swedishcollegium.se/subfolders/Fellows/Profutura/Sofia_Loden.html
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi,