The article discusses the issues of geopoetics in the works of Sara Ranta-Rönnlund and Mikael Niemi, recreating the Northern text based on the writings of the authors representing the Sámi and the Tornedalian varieties of literature. The choice of authors is determined by the connection of their biographies with the researched geographical space. In contemporary literary studies increasing attention is paid to the examination of texts interconnected by a unified geographical space. The Northern text is analyzed through references to specific places — such as conceptions of the Far North, Russian North, European North etc. In the works of Niemi and Ranta-Rönnlund the image of Norrland, the province of Norrbotten, and the region of Tornedalen is comprehensively analyzed. The main focus is on embodying the image of the North as a supra-textual unity and its realization in ethnic literature. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the works of these authors have not been studied in domestic literary studies, which in turn opens up prospects for further research on local texts written in Swedish.
The subject of the research is the Northern text of Swedish literature, while the object is the embodiment of the image of the North in the work Nådevalpar. Berättelser om nomader o nybyggare i norr by S. Ranta-Rönnlund and Populärmusik från Vittula by M. Niemi. Using comparative and descriptive methods the Northern text is analyzed through geographical, natural-landscape, spatial, historical-cultural, spiritual-moral, aesthetic, and other aspects. The North is characterized as a unique space, frontier and at the same time polar in relation to other regions of Sweden, a place of “communal spirituality”, “preservation” (not multiplication, but “conservation”) of everyday realities, its own dialect (the Sámi language and Meänkieli). The article reveals both common geopoetic dominants for the works of the authors and different, individually-authorial ones. The analyzed works, considered as a supertext, allow highlighting key meanings in interpreting the North in Swedish literature: frontier spirit, uniqueness, otherness, traditionality and naturalness.
Romanovskaya I. NORTHERN TEXT OF SWEDISH LITERATURE THROUGH THE PRISM OF GEOPOETICS