The Literature Map
Litteraturkartan is quite simply a map – covering the history of literature, both inside and outside of the city walls of Gothenburg. Focusing on the lives of authors and on classical works of literature - prose, poetry, travelogues and a lot more besides. Litteraturkartan is an exploration of the presence of history in the landscape of the present.
The Literature Map, or the Map of Literature – either way, it sounds a bit strange in English. Take our word for it: the Swedish name sounds a lot cooler when spoken out loud and means exactly the same thing: Litteraturkartan. And Litteraturkartan is exactly what is says on the box. Mapping the lives, works and events of the history of Swedish literature onto the landscape, Litteraturkartan enables the users to explore the places and sites surrounding them; finding hidden gems of poetry, prose, biography and folklore in unexpected places.
Want to find out where a Nobel laureate was hospitalized and had a really bad case of the sniffles during a frantic stay in Gothenburg in 1920? The hospital is still standing today, and Litteraturkartan will give the keen explorer not only a capsule history of the anecdote – it will give directions to get there, by foot if one is close enough, and see the spot for oneself. Or one may wish to explore the Swedish coastline in the company of Mary Wollstonecraft, following in the intrepid traveller’s footprints as the great icon of feminist thought trashes the low and filthy conduct of 18th century Swedes.
There’s a lot to discover already in Litteraturkartan, and, quite naturally, it is initially centered around the regions surrounding Gothenburg – the focal point of so many great events in the history of Swedish literature – and bit by bit, Litteraturkartan will cover the entirety of Sweden in the years to come. And what better way to approach the landscapes of today than through the literature and lives of the past? We are daily surrounded by an invisible historical presence: of classical art, culture and literature, of past events and of past lives – and it’s high time to rediscover the wealth that the past has to offer.