Una piccola avanguardia nordica. La letteratura per l’infanzia come modello e (forse) via per scrutare l’animo scandinavo, tra hygge, trygghet e trolleri

In the latest decades, the literary image of Scandinavia has been mainly mediated in Europe by Icelandic sagas and detective novels, as well as by children’s literature, which includes writers with an international readership; this may be interpreted as a consequence of the attention for ‘minor’ literatures in Nordic countries in the second half of the twentieth century, against the backdrop of the development of their social model, but also as the legacy of influential and provocative writers for children, the subject of this paper. Children’s literature has generally shared the cultural changes affecting adult literature, and in the North it displays both a conservative tradition (leading to successful stereotypes) and an innovative, realistic representation, as well as deeper and more intimate values, forged over the centuries and expressing Nordic feelings and attitudes. Therefore it is possible to turn to this unusual source for a better understanding of the Scandinavian worldview.