heterotopia

In Sweden Christmas is synonymous with Donald Duck. In the Anglo-Saxon world Christmas is still largely a Christian holiday celebrated in memory of the birth of Jesus Christ, although this is nowadays more true of United States than the UK.

Over the last decades it seems like even the “traditional Britons” have changed their ways. They have Father Christmas as the “main attraction” of Christmas and they tend to celebrate Christmas much like mainstream Swedes do, that is, like a secular holiday focusing on an abundance of presents and too much food. (This is of course mainly true of those that have any money, and not everyone in this world has money, mind you.)

Traditionally, however, the Britons eat things like bread pudding, sausage rolls, christmas pudding (picture above), Brussels Sprouts and chestnuts and why not a turkey?

The English-speaking world also has a wealth of songs and Christmas stories. Most of them are known in Sweden due to American cultural influence. There is popular and funny tunes like this one, and more solemn and serious ones like this one.

The best Christmas story ever written, in my own humble opinion, is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It is a short but sweet – as the saying goes. The story is known to almost everyone although few, I guess, have read it. The main bad guy has given his name to this character.

My final assignment for this year is for you to tell me a bit about what you love to do during Christmas break and what your hopes and plans are for the next couple of weeks. (I also hope that some of you take the opportunity to read A Christmas Carol. It’s a classic!)

There has throughout the twentieth century been an ongoing debate concerning personality and how it is formed. There has been two basic sides to the argument: nature and nurture.

On the one hand we have those who believe that Nature is the most important factor when it comes to explaining an individual’s personality. By nature is meant an individual’s genes, or DNA. The argument is that a person inherits his or her personality traits biologically from parents and other ancestors.

On the other hand we have those who believe that Nurture, or the way a person is brought up, is the most important factor when it comes to explaining an individual’s personality and behaviour. The argument is that the way an individual is treated shapes his or her personality.

There is of course much evidence to support both views, but at different times in history the debate has been more or less heated. In the first half of the 20th century there was much support for the biological explanation, in the latter half of that century the support shifted toward social or cultural explanations to personality and behavior. Today the debate continues.

In literature
The debate about nature vs. nurture is also alive in literature. The most famous book to deal with this topic is of course Lord of the Flies by William Golding. But many other books touch upon the subject. Perhaps one, or all, of the books listed below can be seen as dealing with the nature vs. nurture dilemma.

Nineteen eighty-four by George Orwell.
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.
The Collector by John Fowles.
Go ask Alice by Anonymous.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

Or what do you think?

Människor skriver böcker. Man kan fundera över varför. Faktaböcker, ordböcker och uppslagsverk är alla nyttiga sorters böcker. Man kan använda dem till något praktiskt. Skönlitteratur som deckare, fantasy-romaner och historiska romaner är mera tveksamma. Innehållet är många gånger helt påhittat. Skönlitteratur är egentligen bara sida upp och sida ned med rena lögner.

Man kan verkligen fundera över varför man läser skönlitteratur i skolan. Skönlitteratur verkar inte vara mycket mer än dagdrömmeri. Helt poänglösa fantasier som kanske – om man har tur – är lite underhållande. Men. Det går aldrig att vara överens om att en viss bok är underhållande. Lika lite som vi kan vara överens om att en tavla är vacker eller en viss film är rolig, spännande eller otäck.

Vore det helt enkelt inte bättre att läsa om verkliga saker: vetenskapliga rapporter, nyhetsartiklar och kanske resereportage? Eller finns det en poäng i att läsa skönlitterära böcker? Kan det vara så att själva det faktum att man kan tycka vad som helst är en del av poängen?

Och kanske, kanske kan en berättelse vara sann och intressant även om den är uppdiktad, påhittad, tråkig, upprörande, otäck, bra, rolig eller bara konstig?

The essay topic for Monday

Commentary
Life around us is chaotic and strange. Things happen for no apparent reason. Luckily there are things that are certain in this uncertain world. There is maths and science. But generally the world is a weird turmoil, filled with peoples, opinions, ideas, arguments and strange customs.

We are all left in this weird world. We are thrown into it as young children and we have all to find our way in it. Somehow we all struggle and try to find some order and structure in this world. We try to find our place and try to make up our minds on some of the many questions that spin around us.

To my mind, the book you have just read is an opportunity to step into the head of a person (Christopher) and to take part in how he tries to answer some of the questions we are faced with in life. His condition makes our lives and our choices appear in contrast. When we are confronted with his thoughts, we come to think about our own thinking and attempts at trying to find ‘order’ and ‘a sense of place’ in the world.

Avslutningen av renässansen kallas barocken. Barocken är en tid då renässansidealen får turbomotor och stilen överdrivs och överlastas. Baroken är egentligen inte en ny epok utan en uppskruvad variant av renässansen. Man blir mot slutet av renässansen förtjust i det allvarliga och monumentala (som vi ser i El Escorials fasad), och i prål och översmyckning.

Det svenska slottet Stockholms slott tillhör en stil som kallas romersk barock. Den har samma lite “vördnadsbjudande” överdåd och monumentala stil som El Escorial, även om det förstås är ett mycket mindre hus.

Tidstypiska författare
Georg Stiernhielm
Miguel de Cervantes
(SparkNotes om Don Quijotes eventuella rasistiska inslag). [Om Don Quijote som den första moderna människan]

Arkitektur, konst och musik
El Escorial (interiör)
J.S. Bach
Velasquez
Barock skulptur

Uppgift
1. Hur skulle du beskriva barocken för en kompis?
2. På vilket sätt är Stiernhielm och Cervantes exempel på den barocka stilen?