Le critique Stig Strömholm comme médiateur littéraire

Abstract

In this article we describe the activity of the critique and essayist Stig Strömholm in the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet in the section called Under Strecket. The dataset consists of 147 articles between 1960 and 1995, and our presentation is mainly concerned with his numerous articles on French literature. As a critic, Strömholm represents a particularly (if not unique) case, since nearly all of his articles deal with literature written between the 17th and 19th century. Furthermore, Strömholm – who during the period in question pursued a career as professor of law – did not take part in the general literary discussion in Sweden and did not have much contact with neither his readers nor the editorial staff of Svenska Dagbladet (who paid for the articles). So, from a linguistic and economic point of view, these articles can be seen as being written in a kind of isolation. From an ideological point of view, the articles reflect a standpoint that could be described as closed to Jansenism, with Pascal and Racine as models. On the other end of the ideological spectrum, we find authors from the Romantic Movement, such as Hugo.