Astrid Lindgren: Internationality and Intermediality

Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer (Cologne)
Forthcoming guest professor in memory of Astrid Lindgren at Växjö University

Astrid Surmatz (Amsterdam/Växjö)
Guest professor in memory of Astrid Lindgren at Växjö University

Organized at the Department of Humanities at Växjö University in cooperation with the Swedish Institute for Children’s Literature, Stockholm and Astrid Lindgren’s Näs research center, Vimmerby

Eva-Maria Metcalf (University of Mississippi, USA)
Maria Nikolajeva (University of Cambridge, UK)
Boel Westin (University of Stockholm, Sweden): cancelled due to illness, se Programme

The conference will focus on Astrid Lindgren in the light of international children’s literature research, narratology, picturebook research, and media theory. These theoretical frameworks are indispensable for the concept of intermediality that focuses on the intimate relationships between different media. This concept calls attention to the transgression of media boundaries when at least two different media are concerned. Four types of intermediality can be distinguished:

a.          Combination of different media, for example the juxtaposition of pictures and text in picturebooks, or the integration of films into computer games.

b.          Transformation of one medium into another, for example film versions or adaptations for the stage of   Lindgren’s children’s books.

c.          Remediation, i.e. the conversion of an older medium into a new digital medium, for example the transformation of a printed book into an electronic book.

d.          Intermedial relationships, for example the integration of literary narrative strategies into films or the influence of the film on Lindgren’s children’s books.

These types and strategies might help to analyze Lindgren’s children’s books, especially the influence of cinematic perspectives and narration on her novels, on the one hand, and to describe the multifaceted relationships between Lindgren’s original works and their transformation into different international media (adaptations for the stage, radio plays, musicals, film versions, computer games and so forth) on the other hand.

For further inquiries contact the conference convenors:

Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer
Universität zu Köln
Institut für deutsche Sprache und Literatur II
Gronewaldstr. 2
D-50931 Köln
E-Mail: bettina.kuemmerling@t-online.de

Astrid Surmatz
present adress at Växjö University:

Astrid Surmatz
Växjö University
School of Humanities
SE-35195 Växjö
E-Mail: astrid.surmatz@vxu.se

Main adress at Amsterdam University:

Astrid Surmatz
Scandinavische talen en culturen
Spuistr. 134
NL-1012 VB Amsterdam
E-Mail: a.m.surmatz@uva.nl